THAT Dynamos Football Club is one of the country’s biggest club is not in doubt. Others in its league are Highlanders and Caps United, among many, but the way football is governed in this country leaves a lot to be desired.
Perhaps this is why Dynamos executives and those of other football clubs always seem to act against the welfare of their players.
What they demand are results, accolades and generating more revenue but are not keen to deal with the welfare of their players.
This could be a reflection of bad governance by the country’s football leadership. There are also numerous examples of domestic football club owners acting against the long-term interests of their teams and players either out of naivety or duplicity.
While this has always been a part of the game, the financial stakes could be much higher now — the temptations and opportunities greater; and the falls more precipitous.
We believe the story of Dynamos striker, Christian Epoupa Ntouba, is a sad one, regrettable and pitiable given the sponsorship the team gets annually.
In fact, Dynamos president Keni Mubaiwa has shown that he does not care about the welfare of his players, and his utterances on Sunday betray a character not to be trusted with the development of the sport in this country.
Elsewhere in this paper, we have a story exposing how he knew about Epoupa’s position regarding his signing-on fees, especially that he returned the NetOne SIM card with the $5 100 deposited last Thursday.
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Yet, Mubaiwa, with a straight face, went on national television, where he accused the player of playing games. Mubaiwa must be serious. He needed to have apprised NetOne of the new developments than to go on air to mislead the multitudes of football lovers.
NetOne must censure Mubaiwa and his Dynamos because if administrators of this calibre are not stopped, they risk soiling their brand in the long-term. NetOne was sold a dummy by Dynamos when they knew that their story about Epoupa was not accurate.
What is sad is that Epoupa’s predicament is the same, with most of the players plying their trade in this country, whether from foreign countries or local.
No wonder why whenever they are injured or retire from the game, they are not able to look after themselves. Talk of the legendary Friday Phiri (late), George Shaya and Ronald Sibanda, among many others.
Any right-thinking Dynamos supporter or any football lover would support Epoupa and many other unsung heroes deprived of their livelihood by corrupt administrators of the game.
It is our hope that the football administrators should understand that football is a profession and that Epoupa, like any other footballer, normally use these earnings to prepare for future well after their playing years.
It is no longer a pastime. In Europe and elsewhere football players are business people and investors of repute.
Clearly, this can only happen if we have focused administrators of the game, not the crop that are in charge of local football. At what point will our football administrators take responsibility for their extortionist behaviour?
These youngsters plying their trade locally need to look after their families and must not always be condemned at the whim of football administrators, who might lack or have no knowledge of the game at all.
