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Yet another Tusker Cup, so soon?
2005-07-09 07:03:15
By Editor
News that Simba SC have been invited to Nairobi for another round of Tusker soccer tournaments came as a surprise, to say the least.
They hardly have had time to take stock of their recent victory in Mwanza, itself though mired in not so little controversy as to its officiating.
Now they are being asked to participate in a far more prestigious contest involving top clubs Kenya, Ghana and South Africa two of whom are to be named.
Since the tourneys hinge on the prize money to be paid at the end, it was noticeable that the amounts being offered for the new competition don’t differ much from the previous.
There is about 50m/- to be shared out among the four sides, the top side getting 25m/-, the runner-up some 15m/-, the third placed 10m/- and the last some 5m/- from East African Breweries, the sponsors. Their own Kenyan side will definitely participate.
Officials at the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) did not seem to have objections about the new outing for the champion club, and it appears it shall not interfere too greatly with their league commitments.
Yet it is a little intensive for the players, and this may perhaps lead to a few queries being brought up if players were being unduly punished.
Is it fair for a single brand manager to come up with two contests, all at midseason?
While it is perfectly understandable that the brand management may have opted for soccer to boost their sales, by having the brand on everyone’s lips, a lacunae of responsibility is evident.
At the same time, the club leaderships seem to be responding to these invitations for pecuniary reasons, that it helps them pay their debts and pay some allowances without seeing the sponsor. Everyone thus breathes an air of freedom.
General rules covering the premier league are designed in such a manner that there are periods of rest where players can recover, take time out and get a new focus whey they restart.
It is like the usual one month annual holiday that employed people are required to take, so that a new start comes up in the body clock, as it is sensitive to time.
Getting it busy all the time dulls its sense of time, achievement and turns into a robot.
This danger hovers over the players if their use of time continues to be unplanned, but certain things are likely to be rectified, for instance, holding at a regional level makes it more professional.
A few drawbacks that were experienced at the local level will be smoothened out, and a better picture of team quality is likely to emerge.
But as it isn’t a representative tourney, it merely has a passing interest, a tourist quality, roughly.
What is yet to be explained is how the two ‘rounds’ of the Nairobi contest are being organised, as it risks making the tourney even less interesting than it now looks.
The routine manner of organising a four-side tourney is a league format, where each side plays the other in a series of three matches.
Then the top two sides organise for the final match, and the other two for the play off, not a knockout format now envisaged.
Were it that a sub-regional Tusker Cup tournament victor emerges from some league format, it would give meat to claims of being victors, not by some lucky draws on a knockout basis.
Even if the players are being excessively overworked, it is still relevant to permit them to play in a sound competition where they will be in a position to lay claim to sucess rather than lucky draw. There is still time to make some rectification on it.
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