21 Jan 2025

Botswana Darts Association (BDA) will this weekend head to Lotsane Senior School in Palapye for their quadrennial elective general meeting.

Speaking in an interview, BDA public relations officer, Thato Maphorisa indicated that the association was expected to emerge from Palapye with an entirely new committee as none of the current committee members had indicated a will to seek re-election.

“All the current eight members have cited differing reasons for not seeking re-election, and common amongst that is work commitments, which they reasoned hindered them from giving the association full attention that it deserves,” he said.

He said that the committee felt that doubling between the association’s demands and work commitment hindered the association from growth.

“So they found it better to make way for a new committee that will give the association full attention,” he said.

Maphorisa said that most of the out-going committee members were also young people who still wanted to be active in the sport, but the constitution limited them as it did not allow some position holders to participate in the national team.

“So some had to choose between playing or serving in the committee, but most chose to play in order to boost their careers,” he said.

Maphorisa however, clarified that the decision not to seek re-election did not mean that all was not well in the association.

He also indicated that all the eight positions in the National Executive Committee had candidates except for the positions of president and PRO.

“The closing date was January 18, but for these two positions, we extended to until just before the dissolution of the current committee. The positions of vice president and youth coordinator are the only ones contested by more than one candidate while the remaining four are unopposed,” he said.

Apart from the elections, Maphorisa said that the out-going committee would be expected to brief the clubs on achievement during its tenure, and that one of the main challenges they faced while in office was lack of sponsorship.

“This is one of the major challenges in the sport, and such lack of sponsorship has often forced players to dip into their pockets even when on national team duties. The situation is even made worse by the fact that darts has been placed in tier four in the Botswana National Sports Commission sponsorship model, which places us among the least assisted financially,” he said.

On the positive side however, Maphorisa said that they had managed to cleanse the image of darts from its previous association with alcohol.

“When we came darts were more associated with alcohol to the extent that even on national tournaments, it was normal for players to sip while playing. We have since reduced that and that helped us attract young players into the game, and we even registered a club for people with disability,” he said.

Maphorisa also appreciated the out-going committee for its boldness in taking some major decisions during its tenure, and said that they would be available in case the new committee needed advice.

About 55-degelates across the two regions of north and south are expected. ENDS