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THE PRICE OF POOR FOOTBALL DEVELOPMENT STRUCTURES

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Sir,

It is an undisputed fact that, since time immemorial, this beautiful, tiny Kingdom of Eswatini has been struggling to make meaningful progress in football, to the extent that great footballing nations like Egypt have made a mockery of our beloved Sihlangu seMnikati with a 10-0 massacre, one of the heaviest defeats ever to be suffered by us in the new millennium.


Pardon me if my writing today will rekindle those sad memories manifested in Cairo during what was termed an international friendly match between Swaziland and Egypt sometime last year.
My heart is still bleeding and I cannot help but wonder if our football will ever make any meaningful progress, so as to erase such embarrassment that has made us a laughing stock in international competitions. However, my writing today has been prompted by our junior squads’ dismal performance in recent times, which surely reflects a bleak future for our football.


Watching our national Under-20 squad going down 3-0 to Lesotho in the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Youth Championships first leg match at Somhlolo Stadium was enough to inflict more pain on this glory-starved Swazi nation. Yes, the locals will take the 3-0 deficit to the mountainous Kingdom of Lesotho  and the chances of overturning the scoreline are just a pipe dream. Worse still, our national Under-15 squad found the going  tough in Botswana, where they had gone to play some friendly games in preparation for the upcoming Under-15 African Youth Games, to be hosted by the self-same Botswana next month.


To say there is light at the end of the tunnel would definitely be an overstatement. It all goes back to one and the same thing: development. We cannot afford to take chances and hope for a miracle to occur while our football is suffering.


Drastic measures have to be promptly taken to ensure that adequate development structures are put in place for the benefit of all the raw young talent. As much as we have to applaud some of the endeavours made towards development, like the introduction of the Premier League of Swaziland (PLS) Under-20 league, it is of great significance to note that we still have a long way to go in this respect. For now, I only pray that the juniors league is properly organised in the future and, of course, given the much-needed support from all relevant stakeholders.


That said, there is a dire need to devise a strategy that will come up with a national development programme that will cover all the regions of the country. It is really pathetic to note that we once had development programmes in the past but, sadly, they ‘died a natural death’ and our young talent felt the pinch.


Of course, we live to tell the tale of how the Chappies Little League took local football by storm only to be forgotten some years later - having produced great players like Maxwell ‘King Dunga’ Zikalala, Dennis ‘Yuki’ Masina, Sibusiso ‘Spoko’ Dlamini and Sicelo ‘Wire’ Mazibuko, to name a few. No doubt these players went on to change the fortunes of our national team with their footballing prowess. That’s why there was a glimmer of hope when the Umtsentse Development Programme was introduced later but, lo and behold, the programme failed to live up to expectations.


Without dwelling much on the core reasons behind our failure to introduce conducive development programmes, I have no fear in boldly stating that unless and until we come up with proper development structures, making progress in the game will remain a lofty dream.
Right now, we are paying the price for poor development structures which surely need to be given the utmost attention.

Comfort Jele, Hawane

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