By Punch Chama
Last night ushered in a new FAZ executive led by Businessman Andrew Kamanga.
The campaigns have been fast and furious and at times nasty with a lot of words being said especialy by a number of FAZ employees who went on a campaign to demean other candidates. Lusaka Dynamos Chairman Mofya Chisala was a victim when one FAZ employee called him a nonentity but he brushed it aside for the good of football.
While this post is not about the animosity we can also note the difficulty that has faced many people who were not in the executive and how they were attacked, laughed at and ridiculed on may platforms foir simply offering themselves up for sevice.
Kalusha Bwalya as an individual is a brilliant person. I had a chance of meeting him once and he was very freindly. A man who is willing to talk to anyone andalways willing to interact but what led to a change of leadership are these factors as described by many councilors I talked to over the last two months.
LACK OF TOLERANCE
There was an air of a lack of tolerance at football house. The late Dennis Liwewe had his Life membership at FAZ stripped without a proper explanation,. Many in the media such as Mike Mubanga was removed from a National team game with no proper explnation, my colleague Chiko Mukoka stopped covering Zambian Football games for unknown reasons. the list is endless of people who were blocked, barred and not given accreditation without a proper reason.
This lack of tolerance from certain segments of football house led to a sour relationship with many people.
RELATIONSHIPS WITH ZSL SIDES???
In most other leagues one will find Footbal house employees at ZSL games. Being part of Lusaka Dynamos I watched 13 of L Ds home games last season and I can count only three games were I saw Fotball House employees, that Football House run the league and they were not present at most of L Ds games was always surprising, the only time I saw them was when it was close to campaigns and its a complaint from many ZSL clubs that they feel they were all alone.
While the sponsorship moneys were good we were still behind in many areas with nothing in the horizon that the old exco were even going to try to set up an independent league. Club licensing which was a requirement from every African association came a little to late to convince the majority of ZSL clubs
Most ZSL clubs felt alienated and this was an area Football house then never attempted to fix or dialogue with the clubs. Most clubs felt it was them and us.
FOCUS ON LOWER LEAGUE CLUBS
There was absolutely little focus on lower league clubs. asking many club officials from the lower leagues they only said they recieved money once in the last 8 years and that was in 2012 when the MTN money was distributed all throughout the leagues. Something that Power Dynamos were not to happy with as they received only K50,000 that year for winning the ZSL as the rest of the money was distributed among lower leagues.
The lower league clubs have received no money from 2012 todate in terms of funding.
NATIONAL TEAM PERFORMANCE
This is were FAZ were excellent. for the first time Zambia got to play friendlies against Countries like Brazil, Chile, Japan, South Korea, Norway. Something that hadn’t taken place before in the past and all because of King Kalu;s connections.
The Zambia National teams also performed well in the Mens Category and in the womens Category qualifying for most continental championships which is the best in the History of Zambian football.
WHERE IT WENT WRONG
While the National team performance was great its the lack of investment at clubs level that led to many clubs feeling that they should go for Andrew Kamanga. Over the 8 years clubs had only received money in one year and many clubs did not feel that they were being considered especially in developments in other countries.
The dragging of delinking the ZSL from FAZ was another factor among the ZSL clubs as clubs wanted to manage the league by them.
So what cost the old admin was focusing on the National Team and not giving the Clubs enough attention. Its Clubs which vote through its officials and many have began voting based on what benefits the clubs and leagues they are in receive. of which majority of clubs get no financial benefits
KAMANGA EXCO
The Andrew Kamanga exco have got a lot of work on their hands, setting up an independent league, taking money to the lower league clubs, more cup competitions and continuing with the National team success of the old exco. and more importantly Kamanga and his exco needs to get the right expertise into football house to deal with the day to day running of Zambian football while also not ignoring the contributions and sacrifices of many who are still at football house.
Kalusha Bwalya tried his best and for me remains my favorite Zambian player of alltime and we all have our limitations. Kamanga has already said that he will join hands with all to see Zambian football continue to grow.