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Mandla Moyo, Sports Reporter
“OUR sportspersons need to be treated with respect they deserve by their employers since they are professionals who earn a living through sport.”
These are the words of football legend Alois Bunjira following the bungling by football as well as netball authorities in the country prior as well as during major tournaments.
The amateurish approach by administrators of these two disciplines attracted a lot of attention from the world during the two teams’ tour on duty at the Africa Cup of Nations as well as the Vitality Netball World Cup in Liverpool.
For a number of days Zimbabweans were kept on the edge of their seats after the men’s football threatening to down their tools before the commencement of the tournament. Not only did this sad predicament embarrass the administrators but it also put the country in bad light in the eyes of the world.
After the storm went down the team then played, drawing once while losing twice, a situation that saw them among the first teams to book their flight home despite all the promises made before the tour began.
It is this bungling that led “Kriss Kross” as Bunjira was known back during his hey days, to vent his frustration with regards to how our sport is being run in the country.
“I am putting across the administrative bungling, you don’t have to earn much to behave professionally. A contract of RTGS$10 bond is still the same as a contract for US$10 000. The only difference should be the figures but the professionalism should be the same. Having said that, no one plays sport at that level for free and just for the country, we should not take sportspeople that much for granted,” wrote Bunjira on social media.
This is not the first time that teams on national duty are not administered properly as Zimbabwean history is littered with fights between athletes and their administrators particularly when it come to issues to do with their allowances.
The ladies’ side spent much of their time camped at a primary school in Mbare, Harare without anyone raising a voice. Despite their treatment they left a lot of people with egg on their face after they performed beyond expectations in the tournament, in turn attracting admiration from the entire world.
Online Reporter
Bongani Ndlovu