Tanzania: ‘Troublemakers’ Warned to Stay Away From Soccer

Tanzania Daily News (Dar es Salaam)

Japheth Kazenga

18 March 2011

THE Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) has prohibited Premier League clubs and regional soccer governing bodies from entertaining ‘coups’ as the move is against their constitutions.

The federation’s spokesman Boniface Wambura said it will not acknowledge any coup staged by members of either regional soccer associations or premier league clubs and advised the members to adhere to their constitutions when solving any form of crisis.

“Regional soccer associations and premier league clubs’ members have the opportunity to organize elections to fill in different positions in their respective institutions whenever the sitting officials step down,” said Wambura.

The federation’s move seems to have come at an opportune moment as illegal coups, particularly in clubs, have slowly been gaining momentum in recent years.

The directive will likely have a much stronger impact on members of the country’s soccer giants Simba and Yanga, who have for years been embracing illegal coups.

The two clubs’ members have surprisingly been willing to illegally oust any of their officials whenever they feel the latter have failed to live up to their clubs’ expectations.

Conflicts within the two rivals’ leadership ranks have as well become the biggest talking point in the local media, whose continuous coverage of the issues seems to unfortunately fuel more misunderstandings.

Meanwhile, the Mainland Premier League clubs have received their last share of transport fare for the closing season.

Wambura said each of the 12 clubs has taken a cheque worth 5.2m/- from the league’s sponsors, Vodacom.

“Each of the club has been paid a total of 24.5m/- for the whole season and the funds is part of Vodacom sponsorship”, he said.

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