On Individual Passion, Dissolving Clubs

The Presidential Sports Initiative is back. The whole purpose remains to unearth hidden talent that would have otherwise remained underlying. The fact that the initiative is the president’s own brainchild continues to vindicate his earlier claim that he wants to see sports rise to greater heights in the country, in due course, of course.

Well, the president must have had untold expectations from earlier his initiative. He must have expected to see a great breakthrough in sports, particularly in football. But this is not necessarily the case as things stand today. Most of the teams that did better are the ones that are already known. The initiative did not manage to exploit all the hidden talent.

But anyway, it is not my aim to write anything on this otherwise sticky topic. One thing that should not be discounted is that we should continue applauding those individuals and stakeholders that extend good gestures.

The point of focus of this article is how individuals and individual clubs can contribute towards the development or retardation of sports in Malawi, especially football. Many well-wishing people and stakeholders might do their damnedest to develop sports in Malawi but if the sports men and women themselves lack willingness, the whole initiatives will be but in vain.

Sometimes we fail to develop sports in Malawi because we have terrible money-oriented mindsets. It is not wrong to anticipate money in sports but it should not override our passion for the game.

Many aspiring sports men and women have a very big problem. They want to get so much just at the onset of their careers. Now, because of this mindset, their passion for sports is overridden by their desire for money.

Many clubs that had just organized themselves after hearing about the initial Presidential Sports Initiative, particularly the Football Cup, vanished into thin air after failing to make it to greater heights.

Other clubs were dissolved because “they did not benefit anything from the cup”. I stand to be corrected, but I should think the Presidential Sports Initiative is not only aimed at developing sports by unearthing hidden talent but also by establishing clubs, this is in the case of football.

And it is a huge frustration to football if clubs get dissolved after losing. However, credit must still be given to some football clubs that just organized themselves after hearing about the Presidential Cup and have not dissolved after failing to make it beyond the district level.

It would be very painful for some talented players in such clubs if the clubs got dissolved after being booted out of the tournament. Zomba Medicals is one football club that has made it to the Super League.

But if you try to dig out the history of the club, you will find that it started on a very small note. It never just picked players and registered in the Southern Region Football League. They first had to try their lack in Division One. And then they made it to the Premier Division, the SRFL, and now they have made it to the country’s top flight league.

A journey of 1000 miles starts with a single step, but not a reluctant step. There are many clubs that only come out when there is a tournament and disappear after failing to make it or at the end of the tournament.

If football, let alone any kind of sports, was only meant for tournaments, then there would by nothing about it now. Clubs’ managements should not have myopic visions. They should plan beyond the tournaments and they will one day reach a point where they will spoilt for choice when it comes to tournaments.

They should not just expect to cruise their way to the top. No! It cannot happen. There are steps that have to be followed without much as choice. In fact, if each and every football club got dissolved immediately after losing or after the end of the tournament, then many of the teams that get relegated from leagues would have been disbanded long before.

But because they have a passion for football, they work hard so that they retain their lost glory. Now that the Presidential Sports Initiative is here, again, clubs should come to stay and players should not wriggle out of sports after failing to make it to greater heights.