Is local supremacy swapping camps?

Before this weekend’s fixture line up, the gap between the two main national football league title contenders APR and Atraco had grown to four points in the table, but it will only get bigger as these two bitter rivals appear to be heading in opposite directions. I know APR fans would never agree with me on this. I know it’s a contentious debate but looking at it with a sober mind and also from a neutral stand, it won’t be too long before local supremacy swapped camps between these two friendly rivals! Atraco’s league success last season might be explained as a fluky one off by the most stubborn APR fan, a rare cause for celebration for the taxi-men side, an aberration, but there was nothing lucky about it. Atraco, under the stewardship of ex-APR player and coach Jean Marie Ntagwabira were the better side throughout last season and deserved their first silverware two years after making their debut in topflight division and three (years) of their formation. Yet the good news for Atraco fans and the neutrals, who had gotten fed-up with APR’s dominance in the last decade, is that they won’t have to wait nearly as long for their next one. The end of the current campaign perhaps? The taxi-men side look like a club on the up, they have built up momentum over the past two years and, although they still look short in certain areas specially considering that they would need better strikers if they’re to survive longer on the continent (read MTN Champions League), they look the stronger club in the division, well run by chairman Col. (Rtd) Dodo Twahirwa and superbly coached by Sam Timbe without any fans’ interference. Atraco’s unsurprising success last season felt like it symbolized a major shift in the balance of power in Rwandan club football.In contrast, APR seem to have little momentum (two wins and two draws). They are a club in transition with new players and a coach who’s struggling to stamp authority or get his grip on Rwandan football. He might not even get the time to do that, am afraid. Rene Feller has done a decent job in difficult circumstances (not many at the club liked him from the onset) since taking over last April. He won the Peace Cup, finished second to Atraco in the league, reached quarterfinal of Kagame Cup but he desperately needs to win the league this season because second best for two years running is not good enough for APR fans as well as the club administrators. Personally, I’d still argue that, man for man, if both teams sent out their first-choice 11, APR would be superior on paper, but there is no doubt Atraco’s squad has more experience, depth and variety. Have I mentioned a better coach, who’s more suitable to Rwandan football standards? I was among the people who were skeptical whether Timbe has the coaching capacity to cope with the demands of the Rwandan league, but four wins on the trot and with his team in no immediate danger of losing their 100 percent record any time soon, surely Feller and Raoul Shungu must have every reason to get concerned. I am not and I’d never say APR is going down and Atraco going up because that’s not the case; at least at the moment, but going by the current state of affairs at both clubs, who would be shocked if indeed local supremacy were to swap camps? At least not me. Feller is right about Tucak Professionally, it’s not right for a coach to criticize a fellow coach whatever the circumstances but from a concerned party’s point of view, Rene Feller’s condemnation of Branko Tucak’s relentless vacations, is just about one of the best things the APR coach could do to contribute to the advancement of Rwandan football, particularly the national team. “The guy is ever away, leaving us with the burden of monitoring his players,” Feller said of Amavubi Stars coach, then suggested, “He should be around to monitor them (players) and he doesn’t at all keep in touch with the clubs.” I am very sure Feller’s remarks are bound to infuriate Tucak and very many of his allies, among them his very bosses but maybe it’s (Feller’s remarks) what was required to make the national team managers (read Ferwafa and sports ministry) realize that with the team’s task ahead, the time for the endless but above all worthless holidays should be marked off the calendar. APR’s veteran Dutch coach made the remarks in reaction to what he described as ‘the burden of who monitors (Amavubi Stars) players while on club duty in the absence of the head coach, who’s always away on his ‘constant’ holidays back in his homeland (Croatia). The Croat had barely settled in his office after returning from a long holiday which he took at the end of the second round of the 2010 World/African Cup qualifiers, he again headed back to Croatia after attending the draws for the final qualifying rounds held in Zurich last week! According to Ferwafa, he’s expected back in the country on November 4 to start preparing the team ahead of the start of the grueling third and final round of the 2010 World/CAN qualifying campaign. I find it totally strange that a national team coach has watched only one league game (Atraco vs Police) of the 24 fixtures played so far in new season before this weekend! As a coach on a lucrative two-year contract, what’s wrong with Tucak settling in Rwanda with or without his family? Isn’t he man enough to be away from his family for at least six months or so? If he can’t, can’t Rwanda do with a settled coach? Just wondering Contact: nku78@yahoo.com