MUKWIMA CHILALA writes
OUTSPOKEN soccer administrator Blackwell Siwale has raised concern at the plight of coaches and referees in Zambia with the view that their professional development had been neglected due to politicking and in-fighting that had engulfed the game.
And Siwale notes that there is need to have adequate training of the best local coaches in Zambia to establish a reservoir, should there be a void created by the exit of an expatriate coach.
Speaking interview when he featured on Chingola’s I-Wave FM Community Platform programme, Siwale said the current Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) executive had spent more time fighting personal battles than developing the game.
Siwale said the FAZ Technical Directorate under the Director Lyson Zulu should maintain a data base of all coaches and referees in Zambia.
The former FAZ executive Committee member bemoaned the lack of training for coaches and referees in the past four years and insists that there was need to invite reputable coaches and trainers to come and conduct coaching clinics for the local coaches so as to build capacity among indigenous Zambians.
“Let us train our coaches so that if tomorrow Micho says ‘I’m leaving’ (nga alanda ati aya) we’ll have somewhere to fall on because we would have had trained our coaches. We need to train our coaches in this country, fifty five years after independence we can’t always be running to Europe to go and knock ati iyoo tupeleni coach ( that give us a coach ). I don’t think it is necessary,” Siwale said.
“Why is it that its only football where we really need an expatriate coach , why don’t we have the vice chancellor an expatriate at the University of Zambia , why don’t we have the Mayor in Zambia an expatriate, but why football ? We have neglected football which is the most followed sport in the country .We need to put more effort in this sport particularly coach training that’s when we are going to develop.”
Siwale said that instead of relying on expatriate coaches there was need to only instead invite those coaches to conduct coaching course and clinics so as to train the locals.
