Feller leaves behind a mixed legacy

At 65 year old, Rene Feller came to Rwanda an unknown man but with a basketful of coaching experience and at nearly 66, he leaves pretty much the same way he arrived. Yet, one thing he has managed to achieve more than anything is that he at least leaves behind a mixed legacy of love-hate among the fans of APR, rival clubs and the neutrals. From day one, the fans were divided in their opinion of the Dutchman—not very many seemed to like him even before he oversaw his first training session and as time ticked away on his one-year contract, the fans became more divided. Like every Dutch coach, Feller came to Rwanda promising to introduce total football to APR—total football is synonymous with the Dutch, unfortunately it can only work when applied to a group of naturally talented players and not wanna-be footballers. Wednesday, April 1 was Feller’s last day of his one-year contract and as a result he won’t be in charge of APR’s take on Egyptian side Haras El Hadoud in the return leg of the Caf Confederations Cup in Cairo this evening in Alexandria. And where the aging Feller failed or ended his adventure in Rwanda, his compatriot Erik Paske will try and be successful or at least make amends—the younger Paske has been a long time front runner to replace his older countryman. As Feller’s right hand man, Paske has been doing all the hard and dirty work in training, leaving his boss to concentrate on team selection as well as taking all the major technical decisions. Yet little experienced Paske would never have wished to have Egyptian opposition on his debut but that’s the nature of the game and he too took the job well aware of the challengers ahead, starting this evening. At 38, the Dutchman is young enough to mix well with his players but is that enough to make him a successful coach?Certainly not, but the players seemed to prefer him over his most immediate predecessor right from day one. Feller may have failed to win over the fans and a section of his own bosses during his one-year stint but he at least had started having APR play some good stuff even under the circumstances. He introduced professionalism at the club, something that had been lacking for so long, not only at the military side but throughout the entire face of Rwandan football. He won the Amahoro Cup but could do nothing to stop one of his predecessors, Jean Marie Ntagwabira from guiding Atraco to the league title. As he goes into his retirement back in his native Holland, Feller leaves behind a professional team that also play good football—but most importantly, he leaves behind a squad that fully understands that no player is indispensable. Feller had his weaknesses as a coach especially tactical-wise and his game reading particularly in difficulty situation was questionable but he was able to tame big-headed players like Labama Bokota, Ngirinshuti Mwemere and Ndjoli Bokungu. Ugly moment But his legacy reached the ugliest point two weeks ago during APR’s Confederations Cup first leg tie against El Hodoud when a fan, one Amossi Wacuma was ordered by one high profile APR official to leave the stadium because he had criticised the coach! I was personally at that game and like the majority inside the stadium; we all reacted with furry when Feller withdrew the hard-working Fuadi Ndayisenga for Hegman Ngoma instead of taking of Jean Baptiste Mugiraneza, who was evidently struggling. Even his captain Mbuyu Twite let emotions get the better of him as he tried to stop the puzzled Burundian international from leaving the field not until he was calmed down by his team mates. For genuine reasons, I am not going to name the official but he knows what he did was the worst possible thing you’d expect from him as an administrator and a sportsman because in sports, fair play is paramount. From my research, I found out that the unfortunate Wacuma is an Atraco fan, but like most of the people inside Nyamirambo stadium, he was rooting for APR to win and when the coach made his substitution, almost everybody blew the top in protest. But the poor man, may be he overstated his protest, was ordered to leave the stadium before the game ended for allegedly ‘insulting’ Feller, an accusation he strongly denies until this date—may be the Afande, who passed the orders had forgotten that as an adult Wacuma has a fundamental right his opinion if expressed on the right forum as was the case on that fateful March 14. Good luck to Paske in his new job because he’ll indeed need it in large quantities—it’s a whole new chapter in his life. Paske has never been in such a position before, so he’s going to need a united front to back him in his adventure and I hope he leaves a behind a legacy (good or bad or both) to write home about as his compatriot did. Contact: nku78@yahoo.com