Let’s chill with Carlsberg!
About eight years ago the Flames travelled to Morocco for an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier. Sadly, at that time the Flames WORE England jerseys donated by the English FA and at a pre-match meeting the then Atlas Lions captain Mustafa Hadji made fun of his Flames counterpart Peter Mponda when he taunted him: ‘It is a pleasure to meet you David Beckham!’
That was not all, Hadji also raised a ‘concern’ to the match commissioner, saying they would protest to CAF because according to the communication they got, they were supposed to play Malawi and not ‘England’. Around the same period, the Flames travelled to Tunisia where they suffered one of their worst humiliation in history, going down 7-0. Due to financial constraints, the team was forced to sleep on shamba (floor) at the Malawi Embassy’s tiny office reception. As they took a stroll in the streets of Rabat the following morning, curious onlookers alerted the police that they had seen a group of black young men who they suspected were asylum seekers.
There was also a time when I accompanied the team to Zimbabwe by road for a friendly match. Along the way, the players complained that they were hungry and asked the driver to stop at a farm which they invaded and helped themselves with bananas, but alas they were caught in the act by a guard who chased them with a sjambok.
Ladies and gentlemen, funny as these tales may sound, they are the sad reflection of our national team’s sorry financial plight not long ago and yet there was still an awful lot of expectation from the nation to perform in the name of patriotism—a team that would leave the country wearing different attires such as T-shirts written ‘Zikatha Nkalima’, ‘Proudly American’ or South Africa or English Premiership club jerseys—sad.
Carlsberg Malawi Limited’s rescue package, therefore, is a timely relief and for a change, probably our football ambassadors will now be getting decent allowances and won’t it be nice seeing them donning T-shirts written ‘Malawi Flames’ at the back and something like ‘It calls for a Carlsberg’ on the chest? Shout with me, Yes!
To the dudes at FAM, Carlsberg made it crystal clear that this money is for players’ welfare and the team’s engagememts. It is not meant for your personal loans which even my little pal and competitions officer Gomezgani Zakazaka can get to buy his favourite bayabaya wamabonzo at Makheta Market, and to the guys at Carlsberg—you chill and it indeed calls for a Carlsberg! AOB: Tough luck to our Under-20 lads, to me we should have got it over and done in the first leg against the boys from DRC who appeared more like ndombolo dancers than footballers. Glory be to God. Uloliwe..Uloliwe wayidudula hii…Neng’asiza [The train is pushing].
