Rwandan football loses out as top coaches quit

In A space of 88 days, two football coaches have resigned from top positions in Rwandan football and to say that it is a cause for concern is an understatement. On January 15, Stephen Constantine resigned as head coach of the senior men’s football team as well as the U-23 side after receiving a better offer from the All India Football Federation (AIFF) believed to be around $20,000, almost double what Rwanda was offering him. Fast forward on April 14, the Rwanda Football Federation (Ferwafa) technical director also U-17 coach Lee Johnson tendered in his resignation following an offer from the AIFF to be Constantine’s assistant for the senior team as well as take over as head coach of the Indian U-19 side. It is quite a bleak reflection of the administration and management of football in this country that has failed to hold onto an experienced pair of renowned coaches whose insightful ideas changed the face of Rwandan football in less than a year they were in charge. Constantine who had only been appointed in May 2014 managed eight months of his two-year contract and among many reasons, Rwanda’s disqualification from the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations group stage qualifiers was a huge blow to his long-term plans for the Amavubi. The lack of any football activities for the Amavubi Stars in the three months following the bizarre incident despite Constantine’s public outcry for more friendly games further depressed the Englishman whose plans were cut out for the development of the national side. The delay to pay Constantine for up to three months was also a major setback that eventually turned out as the last nail in the coffin and eventually withered his coaching career in Rwanda. In his absence Johnson took over the U-23 national side in the 1-1 draw with Tanzania U-23 in a friendly match in Mwanza in January guiding the youthful side to the only away goal by any Rwandan national football side in the past 17 months. Johnson went on to implement his youth football development programmes in February by helping to launch the U-13, U-15 and U-17 leagues across the country, a system that will consistently provide players for the national teams at different levels. However, the continued lack of assurance from sponsors to run these youth leagues continuously frustrated Johnson because it affected the results of this programme. Former Amavubi coach Stephen Constantine left the national side for the India national football team. (File) In Constantine and Johnson, Rwandan football has missed out on two intelligent football minds that had the passion, zeal and expertise to transform a frail and inept system that lacks the proper structures to become a successful footballing nation. Their plan was to implement long-term rather than short-term solutions witnessed by the events leading up to Rwanda’s qualification to the 2011 Fifa U-17 World Cup in Mexico and has since failed to qualify to the Caf Africa U-17 championships on two occasions let alone qualify for the global showpiece. With Johnson’s history of coaching at world class youth academies at Chelsea and Crystal Palace, his input into the development of football in Rwanda was going to equip a generation of football greats in the next decade from firsthand experience. His partnerships with the English FA where he worked earlier had already gained ground through coaching programmes across the country in February including the growth of the women’s game and was currently overseeing a coaching partnership with the German Football Federation (DFB) to empower coaches across the country. It is such talent that Rwandan football administrators and managers should aim at maintaining within the system to achieve the set long-term objectives which will in the long run fit in with Amavubi’s hopes of qualifying for Africa Cup of Nations in 2017 or even win Chan 2016 on home soil. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Rwandan football loses out as top coaches quit