NO WAY BACK

The Township Rollers brethren are in one accord as the club embarks on the first steps to being a fully-fledged professional entity.

For one of the most successful football brands in the country, the road to their last weekend’s Annual General Meeting at Gaborone West Community Hall had been long and marked by a lot of hostile episodes. However, the dust has seemingly settled as to whether the club returns to society status or continues on the path to commercialisation by bringing on board an investor with financial clout.

Before electing a new committee to take the club   forward, the Popa faithful agreed on a commercialisation model to adopt. Under this new model, Popa is expected to lease their teams, especially the mainstream premiership side, to an investor, believed to be the local business mogul, Jagdish Shah. In return, the investor is expected to pay the society a certain fee per year as determined by the value of the club.

On paper, this seems like the logical and yet progressive model. This arrangement, dubbed ‘hybrid,’ is expected to take the club to greater heights. If such a model were executed as planned, this would be a positive step towards commercialising football in Botswana and other clubs in the beMOBILE Premiership would be expected to follow suit.  

Most of the Rollers supporters had been vocal and critical towards going back to the society as evidenced by the threats towards influential yet radical supporter Mookodi Seisa after he allegedly called for the team to revert back to the old way of doing things even if it meant they relegate to a lower division.

During the AGM, Rollers Secretary General Khumo Masonya said there was no way the club would go back to operating as a society as winds of change were sweeping through African football calling for the team to commercialise and operate like other companies. He cited the Botswana Football Association’s (BFA) invitation for a club-licensing workshop last year in  December.

“Club licensing in African football basically means the Societies role in team management will be reduced, there will be need for positions like Chief Executive Officer and General Manager in the new model,” Masonya told the multitudes of Rollers supporters.

In addition, Masonya cautioned supporters against taking teams to court, advising that FIFA has its own courts within its structures.