VICTOR FINANCED TEAMS - NYANGA

MBABANE – After all has been said and done, Manzini Wanderers head coach Nyanga ‘Crooks’ Hlophe sees only positives in as far as Mbabane Highlanders boss Chief Ally Kgomongwe assisting the hub side is concerned.

Some football commentators, analysts and observers have punched holes and pinpointed grey areas in Wanderers and Highlanders’ relationship.

A few weeks ago, Highlanders Managing Director (MD), Kgomongwe, called a joint press conference between the ‘Weslians’ top officials and Highlanders management.

At the press briefing held at the Happy Valley Resort, in Ezulwini, Kgomongwe announced that he had found the hub giants two potential directors, a male and a female, his business partners in South Africa.

Wanderers will then choose one from the two and meanwhile, Kgomongwe offered to pay Wanderers players’ salaries and give them a loan to sign players, money he expects to be reimbursed by the soon-to-arrive director.

recorded interview

In a recorded interview, the seasoned coach, who worked for years under the late and former Mbabane Swallows Chairman Victor ‘Maradona’ Gamedze, said helping teams financially by another football team’s boss was nothing new to local football.

He said people failed to comprehend that football promoted friendship and rivalry should only be in existence in the field of play. “If truth be told, I was present in the past, the late Victor Gamedze had a good heart of assisting struggling teams financially. This was despite the teams’ rivalry; Gamedze was concerned with competitiveness of the game,” said the coach.

kind gesture

“This is very good for local football. The kind gesture means Ally is a sportsman,” said the coach.

He said Wanderers and Highlanders were rival teams from different towns and it would inflict no harm to sponsor both teams as it will not stop the rivalry. He made an example of Pick’n Pays supermarkets found both in Mbabane and Manzini but run by the same businesspeople.

“I view this relationship as solely a business adventure,” said Hlophe.

Asked if the arrangement would not injure the integrity of the sport, especially during cup games when the two teams met or towards the end of the league when Highlanders is in desperate need for points to secure a certain position, he responded to the negative.

“It will not happen because of the two teams’ rivalry plus Ally promised to give Wanderers an independent director,” said Hlophe.

The coach added that in the field of play, they would fight but friendship would be promoted out of the field, which should be the nature of the game.

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