THOUGHTS FROM TELALINI

STATE OF MOST FOOTBALL PITCHES WORRYING

It is not a secret that of late, Zambian club football has been getting international attention. In fact, Zambia’s club football has always received international attention but lately, a new dimension to it has arisen as more foreign players want to play in the Zambian Super League. This is a clear indication of the increased competitiveness of the league.  This feat appears sweeping but the fact is that never at any point has the Zambian league attracted quality players from countries such as Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania.  With all these foreign quality players trekking into the Zambian Super League, I can only assume that the league is not only competitive but also well remunerating. However, remuneration and the leagues attractiveness is not the crux of this article. While the league is attracting quality players, the state of the football pitches leave much to be desired. Most of the pitches I have watched club football from do not only have bumpy surfaces but in most cases have over grown grass. Indeed, they are not bumpy or overgrown greens, they are patchy with brown grass. These are football grounds that host big clubs like Zanaco, Nkana, Zesco and Power Dynamos, Green Buffalos.

The question in my ruminations that begs an answer is that why are most clubs investing in branding their team buses and signing international quality players without doing anything about their rickety pitches? Where is FAZ in all this? Are these pitches inspected before the seasons commence? Why should a team of Zanaco, or Nkana’s pedigree play in a football pitch that resembles a grazing land?   Look at the state of the Woodlands, Nchanga, Konkola, Sunset, Shinde, Godfrey Ucar Chitalu, Edwin Imboela, Nkana, and Arthur Davies playing turfs. They are in a very poor state for one to enjoy watching the flare that comes with Zambian club football. The only stadium with a semblance of a good pitch is Nkoloma Stadium, home of Red Arrows FC. It lately looks rundown though. In fact, watching Zambian football on these poor turfs is boring no matter how good teams playing are. Which player can fully express their skill in such pitches? Mind you, the Zambian Super League games are televised across the African continent on Supersport Channels. Watching the Zambian Super League on Supersport sometimes is very embarrassing because skilled players and very excellent team formations are made to look like school boys playing in some isolated neighbourhood. I have every reason to believe that some of these career threatening injuries suffered by many players are exacerbated by the very perilous playing surfaces. 

If the Zambian super League games are transmitted across Africa, how then can we attract quality players and also showcase our beautiful game with such poor pitches? I am agitated and very worried that if this situation goes unabated, the league may lose its attractiveness. If you compared the quality of the pitches across the Zambezi in Zimbabwe, one would wonder if those pitches are in country faced with economic malaise and yet are able to maintain them. The situation is same with the Kenyan Premier League whose packaging of their league has become attractive by not only improving the branding around the stadia but most importantly improving the state of their playing turfs.  

The owners of these pitches should take keen interest and focus on building capacity in their groundsmen to ensure that football as a product is well packaged starting with a good playing turf. Perhaps, these teams should consider tapping Golf clubs such as Lusaka Golf and Chainama Golf Clubs to learn how they manage to maintain their golf courses.  Yes, Zambia has quality and exciting players but the state of the playing surfaces leaves much to be desired. It high time these big clubs who appear ready to part away with millions of Kwachas to brand their teams, sign foreign players and pay them well refocus their strategy by improving the quality of playing surfaces. There is no substitute to good football, it can only come when teams improve their turfs and the rest will follow.