African Sports Monthly Vol I. Issue II February 2018 | Page 11

“It’s all about policy you know … most
companies are not willing to commit
a lot of money on social obligations
hence infrastructure development
such as football grounds, netball,
volley ball courts cannot be initiated
and maintained,” explains Lunda.
“Lawn Tennis Courts around the
country are not up to standards,
apart from the one at the Blantyre
Youth Centre. Other available courts
are privately owned by sports clubs
such as; Country Club Limbe,
Blantyre Sports Club, Lilongwe Golf
Club,” he adds.
 This state of affairs in the country
has caused it not to achieve any real
breakthrough. In a lot of cases
athletes have taken part in the
Olympics on an IOC solidarity ticket.
The country’s athletes are miserably
failing at all levels and are struggling
tremendously against their peers
elsewhere. 
Critics argue that the country can
only start bearing fruits and regain
sporting glory doing things the way it
was done in 1970s and 1980s, by
using grassroots structures such as
the schools to identify future stars.
internationally. Malawi sporting
legends like Kinnah Phiri, Young
Chimodzi, Ernest Mtawali, and Jack
Chamangwana in Football, Mary Waya
and Peace Chawinga Kalua and the
late Connis Mhone in netball were
recruited into the national team
through such set up. 
Lunda says there are no such
structures around anymore; he says
these structures are no longer
functioning due to lack of resources.
 “We don’t have strong structures to
identify emerging talents anymore
because of financial constraints.“
Malawi had momentary return of a
grassroots structure of identifying
new talents when British Petroleum
exploring firm Surestream
established a Soccer Academy in
Blantyre. “Surestream   Football
Academy offered a glimpse of hope
and provided insight on how talent
identification should be done “says
Lunda.  
Lunda’s sentiments are echoed by
former Malawi international striker,
Cedrick Nankhumwa in recent
newspaper interviews where he
repeatedly state that Malawi used to
do very well in the 1970s and 80s
because authorities then used our
schools to identify emerging talent.
This will ensure that when an older
athlete is in the twilight of their
sporting career or have hung their
boots or spikes up there will be new
star
waiting
in the Read
wings to
to find
step out
in if this This
arrangement
in identifying
Say a "I
do"
al fresco!
setting
is for you.
and take up after them to sustain a
emerging talent was not just a
continuity of having a pool of
preserve of the Football fraternity
national athletes ready to take up
but also that of all other sporting
the mantle of representing Malawi 
disciplines.
GARDEN
WEDDING
It was the period that the country
was at the peak of its sporting
successes with Football as its
mainstay.
 During that period the Flames
clinched regional Confederation of
East and Central Africa Senior
Challenge Cups in 1978 and 1979 and
also later on in 1988.
 Continentally the country team
made its greatest strides in Football
at the1987 All African Games in
Kenya where it walloped the
Indomitable Lions of Cameroon 3-0.
Earlier on in the preliminaries it
clobbered the Pharaohs of Egypt 2-1
and the Teranga Lions of Senegal 2-
0as well.
Other factors that have contributed
to the demise of sports in Malawi
have been the scarcity or outright
lack of sponsorship of Football clubs
from the corporate world. This
phenomenon became acute,
especially in the 1990s when the
country experienced a significant
economic downturn.
The drying up of corporate support
has led to the scaling down of
sporting activities around the
country and some Football clubs like
MDC United, MITCO FC and Railways
United were disbanded. This scenario
has not spared the country’s elite
Football league; the Super League.
 Though some might argue that most
Super Leagues teams at least
manage to raise some money when
they fulfill league fixtures through
gate fees.