A SuperSport programme flighted on Thursday night, August 25th this year (2011), and anchored by Tom Mlambo had very interesting news on soccer development and growth.
Mlambo said the South African based sports channel (SuperSport) had entered into a contract with the South African soccer governing body, SAFA, to flight, live, the country’s premier league to the tune of 200m Euro.
Mlambo said Supersport had also signed a 5m US dollar contact with the Uganda football governing body, FUFA, to flight their premier league, live, for the next five years beginning this year.
The general consensus among sports casters who participated in Mlambo’s SuperSuport programme was that it was time other countries emulated what football governing bodies were doing in South Africa and Uganda by publicizing their respective premier leagues.
For instance, Mlambo argued that much as many soccer fans in Africa followed closely European leagues, it was also time they developed their own local leagues, hence increasing interest at home.
The Supersport casters’ argument makes a lot of sense, especially if one considers the importance of say football both as an entertainment and a source of employment.
In Tanzania, soccer cannot satisfactorily serve as a source of entertainment and employment unless the government, through its ministry responsible for sports, and of course, the Tanzania Football Federation, TFF, emulated what their Ugandan and South African counterparts are doing!
Soccer development and growth in Tanzania will continue to remain nothing but a pipe dream as long as no efforts are made by the government through its local government authorities in providing as many open spaces as possible for soccer and other sports fields in their backyards.
Indeed, for a country as big as Tanzania, it is a shame to have only three presentable stadia (the National Stadium, in Dar es Salaam Amaan Stadium, Zanzibar and CCM Kirumba Stadium, in Mwanza).
In fact, nothing illustrates stadia problem in the country than what happened last week when the government announced the closure of both the National and Uhuru stadia in Dar es Salaam for major repairs.
The government’s decision has forced Dar es Salaam based premier league clubs to look for alternative home grounds, not in Dar es Salaam but in the regions, hence creating a lot of inconveniences for these clubs.
It would be recalled that this problem is not new! We have had this problem almost after every one or two years, whenever the government wanted to carry out renovation work, initially on the Uhuru stadium, before Dar es Salaam had a second stadium added to its sports infrastructure three years ago.
This time around, the problem is happening when Dar es Salaam is teeming with construction of high rise buildings with their developers giving absolutely no regard even to open spaces for gardens where those who would be occupying those new residential blocks could rest!
As this is happening, the city fathers and ministries responsible for sports and lands look the other way without a care in the world!
Now with the foregoing attitudes, how is the government and other spots stakeholders expect to ensure the use of soccer both as a source of entertainment and employment?
As for the TFF, they ought to go further, especially in what they love it best, namely organization of the premier league, by increasing the popularity of the beautiful game among Tanzanians through live coverage by the SuperSport channel which is viewed all over the world.
However, for a start, the TFF should start by improving the premier league through increase of teams in the league. That is one way of making the league more competitive.
Secondly, the TFF should make it mandatory for all premier league clubs to have juvenile teams.
Even if a club is promoted to the premier league, its participation in the league should only be allowed if the club has a well developed juvenile team.
In 1970s, such juvenile teams used to spice premier league matches. Juvenile matches used to be played before the main event on the card, the premier league encounter.
By introducing such juvenile soccer programmes, it would ease national youth coaches’ efforts in keeping close watch on performances of juvenile players whom they could later select for their U-17 national teams.
In fact, Europe’s top flight leagues Tanzania soccer fans are so obsessed about, have partly reached where they are through massive investment they have made in juvenile soccer programmes.
Therefore whatever number of foreign players they have been buying from all over the world, such players have only had one two roles to play, one to strengthen their clubs, but more importantly, to give opportunity to their juvenile players who have been promoted to top flight league to pick a leaf from players from outside Europe.
Therefore if Tanzanians want to get where, say, the British Barclays premier league are, they have no alternative but to do what those who have succeeded have done.
By Attilio Tagalile
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