This piece was first written last November after
Likuena’s qualification for the group stage of 2014 Fifa World Cup qualifying,
thanks to a two-legged preliminary round win over Burundi.
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| Likuena |
Congratulations to
Likuena for making it through to the group stage of 2014 Fifa World Cup qualifying.
It
is a notable achievement for national coach Leslie Notši and his players. It has
put Lesotho amongst Africa’s top national teams, and also breathed life into
local football. Likuena can look now forward to competing alongside Ghana, Zambia
and Sudan for the right to
make it through to the Fifa World Cup Finals in 2014, in Brazil.
However,
this success doesn’t mean we should rest on our laurels or even become
big-headed. We shouldn’t fool ourselves thinking we can conquer the world.
This
is just a start; a building block that has to be built upon.
The
decision by the Lesotho Football Association (Lefa) to suspend the senior team last
year and focus on Lesotho’s
national youth sides has so far been vindicated. But more now needs to be done
to consolidate this progress.
For
one thing Lesotho
football won’t go anywhere while it’s still being played on potato fields.
Players and supporters alike continue to decry this situation, which has remained
unchanged for decades.
There
also has to be more investment in grassroots football while talent
identification has to start from schools.
And
when this talent is identified it needs much better nurturing and monitoring.
Better
management of the top-flight is also desperately needed, while clubs themselves
need to work harder to improve their administration. On average Lesotho Premier
League clubs are run on debt and are only kept afloat by well wishers. Players
are not insured or paid, and have to fend for themselves.
All
these factors snowball, resulting in Lesotho
being left behind at the highest level by almost all countries in Africa.
This
phenomenon illustrated by how Lesotho
has always fared well in youth football but failed at senior level. This is because
of the poor levels of the league, administration and facilities. Lesotho
currently has a talented generation of players at its disposal and their talent
has to be afforded a proper platform.
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| Lehlomela Ramabele... one for the future |
It
is time we began to seriously move towards semi-professionalism.
It
is not like we don’t have the guidelines. The Mohale Declaration is there –
signed and sealed by Lesotho’s
club in 2008. But, over three years after its signing it’s hard to say Lesotho
football has progressed in the way the roadmap intended it to. For
example the Mohale Declaration says: “by 2014 all clubs will have consistently
access to (or ownership of) developed training facilities that will by 2014 be
fully provided and include turf, dressing rooms and training lights”… It is time
we stopped paying lip service to vital aspects like this. And Lesotho has to
use Likuena’s immediate success as a starting point.
Of
course there are external of challenges, economic and demographic, which affect
Lesotho
football but most challenges can be overcome. The only thing that is needed is
a more solemn approach by the Lefa. Security and improving facilities are just
two aspects Lesotho
which mostly require initiative.
What
we have to realise is that Lesotho
has fallen behind all its neighbours.
True
leadership means being able to offer workable solutions to problems and being
willing to offer new ideas. If something isn’t done now then this window of
opportunity for Lesotho
football will be missed, just as it was in 2000.
November 2011
Molapo Sports Centre
