21 Jan 2024

Premier League autonomy is paramount for the advancement of football in the country, says Botswana Football League (BFL) interim chairperson, Tebogo Sebego.

Addressing a shareholders engagement meeting in Palapye on January 20, Sebego said the league independence was following world trends.

He said it was paramount for the country’s football to align with world trends and standards.

He said an autonomous elite league would be run efficiently and that the move would accord the league the opportunity to self-regulate, manage own affairs and to conduct processes such as registration, discipline and seeking sponsorship.

He added that the move would also empower the league and make it more profitable and agile.

Sebego said BFL was formed with teams being shareholders, and that they were the building block as without teams there was no football.

He said within the model of autonomy, teams were decisions makers.

He said the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) that was signed between Botswana Football Association (BFA) and BFL was done without any serious engagements.

He said the tussle between the BFA and BFL was caused by the inclusion of some clauses in the constitution regarding the promotion and relegation of teams.

He said the constitution delegated that power to the board of directors while shareholders should be the ones holding the power.

He said the board of directors were servants of the people and teams shareholders or principals, and that the meeting was their platform to prescribe what should happen as the drivers of the league.

He added that shareholders should give the board of directors milestones to drive their interests, and that they should prescribe how they wanted the directors to serve them.

Sebego said the Saturday meeting was triggered by the misalignment that led to interference on the BFL autonomy, and that there was need to iron out differences before the league could resume.

“Whatever we discussed was geared towards returning to the football grounds and there are people who have invested in football and would like to see teams returning to play, but you can’t play when you are disgruntled,” he said.

On the suspension of the BFL by BFA, he said there was need to make up for the lost time as the league had been halted for almost a month.

However, he said there was a need to protect football autonomy at all costs, adding that it also came with responsibilities.

Sebego also said football issues must be resolved within the confines of the statutes. ENDS