Times Of Swaziland: CHICKENS HAVE COME HOME TO ROOST

CHICKENS HAVE COME HOME TO ROOST
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BY Lwazi's Pandora's Box on 07/12/2020 22:01:00


My dearest readers... “The EFA sent us correspondence to the effect that only
88 per cent of our members were in full compliance with the expected CAF
standards but we don’t know which of our 16 members make the 88 per cent and
which make the 12 per cent,” is a missive by Premier League of Eswatini (PLE)
Chief Operations Officer (COO) Pat Vilakati in our exclusive story in the Times
Sunday.
It speaks to the ultimate no-nonsense approach adopted by the Eswatini Football
Association (EFA) in ensuring adherence to the CAF Club Licensing Programme
after years of dilly-dallying, creative avoidance and lame excuses.
My green flies on the Sigwaca House wall tell me some premier league teams are
now running helter-skelter, pinning ‘offices’ placards even on depilated
houses just to be seen conforming to the CAF Club Licensing requirements. Some
teams have placards on two different areas leaving us wondering where really the
club offices are.
It’s the silly season, so to speak, courtesy of CAF’s insistence that no
compliance this time, no registration.
For years the continental mother body has preached the gospel of turning the
game professional by having proper football clubs in the truest sense of the
word, but all this fell on deaf ears.
Many teams continued to be run from the boot of cars, players contracts not
worth the paper written on and no proper administrative structures in the teams
with checks and balances.
Failed
This is one of the many reasons, African football has failed to make a mark on
the international stage. No African team has ever won FIFA’s crown jewel, the
World Cup let alone reached its finals.
This became a huge concern to the silk-suited souls at CAF hence the
introduction of the CAF Club Licensing programme to ensure teams at least have
the bare minimum standards.
This move has been continuously procrastinated or worse, rebuked by our football
leadership especially at the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) level and now it
has caught up with us. The chickens have come home to roost. Now it is time to
adapt or die.
It’s a good move by CAF. The same approach has long been extended to the
technicians of the game – coaches – where there are set standards.
This State-of-the-Nation-Sports-Address (SONSA) has long decried the fact that
the lack of set standards in our so-called premier league makes a mockery of the
game in the country.
The fact that any Tom, Dick and Uncle Harry – with no dime to rub together –
can wake up and own a premier league team is laughable if it were not serious.
Financially-struggling
This has resulted in the PLE having to play ‘mother-hen’, dishing out loans
which end up not being paid by the financially-struggling teams who should not
really be playing in our elite league.
In the more advanced leagues like the English premier league, a team’s bank
balance is also another pillar which is taken into consideration on whether a
team deserves to be in the elite league.
A team that is not financially sound is put into what is called
‘Administration’ and can even be relegated to a lower league.
Our league should have set standards to avoid the situation where the integrity
of the league is put in jeopardy.
The CAF Club Licensing Programme is one of the tenets that is trying to address
these issues in its totality.
But for years, both the EFA and PLE have allowed teams to get away with murder.
Undeserving teams cheated the system dare I say with the EFA in particular not
lifting the finger. Unfortunately this time, such can no longer happen.
If the EFA wants to assist the teams to meet the required standards they should
not lower the standards or bend the rules. Rules are there for a reason.
If a team does not meet the requirements, therefore it cannot play in the
Premier League.
It’s now or never in this CAF Club Licensing requirements. Circumventing the
rules is not helping the teams or our football.
Implemented
We will continue to lag behind even in our Southern African region where some
countries have long implemented the CAF Club Licensing in its totality.
To say, even right now, I am shocked that 88 per cent of the teams actually meet
the CAF Club Licensing, would be an insult to the word itself. If indeed it’s
true then it is a good thing. At least we are moving forward in this regard.
Both the EFA and PLE should stick to the rules. It is the right thing to do if
we are to move to the next level of turning our football into a professional
entity.