What’s behind Flames curse?

That poor funding and lifestyles undermine the Flames is beyond doubt, but even eating chips, chicken and too much nsima could be stifling their performance, experts have cautioned.

Athletes such as footballers are supposed to eat minimal fats or fried foods such as chips and chicken. They must eat less nsima and not even have lunch hours before a game, said nutritionist Honest Chirwa.

“A footballer must not eat more than one and half [nsima lumps]. Fried foods such as chips and chicken are not recommended for footballers. They need fats, but not more than 20 percent,” Chirwa observed last Thursday.

Most domestic players contacted admitted they just eat what is readily available.

In short, poor funding means nutrition, supplementation and gym are a luxury.

Additionally, Chirwa cautioned that fulfilling conjugal rights a day before a game affects performance. Flames players are released a day before a game and return to camp later in the day.

“Healthy living; that is intake of water, diet and lifestyles are critical for athletes. You need to balance healthy diet with healthy lifestyles. You can have a proper diet but because of poor life style, there can never be good performance,” said the Blantyre Adventist director of support services.

He said healthy food can be anything rich in fibres such as nsima ya m’gaiwa and salads (vegetables).

A right diet hours before a game is also critical to performance on the pitch. Chirwa recommended only a healthy lunch diet 24 hours before a game and just a heavy breakfast and a glass of pure fruit juice for lunch on the actual day.

Flames’ conditioning expert Augustine Banda Jnr agreed with Chirwa. He also attributed the team’s struggles to absence of long-term ‘footballer-centred’ development programme focusing on building the body, mind and incentives.

“We lack consistency not just with the players but also coaching panel. We were unable to manage changes in our team [Flames]. We needed to phase out and focus on the future,” the Sports Complex general manager Banda explained.

To salvage the situation, Banda said, Malawi football must identify a group of young footballers that can be put on long-term development programme, investing in their incentives, gym expenses, nutrition and psychology.

“The athlete is not at the centre of Malawi sports; they are just a means to get by. There is a misunderstanding; sports people do not understand sports science. We need to understand three aspects to develop—coaches, players and competition,” he noted.

But funding is a big issue. FAM accuses government of inadequate funding and worse still, there are no policies to attract sponsors. Existing ones are even complaining of heavy taxation, the association’s president Walter Nyamilandu complained while dismissing critics who accuse FAM of failing to market the game.

But Ministry of Youth and Sports principal secretary Alex Mseka argued that sports can offer sponsors advertising platform and also said it is unfair to criticise government when over 30 sports associations look up to it for funding.

“The Sports Council apportions the funding accordingly. They look at the number of associations. They look at the cake and previous allocation. The money is there as a catalyst for their activities. To run associations, they need to raise their own money,” said Mseka.