Former Simba Sports Club midfielder, Mohamed Banka, cut out a sorry figure on one of the sports pages of The Citizen on Sunday, July 31st this year, when he was complaining over soccer clubs’ maltreatment of players.
Banka was quoted by the paper as saying that it was time Tanzanian players “observe their rights or else their career would be ruined.”
The midfielder did not however, come up with a suggestion on what Tanzanian players, especially those playing in the premier league, should do in order to save their soccer careers from clubs leaders whom he described as incompetent who make unfair decisions against players.
The apparent source of Banka’s complaints is his former club’s (Simba Sports Club) decision to loan him, without his consent, to the Villa Squad which was recently promoted to the premier league.
Simba’s decision, which is increasingly becoming popular among premier league clubs in the country, is not new as far as international soccer management is concerned.
It is a practice that clubs the world over resort to when they don’t need a player, for a variety of reasons, during a given period.
One of such reasons could be the player’s falling standards, and according to the practice, salary for the loaned player continues to be paid by his former club.
However, other clubs loan out their player because of the player’s growing indiscipline, although many clubs have a tendency of hiding such facts for obvious reasons.
Indeed, if indiscipline is one of the reasons, no club under the sun would accept such a player.
In fact, some of the international clubs known to have loaned out a player on the ground of discipline are Arsenal and Manchester City, and the player involved is Togo’s national soccer player, Adebayor.
Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger sold out (as opposed to loaning) Adebayor to Manchester City after getting fed up with the player’s growing indiscipline.
While at Arsenal, Adebayor had fought against more than four players.
The Togolese player continued with his pastime at Manchester City, forcing team manager, Manchini to loan him to Real Madrid where he continued to fight against other players!
When his loan period expired, Adebayor returned to his former London club, but because Manchini was no longer interested in the player, he tricked him into taking a vacation.
And just when he was enjoying himself, Manchester City main team left for a training tour abroad minus Adebayor!
When the Togolese player returned to London, he was told by the Manchester City’s management to train with the club’s youth team!
Fortunately, for Banka, his loaning has nothing to do with indiscipline, but rather falling standards.
Simba no longer need him, hence their decision to loan him to another club which has just entered soccer elite, the premier league.
Being a new entrant in the premier league, Villa Squad need a player of Banka’s experience and this is what Banka should have considered before complaining and who knows, he could have made his way back to his former club in the same way his colleague, Ulimboka Mwakingwe has done.
Indeed, there are many players in the world who were loaned out to other clubs for reasons that range from indiscipline to falling soccer standards.
However, some of such players later either returned to their former clubs or bought by other clubs after they had proved their worth.
Banka has however, decided to hang up his boots because he does not want to player for a club which in his own words, he does not like.
Of course, Simba management also erred. They should have allowed the player to choose the club he wanted instead of just loaning him out to a club of their liking.
But if soccer is Banka’s way of earning his livelihood, I would advise him to go to Villa Squad and prove his former club wrong, especially when the two clubs clash in the premier league.
And talking about proving one’s club wrong, this is another subject that is worth looking into critically.
Banka may have reached the end of his playing career. However, one thing Banka and his colleagues ought to be asking themselves is what were their objectives when they decided that soccer would become part of their career.
An honest answer to the foregoing question is critical in avoiding a problem that has now befallen the former Simba player.
It is very unfortunate that many Tanzanian soccer players join Simba and Young African clubs as an end in itself rather than a stepping stone to bigger things that include, among others, prying their wares in Europe and this where the problem starts.
It is pathetic watching either Simba or Yanga taking part in continental clubs tournaments.
Most of their Tanzanian players, if not all, lack both focus and commitment in the game and the result has always been the same, early elimination from the tournament.
One finds the same thing when Tanzanian players represent their national teams in Taifa Stars, Serengeti or Ngorongoro.
Lack of focus and commitment is the name of the game. Our players don’t seem to realize that it is only through raising up the level of their game that they can catch the eyes of soccer scouts from all over the world.
And because they have failed to raise, consistently, the performance of their game, most of them end up starting and ending their careers with Simba or Yanga in the same way Banka finds himself in!
The few Tanzanian soccer players who have made it abroad have gone to nondescript clubs, but most of them have failed because of indiscipline.
Others who have made it in the lower rungs of the European league don’t seem to realize that if such chances are well utilized, they could catapult them into elite European leagues.
In fact, the foregoing has been one of the paths taken by many top-flight African players that include Ghana’s Abeid Pele and former Young Africans’ striker, Shabani Nonda, who ended up playing for France’s elite club, Monaco.
Both Abeid and Nonda started their professional soccer careers in the lower rungs of Swiss league before they were later spotted by elite French clubs, Olympic Masaille and Monaco respectively.
It is important to note that when Nonda Shabani was about to be engaged by a South African club, his level of playing was lower than that of Young Africans’ midfield maestro, Yusuf Macho.
Both Nonda and Macho would later be engaged, simultaneously by two different South African clubs and unfortunately for Macho, he had a knee injury that dented his chances.
I say dented because when he recovered from his career-threatening injury, he could have picked up his pieces and turned into a top-flight professional.
After all, as I have already said, unlike Nonda, Macho was a complete player.
Unfortunately, unlike Nonda, Macho, just like many other Tanzanian players, lacked the steel commitment and the never-say-die attitude that other foreign players seem to have!
Another example comparable to that of Macho is that of the Simba player, Haruna Moshi, who bagged a salivating contract with a Swedish club, but allowed the golden opportunity to slip through his clumsy fingers over indiscipline!
Barely two weeks ago, Taifa Stars’ Danish coach, Poulsen directed the U-23 national soccer coach, Jamhuri Kiwhelu, to include Moshi into his U-23 national team so that he could assess his performance, but we all know what happened!
The guy did not turn up at the U-23 training camp and this surprised even his own Ugandan club coach.
Had Moshi joined the U-23 and performed to his highest ability, Poulsen could have included him in the senior team.
Poulsen did what he did because Moshi had been a closed book for him.
It is important for players the likes of Moshi to realize national teams provide the easiest avenue for being spotted by soccer scouts that look for players for top flight European clubs.
A player who shuns opportunities to play for his national team shuts himself out from getting opportunities of plying his wares for more lucrative cluabs abroad.
By Attilio Tagalile
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