The sorry state of local football clubs, mostly who survive through the begging bowl, has opened them to abuse. All manner of deals are signed, with clubs hoping that they are finally on the track to Canaan.
But it usually ends in tears. One Oscar Kubara once offered P65 million to a league which then paid only P120,000 as prize money for the champions. Kubara was hailed as the Moses who had come to take local football out of Egypt to the Promised Land. But the Canaan moment never arrived until a much more pragmatic, lucrative offer arrived via the BeMOBILE brand.
In between there was Gift Mogapi who burst into the scene as a Kubara lite, promising to deliver Notwane to the land of milk and honey. It never came to pass and local football was again left reeling.
The Botswana Football Association (BFA) once signed a broadcasting deal which never took off. Clearly there was no due diligence done. Not long ago, Mochudi Centre Chiefs thought they had grabbed the biggest deal in the history of local football when DC Tours came on board. DC Tours bettered (or battered) Kubara’s P65 million offer, with the promise that Chiefs will receive P68 million over a curiously long 10-year period. We know deals to be in the range of two to five years.
The Chiefs-DC Tours deal was in February and before the ink could dry, the marriage is over. It was too good to be true. Clubs like Township Rollers and Gaborone United have never attracted that kind of sponsorship, big as they are and blessed with cash-rich investors. While clubs are desperate for investment, they should do proper ground work before jumping into deals. DC Tours and Chiefs could have fleshed out a more practical deal, that does not have high sounding nothings like P68 million.
According to insiders at Chiefs, the partnership hardly got going despite early promises, which saw the team transported in DC Tours coaches. As Chiefs look to embark on their River Plate Stadium project, they should be wary of potential banana skins. It might yet be another failed project if the overriding priority is the club’s ‘hunger’ which could easily lead to desperation. Before signing any deal, clubs should interrogate and do proper due diligence, least they will turn into laughing stocks. The BFA should set guidelines or regulations that will ensure that clubs are not taken advantage of. They give prospective investors a lot of mileage, only to be left high and dry. The lessons are coming in a deluge, but it seems not much is learnt from these situations.
