Editorial cartoon

The world kisses Year 2011 goodbye today. It is a year that will go into the history of Tanzania as one that saw popular sports including soccer, boxing, athletics and swimming having made little impression, whether local or international.

As usual, officials in the respective associations blamed the dismal performance to poor preparations, essentially meaning being forced to operate on shoestring budgets and general lack of moral and material support.

Although some indeed lacked expertise and did not land the funds they badly needed to line up athletes properly ahead of various levels of friendly and competitive games, these do not constitute the only or major reason for shoddy displays.

There is no exaggeration or distortion in saying that it’s only the Tanzania Boxing Federation that prepared for and organised all of their tournaments and various other activities without sponsorship, or with sponsorship too small even to buy a few cartons of bottled drinking water.

If the truth be said, the problem with respect to soccer was lack of planning and seriousness at both club and national team levels.

The national soccer team, Taifa Stars, has for quite some time enjoyed steady sponsorship and a world-class coach to match.

Athletics and swimming similarly both enjoy reasonably handsome sponsorship from the corporate world and individuals, but they always end up performing badly – plagued by lack of expertise.

As a result, despite the support they get, soccer, athletics and swimming has failed to win us anything worth writing home about in international tournaments.

Alongside failing to qualify for the 2012 African Cup of Nations (AFCON), Taifa Stars just could not defend the Council of East and Central Africa Football Association (CECAFA) championship on home soil.

Tanzania did not win even a single medal at the East and Central Africa Athletics championships held in Dar es Salaam, just as was the case in the All Africa Games in Maputo and the New Delhi Commonwealth Games. We fared no better in swimming.  

But the year 2011 will also go down in history as one which saw some of our sportswomen doing us proud in both local and international tournaments.

Our netball team recorded a historic win with a silver medal in Maputo All Africa Games, thus entering the international (IFNA) rankings.

Our women cricketers emerged second at the T20 African Women Championship, while their U-19 colleagues won the African Cricket Association Championship.

Women similarly sparkled by winning the East Africa All Africa Challenge Trophy (EAACT) in golf at Dar es Salaam’s Lugalo grounds, while also emerging second at continental level.  

Much like all other sporting disciplines, women netball, cricket and golf encountered a range of challenges which could have hindered them from achieving their goals, but they fought on hard enough to make the nation smile.

We now need to have realistic New Year resolutions which can see our country doing performing well in all manner of sports. 

It’s human nature to abhor losing, so we must plan to fight hard and intelligently enough to win. We salute all athletes who have given Tanzanians reason to smile, and wish all sport lovers a Happy and Prosperous New Year.