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Lefa lucky to be off the hook

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IMAGINE what would have happened if Lady Luck hadn’t laid eggs at Bambatha Tsita especially after the people running domestic football did it yet again.

Simple: the local game would have lost its biggest sponsor.

And that was a few inches away from happening following the gate-takings scandal that rocked this year’s Vodacom Soccer Spectacular tournament.

But because the sponsor already knew the Lesotho Football Association (Lefa) was capable of fashioning the chaos we witnessed in the tournament, the bungling mother body got another bite of the cherry.

That however doesn’t mean Vodacom Lesotho was amused.

I don’t think the telecoms giant will continue putting up with such mess in the future.

That’s not the mileage that a company which has risked tarnishing its good image by sponsoring a poorly-run game deserves.

It’s pointless for anyone at Lefa to blame Matlama or any club for the Vodacom Soccer Spectacular chaos.

The buck stops with the mother body.

One would have thought the violence that spoiled last season’s Premier League campaign had wisened Lefa up.

For a game that has struggled to attract meaningful sponsorship, it’s amazing how its custodians go about their business irresponsibly.

It’s equally amazing that Lefa signed a deal which would see all gate-takings going to the sponsor.

What compounds the mystery is that the football mother body is fully aware that local clubs are extremely poor and would have appreciated a few maloti from the gates.

One is then left wondering whose interests Lefa represents.

Assuming Lefa saw nothing wrong with forfeiting gate-takings to the sponsor, still the chaos that marred the Vodacom Soccer Spectacular would not have happened if some people knew why they are in their jobs in the first place.

If our football administrators cared to introspect, they would be the first to admit they screwed up big time.

They need not be reminded that they have over the years failed dismally to attract meaningful sponsorship even for the national teams, resorting to last-minute scrounging or government bailouts just before international assignments.

Why have big brands been reluctant to be associated with the most-supported sport in Lesotho?

The main reason sponsors are shying away from football is because the game is at the mercy of clueless and uncommitted people.

Secondly, Lefa does not have a plausible policy on sponsorship while a system to build and manage relations with sponsors is something the association has never heard about.

Sponsorship in this age is a business whereby both the sponsor and the sponsored have to benefit.

But if Lefa and its officials can’t comprehend such basics they will not only frustrate Vodacom out of the game but shoo away other potential sponsors.

For now, they should consider themselves lucky Vodacom has not had enough of the manure.

Wait until it hits the fan!

editor@sundayexpress.co.ls

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