‘Fire Zifa? No I won’t do that’

08 Jun, 2014 - 00:06 0 Views
‘Fire Zifa? No I won’t do that’

The Sunday Mail

andrew langa

Government has ruled out the knee-jerk reaction of dissolving the Zifa board following the country’s elimination from the Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign. The move, which will see Zimbabwe being suspended from all international football activities, has been suggested as a way forward by some “hallucinating” football analysts.

World soccer governing body Fifa does not brook Government interference in the running of football.

History is awash with examples of countries that have been banned from international football after their governments went against the Fifa statutes.

Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Andrew Langa, although admitting that Government is concerned with the state of the national game, ruled out the dissolution of the Zifa board.

“What will such a move achieve? Why should we throw away the baby together with the bath water?
“We all know how Fifa reacts when a government interferes with the running of football and we will not be pressured into making a decision that will be detrimental to Zimbabwean football,” he said.

“We will instead have a football indaba where we will invite stakeholders to come and air their views as we seek to map a way forward.
“In the build-up to the indaba, I will direct the SRC (Sports and Recreation Commission) to work closely with Zifa in coming up with a clear programme of action.

“There is need to prepare for the future now through the Under-17, Under-20 and Under- 23 teams.”
Former Harare City chairman and Zifa presidential election losing candidate Leslie Gwindi last week called on Minister Langa to dissolve the Cuthbert Dube-led board.

He argued that the painful decision is needed for the good of the game.

“We have to reach a time when we should ask the board to leave office NOW and give football a chance to live again.
“Langa should just fire the Zifa board and if Fifa fight in Zifa corner (sic), to suspend the nation from playing, so be it.

“After all, there is no competition anyway as we will not play competitive football in the next two years,” the firebrand administrator posted on his Facebook page.

There has been speculation over the fate of the country’s junior teams with some arguing that they have been banned from competing at the international level.

The speculation was triggered by the Under 20 and Under 17 national teams’ failure to fulfil Africa Youth Championships away qualifiers to Angola and Congo Brazzaville respectively with Zifa citing financial constraints.

The incidents in August and November 2012 were expected to see Caf coming down hard on Zifa, but it would appear that the continental soccer governing body conveniently looked the other way.

Tawengwa Hara, the Zifa board member responsible for national teams, reiterated that the country’s junior teams have not been banned.
“I know there has been a lot of speculation on that matter, but as far as we are concerned, our junior teams have not been banned . . . there is no correspondence to that effect,” he said.

 

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