adminThose behind Asiagate demonstrated that they were into football not out of passion for the game but to enrich themselves.
The players were, unfortunately, small fish in a game involving sharks. Thus they were used as pawns on the field of play. Instead of those trips raising money for Zifa while at the same time raising the profile of Zimbabwean football and individual players, we became subjects of abuse and ridicule. Our rankings went down in the Fifa Coca-Cola world rankings. With a poor ranking, Zifa lost a lot as other stronger countries could not dare engage in friendlies with the Warriors.
It was sad that even the 2012 World Cup had nothing for Zimbabwe. With over 4 400 room nights we could not be considered as a training base for any of the participating teams because of our track record.
The decision by Zifa to commute bans to fines should not be viewed as backtracking. Zifa, we want to believe, in reviewing its earlier position have taken into consideration the impact of the suspensions or bans to the careers of the footballers who solely survive on football. While the big fish benefited more than a hundredfold, most of the players have nothing to show for the trips to Asia, Bulgaria and the Cecafa tournament. The big fish that benefited we are told bought expensive cars, constructed houses here in Zimbabwe and bought properties in Johannesburg’s most affluent suburbs.
Suspending or banning the players for life meant their careers were doomed and as such no source of livelihood not only for the individual player but his family as well. We want at this juncture to applaud Zifa for being humane by giving the players a second chance.
If Zifa had stuck to complete bans without option of fines, soccer would have punished not only the players but the innocent children, wives, mothers, fathers and grand parents whose breadwinners are the Asiagate victims. The Asiagate episode should, however, serve as a lesson to all that corruption can bring about a fast buck but the consequences might be too ghastly to contemplate. The reputation of the country’s soccer should not have been sold for 30 pieces of silver and we hope the country will not witness a repeat of such a shameful scandal.
Online Reporter