Gaborone City Football Association (GCFA) leadership and teams have been implored to run women football league smoothly to attract potential partners and sponsors.
The plea was made by National Women’s Committee chairperson, Itsholeng Disang.
“The need to run a controversy free league is a must. To attract potential partners, we need to be professional and ethical in the way we do things. Partners are attracted to a league that is run smoothly and without controversy,” she advised.
Disang said the launch of the league was an important gesture as it showed football supporters and the public GCFA’s plans. “It signals teams and regional leaders’ commitment and dedication to football, particularly women football. Launching the women league today is going to give potential partners confidence to trust you as the regional leadership that you can be relied upon to partner with,” Disang explained.
The National Women’s Committee chairperson applauded the regional leadership and women teams for coming up with the initiative of running two league divisions, being Division 1 and Division 2 for women.
“The arrangement of having Division 1 and 2 is an initiative that needs to be commended for as the leagues will now become competitive.
Disang expressed gratitude at the Gaborone City football Association for supporting a girl child and women to continue to doing what they like the most. She noted that the good conduct and organisation the region has been displaying will attract more partners or sponsors that will enhance their growth.
At the same time, she cautioned teams to always display good conduct and assist the committee to run Leagues smoothly. She advised that committee and match officials must be respected.
She also cautioned teams against forfeiting games, saying ‘failure to honour matches must be the thing of the past.’ “We do not want to hear the reports of teams failing to honour the matches on time,” she cautioned.
The National Women’s Committee chairperson also encouraged teams and officials to continue to play their part to ensure that the leagues finish on schedule. She said this will allow time for National club Championship to be played at the end of all regional leagues as scheduled.
“The Champion from Gaborone Women’s league will have an opportunity to play with other regional women champions, which will eventually produce a national champion that will represent Botswana at the next CAF Club Championships. The national tournament will be sponsored by Diamond Trading Company Botswana (DTCB).
For her part, GCFA Secretary Kago Mosinyi explained that Gaborone region has 15 women teams and these have been divided into two divisions.
“A tournament was staged to determine which team plays in which division. There were two groups and from each group, the top four automatically qualified for Division one while the bottom fell to division 2,” Mosinyi explained.
On the issue of referees, the GCFA Secretary said they have been resolved. Mosinyi said they do not expect any problems in this regard until the end of the season.
