Rakgare told Mmegi Sport that all along, they have been pushing for the sale of alcohol as it will improve revenues for clubs.
He said the selling of alcohol at football matches happens in other countries and Botswana is not an island. “We co-exist with others.
When you look at other countries like South Africa, this is happening. I was in South Africa two weeks back after being invited to the Soweto derby. They were serving alcohol in the stadium. FIFA has partnership with some alcohol companies and UEFA has partnership with Heineken,” he said.
American lager, Budweiser is the official beer of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Rakgare said COSAFA had a partnership with Castle Lager while in Botswana, there was partnership with Kgalagadi Breweries Limited (KBL) through the Castle and St Louis Lager brands. The St Louis sponsorship ran from 1992 to 2006 when Mascom took over.
He said St Louis carried sport through, helping in employment creation and developing players such as Pontsho Moloi, Viola Gabolwelwe, Ernest Amos, Modiri Marumo, Jerome 'Jay Jay' Ramatlhwakwane, and Sox Molwantwa. Rakgare said players played in the St Louis league and went on to assist Zebras to qualify for AFCON 2012 for the first time.
“Who are we who can refuse alcohol to be sold in our stadiums while we see that our clubs are suffering? It is not an issue that can be debated because we are losing supporters to social football. People take their cooler boxes and drive to the farms during the weekend. You cannot call people to the stadium and not give them anything.
They want to spend the bit that they have, provide them with amenities, alcohol being one of them,” he said. Rakgare said if alcohol was not sold in stadiums, there would be incidents like what happened in Francistown where people smuggled alcohol into the venue.
He said when there is smuggled alcohol, supporters can throw bottles when they are not happy with decisions of match officials. “If you serve alcohol, like we used to do during the Kabelano Charity Cup, it should be served in plastic cups.
Then you let people enjoy their alcohol and football. We are very clear and we have been engaging the Ministry of Trade on this, they have agreed with us and we want our teams to generate money,” Rakgare said.
The minister said for teams to start paying players properly and hire professionals, any opportunity to generate revenue must be exploited. Southern African Policy Alliance Botswana (SAAPA) in-country liaison person, Jerry Moloko told Mmegi Sport that the sale of alcohol in stadiums is a public health issue. “We were surprised when Rakgare announced that alcohol can sponsor sport. During the COVID-19 drive through campaign, the Ministry of Health collaborated with KBL as a way of attracting the youth.
We wrote a statement condemning that move,” he said. Moloko said there should be a plan to control the consumption of alcohol in stadiums. He said allowing alcohol in the stadium means taking a bar to the stadium and as such the Liquor Act must be applicable.
He said the country is currently complaining of underage drinking and now that is likely to increase because they will be exposed to alcohol in stadiums. “We are not against alcohol consumption or that it should be cancelled in this country. What we are saying is that there should be control measures in place,” Moloko said.
