Botswana national football Under 17 women’s team will not take part in this year’s COSAFA championships.
Botswana Football Association (BFA) has pulled the team out of the competition scheduled for November 5-13 in South Africa. A press release from BFA indicates that the association is unable to raise a team due to the upcoming end of year examinations.
In consultation with stakeholders, the release says BFA have established that there is a rise of coronavirus cases in schools, something which can affect the camp plan.
“Our pupils have had a difficult academic year and we believe we are at a time where we cannot risk their academic future,” says the release.
However, Zimbabwe freelance journalist, Tatenda Gondo, said in an interview tha as much as people wanted football back in the region, she was of the view that COSAFA rushed to announce a date for the women’s tournament.
She said considering that majority of footballers were not active during lockdown restrictions caused by COVID-19 pandemic, the organisation should have given nations ample time to prepare. Gondo said giving a federation three weeks to prepare for the tournament was not wise, considering that players would have to first undergo COVID-19 tests and then later attend COVID-19 awareness training.
Furthermore, Gondo said COSAFA should have also noticed that this was bad timing especially that most junior players would be writing their final examinations.
Gondo, however, said this should be a wakeup call for the association to value grassroots football.
“If we were serious about grassroots football, we would have fielded a younger team to participate in the prestigious regional tournament,” she said. ends
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