LEAVE FOOTBALL OUT OF POLITICS!

The much-awaited start of the 2021/2022 MTN Premier League season this weekend has been disturbed by circulating reports that some football fans have reportedly petitioned the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) Executive Committee, demanding the removal of the three armed forces’ teams in the elite league.

Now, that is very dumb! It was, therefore, very gratifying to subsequently read a statement from the PLE Chief Operations Officer (COO), Pat Vilakati, who allayed the fears, saying the organization would not entertain these misdirected political motives. So, as things stand, the games will kick-start as expected this weekend, without any hindrances. Let me declare from the onset that this move is not just laughable, but shows that the people behind it are not football lovers  because, if they were, they would know that politics has no place in this game of billions. The Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) actually frowns upon the infiltration of politics in football matters. Football has its own laws, and those pushing political agendas should dare not confuse football people with their theories. We are actually running the risk of having local football being banned from international participation for this very reason. Such has happened to a lot of countries before, courtesy of FIFA. 

   Petition

Good people, the issue of armed forces’ clubs presence in the big league is very old. If anything, it has become very tasteless for some of us. Apparently, those fans who are reportedly pushing the petition agenda against Royal Leopard, Young Buffaloes and Green Mamba are arguing that the players from these clubs must be held responsible for the alleged killing of civilians during the recent political unrest in the country. How do you even explain this kind of thinking? I mean, really. Just to bring a bit of background, we recently witnessed shameful acts by some hooligans posing as democracy advocates who succeeded in influencing wayward behavior among pupils in local schools, forcing government to shut them down. As a result, the country’s education system is currently suffering badly because our children are at home biting their nails.  Outstandingly, now the same agenda seems to have shifted to football and again, the plan is to disturb the games for political reasons. Seriously, if I had the powers, I would immediately issue a decree banning the discussion of this issue ever again. Such is not serving any good purpose for our football, but only breeding unnecessary confusion and helping some unscrupulous individuals to score political points at the expense of the game. As football followers, we should not allow that because by so doing, the consequences will be dire for a lot of people in football, who are not even interested in politics.  

By now, we should all be aware that football puts food on the table for a lot of people in Eswatini because it has become a full-time job for some players. Besides, there are a number of players for these clubs who are not even employed in the security forces, who now find themselves victims of insults. Let us not encourage something that we will live to regret later. There is nothing wrong with people taking political sides because it is within their constitutional right, but let us not use our political affiliations to taint football. The current composition of our senior national team, Sihlangu Semnikati, is dominated by players from the security forces, not by favour, but through what the selectors see as merit. Mind you, most of these players were recruited from the civilians clubs. They were forced to take life-changing decisions simply because the grass is greener elsewhere.

This is not by any means condoning alleged brutality unleashed by the armed security officers on the citizens, but at the same time, we must always apply sober minds when making accusations. Football is a game of sport that was created to bring people together and make long-lasting friendships; it is certainly not a forum for politics. One hopes that the games will continue undisturbed this weekend because this is what true football people want to see happening, especially now that government has partially allowed vaccinated football followers to watch the games after over a year ban due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

professionalism

We are always preaching professionalism in the local game, but that will remain a far-fetched dream if there are some people who are still intimidated by the presence of security forces clubs in the premier league. Only those with feeble minds will attach such a line of thinking instead of marketing their clubs to get sponsorships that will make them competitive against the security forces clubs. Afterall, Mbabane Swallows, under the leadership of the late Victor ‘Maradona’ Gamedze, successfully dominated these clubs, which shows that such is possible with proper planning. Let us not make the security forces clubs scapegoats for our failures as civilian clubs. Most importantly, let us not allow politicians to pollute our minds to think that football is a platform for pushing political agendas. Just spare us this nonsense!

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