Remove thugs from the game
It appears the nauseating thuggery acts that belong in the crime world are slowly being imported to football and no one seems to care enough to get to the root of the problem.
I am all for passion of soccer, but it is pure provocation to adorn the colours of your team at a game it is not involved in and to hurl insults at your fiercest rival supporters, players and even match officials in the name of ganyu. What for?
Sadly, the biggest culprits of these hoodlum antics are Big Bullets and Be Forward Mighty Wanderers supporters and if events of last week’s game between the Nomads and the Bankers are anything to go by, we have a big problem on our hands.
Predictably, football authorities have once again chosen to timidly sit cross-legged and will only act at the prompting. Kapena mukudikira kuti kufe mzungu?
Supporters can watch any game they want, but you do not expect People’s Party (PP) supporters to attend a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) rally in their orange colours; that would be inviting trouble.
The inconsequential game between Big Bullets and Sudan’s Al Hilal should not ordinarily have merited any mention, but pegging the return game at K2 000 for open stands is a decision that has baffled me.
By the way, Bullets lost 4-0 in the first leg of the CAF Champions League encounter, yet all of sudden somebody thinks this is a must-watch game and that people will be fighting for tickets. Is that the best way of maximising revenue opportunities?
Now, Bullets are saying they need K20 million for a home game, but when they travelled to Sudan, they said they would not need assistance. What has changed? Are we failing to add the figures correctly? Don’t tell me there is no one in Bullets executive who knows how to properly use the adding machine.
The Liverpool versus Man United game last week left me with a feeling that Steven Gerrard should quietly leave Liverpool to avoid tarnishing his image after the impressive service to the club over the years. Gerrard’s mind is already somewhere and this was demonstrated by the clumsiness with which he handled the game when he came on.
For Man United, should we say Louis Van Gaal has finally figured out the team’s appropriate system with the inclusion of Juan Mata or should we say it is Michael Carrick that United had been missing because their return into the set-up has improved the team a lot. We still got a long way to learn as the Premier League, as I have always said, is a marathon.
The Champions League pairing, as PSG drew Barcelona while Atletico Madrid will face Real Madrid, looks like a repeat of last year’s fixtures. May the best teams win!!! n
