Ferwafa, Mijespoc think first

The new national football team head coach will be named tomorrow, how days can fast move forward. At one time, we had over a month; it closed down to days, now there’s only hours remaining! With less than 24 hours left before the would-be new coach is announced and the fact that the appointing authorities have until this date refused to reveal the names of aspiring candidates, only one word, anxiety, can least describe what most (if not all) national team followers are going through. And just like any other person concerned about the destiny of Rwandan football, particularly the national team, I hope that when the time comes to choose the next Amavubi Stars head coach, the appointing authorities will settle for the right man. Outside of Ferwafa and the Sports ministry, I bet no one else in this country has a clue whatsoever regarding the nature of the would-be Amavubi’s new coach, reason being, the two institutions mentioned earlier in this particular paragraph have taken it upon themselves to keep the names of applicants a ‘top’ secret. You wonder why! God forbid because something of this nature can only be possible in a country like ours, elsewhere or in an ideal world, you would expect the procedure to find a coach of a national team to be plain as the nose on your face. However, whether the process (to choose the new coach) is (or will be) transparent would for years to come, remain a contentious issue and if Rwandans raised question marks about it (which I am more than certain they will), I hope the appointing authorities will have the guts to take it on the chin. I don’t want to sound like undermining Ferwafa and Mijespoc’s aptitude to choose a man or woman they believe would be capable of steering the national team to where his or her two predecessors (Roger Palmegren and Michael Nees) failed, but the truth of the matter is that the people of this country deserves something better. Some people, especially those that don’t agree with me, could find my reasoning somewhat flabbergasting but there one particular thing that has cropped up among national team followers from the day Rwanda qualified for her maiden Nations’ Cup finals three years ago and that’s high expectation. Expectation among the fans rose to unprecedented levels in the wake of the team’s historic appearance at the Tunis finals and the situation has not change despite two failed attempts thereafter. Fine, one may urge that we don’t have enough quality (players) to mount a serious qualifying campaign but at least we have the money to hire a quality trainer who if given enough support (moral or in any other form) anything is possible, after all it’s a beautiful game. Ferwafa and the Sports ministry, the two institutions responsible for recruiting and paying the national team coach on behalf of all Rwandans must learn from mistakes committed in choosing the previous two coaches and use them as the yardstick in deciding who takes what has proved to be a hot seat since Djukovic Ratomir emptied his locker on us. APR finally seen the light If there one football club in this country that has taken stick from me for what it has or hasn’t done, it must be APR. But to say the truth, I’ve also taken my own share of stick from it’s leaders—I wouldn’t dawdle to described the rapport between us as one that is close to a ‘give and take’ or ‘two-way traffic’. It’s a healthy jigsaw that I actually find fascinating. Over the years, I have always expressed by misgiving about the club’s apparent lack of proper direction but reading between the lines with their current project, I sit back and thump my fatless chest. Anyone who watched the Lotto cup last weekend should be in a far great position to understand what I am talking about. Not on many occasions in the past has APR won a particular competition and I say they’ve done it deservedly but last weekend they did it just the way I’ve for a long time wished they did. Without a youth development program, the military was always going to struggle to make any meaningful impression at the international stage beyond the Cecafa region. With the type of new players APR has recruited for next season, only the sky will be the limit (but only if their project is sustained) the way it is supposed to. Other club mainly the so called ‘big’ ones like Atraco and Rayon Sports should, for the good of Rwandan football, take a leaf from what APR is trying to do and I can promise you, in three to four years, Rwanda would be a force to reckon with—CAN 2012 here we come. Lucky Dube, the mystery carries on Why is it that famous people rarely die natural causes? JF Kennedy (I hear he was assassinated), Martin Luther King (the same thing), Adolph Hitler (does anyone know how he died?), Princess Diane (road accident, planned or not, it remains an issue), Tupac (gunned down by????), what of Hussein Saddam? the list is endless. And as you start to think things are about to get better, Lucky Dube gets shot three times in the chest by alleged car hijackers (he dies instantly) in front of his children. I just wish God would turn back the times……., the South African reggae legend has been one of my favorite musicians and how a brainless son of a b**ch pulled a trigger on him! It beats my understanding but, in any case who can define life anyway. May his Soul rest in Eternal Peace. Contact: nku78@yahoo.com