Football Shouldn’t Beg
FUFA’S Secretary General is reported to have said that the Ugandan football authorities are seeking the financial assistance of a sports philanthropist.
FUFA’S Secretary General is reported to have said that the Ugandan football authorities are seeking the financial assistance of a sports philanthropist.
Haruna Mawanda says the Federation of Uganda Football Federations wants a meeting with Michael Ezra to discuss the possibility of his financing the engagement of a national team coach.
How pathetic!
While Ezra has been a welcome, if controversial, benefactor to some sports, by virtue of their being perennially under-funded, there is no need football to seek his financing.
Why? Because football is rich; it is potentially self-financing. Because it is simplistic to think that Ugandan football’s problems are the lack of money. Why, as recently as five years ago, FUFA had tied up a sponsorship deal for the senior national team with one of Kampala’s big corporate concerns.
A few months later, contrary to contractual obligations, they went and negotiated a similar deal with that company’s rival. Not long afterwards, both companies pulled out. Unlike all other sports, football in Uganda commands a mass following. This is a goldmine that FUFA is sitting on.
What the football authorities need to do is to think strategically on how to tap into this big base. The game needs to be made more attractive to get the fans to come through the turnstiles. Corporate funding will be attracted, not through the kind of bungling we witnessed in the two deals cited above, but by thoughtfully presenting programmes that will build the game through the various stages. FUFA needs to have audited accounts. Looking for funding the way Mawanda proposes, is rather seeking the easy way out. He will have to be more thoughtful.
Ends
Haruna Mawanda says the Federation of Uganda Football Federations wants a meeting with Michael Ezra to discuss the possibility of his financing the engagement of a national team coach.
How pathetic!
While Ezra has been a welcome, if controversial, benefactor to some sports, by virtue of their being perennially under-funded, there is no need football to seek his financing.
Why? Because football is rich; it is potentially self-financing. Because it is simplistic to think that Ugandan football’s problems are the lack of money. Why, as recently as five years ago, FUFA had tied up a sponsorship deal for the senior national team with one of Kampala’s big corporate concerns.
A few months later, contrary to contractual obligations, they went and negotiated a similar deal with that company’s rival. Not long afterwards, both companies pulled out. Unlike all other sports, football in Uganda commands a mass following. This is a goldmine that FUFA is sitting on.
What the football authorities need to do is to think strategically on how to tap into this big base. The game needs to be made more attractive to get the fans to come through the turnstiles. Corporate funding will be attracted, not through the kind of bungling we witnessed in the two deals cited above, but by thoughtfully presenting programmes that will build the game through the various stages. FUFA needs to have audited accounts. Looking for funding the way Mawanda proposes, is rather seeking the easy way out. He will have to be more thoughtful.
Ends