BARCELONA LEGENDS GAME MAY NOT BE FOR THE BEST REASONS
By Shalala Oliver Sepiso
As a sports fanatic and a tourism enthusiast, I am expected to weigh in on Barcelona Legends game and I do so with a heavy heart because my comment may cause problems I didn’t intend to cause.
Personally, I do not think this game is being organised for the right reasons. So I don’t see much coming out of it.
Ever since 1982 when I became a staunch football fan, I have never seen the Ministry of Sports and cabinet ministers organise a football match in Zambia but they actively ignore the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ). I have spoken to FAZ leadership and they have confirmed that the Ministry of Sports has not spoken to them over this game contract to what is supposed to happen. Football in Zambia is under license and any football involving international players is under FIFA and FAZ. There is no excuse about ‘social football’ when the game is being played using official kits, in the National stadium, using official rules and being commercialised. Any commercialisation must be done with permission from the license holder i.e. FAZ.
The question is, who is organising the game? Is it a private game and government officials are using their positions to promote it? Or is it a government promoted event? Did Cabinet approve it? Why is the Ministry of Tourism silent about this? Why are National Sports Council of Zambia and FAZ absent in this? Was cabinet aware that FAZ would be sidelined and is it UPND’s position to ignore these current FAZ leaders?
I think it is a little bit easier from the FAZ side to organise such a game and not from the Government side. Assuming it is GRZ event, have tender procedures been followed to award the agencies and entities involved in organizing and are the funds being raised going to go to Control 99 under the Ministry of Finance (MoF)? Have the funds for organising the event come from MOF and they will be retired? Have ZPPA requirements been met assuming this is purely Government organizing matters?
Was the stadium hired at cost? If its free or it is subsidised, is that not theft?
Is it true that the Ministry may have paid the organisers $2m. If this happened, isn’t this looting going on?
On the other hand, I have never seen government officials promote a football kit which is not the official national kit in a year we have a women’s team going to the World Cup and it needs lots of support and marketing from the Ministry of Sports. Has this Ministry calculated the opportunity cost of not using Kopa kits for this game? Who benefits from sales of the Nike kits which seems to have been made outside the original Nike contract? And who gave permission for private individuals to sell a kit which has a FAZ logo without permission from FAZ? Who allowed private individuals to sell a kit with FAZ branding without FAZ being involved?
If Nike sues for illegal use of their brand in this game, who is liable? Ministry? FAZ?
How did people come into possession of Nike jerseys which are now being sold openly with a FAZ logo? Has the Ministry granted immunity to those who may be prosecuted by FAZ over this issue of abusing the FAZ logo?
What shocks me is how many people are willing to lose their jobs over FAZ politics.
The Ministry of Sports is a policy setter and is for policy matters. When it now goes into operations, this is set dangerous precedents.
Letting what is happening to slide and pretend like nothing is happening is a potential for strife and will create a dangerous precedent. What stops a private entity use government officials to organise a concert? Or a construction project?
Oh and why is Christopher Katongo, the captain of the Chipolopolo 2012 not being allowed to shine since its a game for the 2012 team? Or maybe thie is about other people shining? And who are those?
