National Sports

Sulom to take charge of gate collections

Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has said as part of the club licensing drive, with effect from next season, gate collections will no longer be shared after matches.

FAM club licensing manager Casper Jangale said Super League of Malawi (Sulom) will not be entrusted with the proceeds, which will be deposited into stakeholders’ accounts, including clubs.

Fans queue to pay for entry into Kamuzu Stadium to watch a game
Fans queue to pay for entry into Kamuzu Stadium to watch a game

“This is being done to maximise gate collections and enforce credibility, transparency and accountability.

“At the end of the season, clubs will be expected to produce audited accounts, now how will they do that when they do not know how much they made from the gates because the current system is faulty whereby clubs share the money right at the stadium and we are saying, it is time we moved away from ‘Mickey Mouse’ kind of administration,” said Jangale on the sidelines of the Sulom annual general meeting (AGM) held in Salima last week.

Sulom auditors also recommended the same arrangement and for the same reasons after noting that in some cases, the money raised did not reflect actual turnout.

However, while describing it as a commendable move, Big Bullets, who attract the biggest crowds at domestic football matches, said FAM and Sulom were just scratching the surface on problems related to gate collections.

“The move could help to bring sanity in gate collection management, but to me FAM and Sulom have deliberately been avoiding the critical issue of how clubs can generate more revenue from gate collections.

“First, let them forego or, at least, reduce the 10 percent cut they get from the collections. That is the first step to demonstrate their seriousness about financially empowering clubs,” said Bullets general secretary Harold Fote.

He said FAM already gets annual funding from Fifa and also gets a lion’s share from international matches while Sulom are supposed to be covered by the administration fees they get from sponsors.

Blantyre-based fan Kelvin Chifunda shared Fote’s view, saying FAM and Sulom rip off clubs by getting cuts from the gate collections.

But Jangale argued that Fote and Chifunda are missing the point on the matter.

“Bodies such as Fifa and CAF get cuts from local gate collections through FAM because it is like tax, therefore, there is nothing wrong with FAM and Sulom getting a cut from the gate collections because they are used for administrative purposes such as organising technical courses for referees, coaches and administrators as well as general meetings, it is an entitlement.

“We are failing because all our energies are channelled towards gate collections instead of exploring other avenues of generating income such as marketing drives,” he said.

 

 

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