Tanzania is slowly opening its eyes and realizing that if we want to get anywhere as a country, we need to prioritize our own people. When it comes to sports, we are sadly not as well known as our fellow African countries; we don’t run like the Kenyans and Ethiopians, we don’t play football like the Ghanaians, and we definitely don’t play rugby or cricket like the South Africans.
But rest assured, progress is being made, particularly in the world of Tanzanian football, whose national team by the way, is ranked at 108 out of 202 teams, according to FIFA rankings. Just recently, the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) announced its new policy on foreign players’ registration. This policy limits the local football clubs to import only five foreign players, as opposed to the previous regulation allowing clubs to register up to ten foreign players in a season.
As expected, this policy, which is meant to take effect during the 2010/2011 league season, isn’t met with open arms all over, especially by the larger teams who typically have more than five foreign players. While the Young Africans club, affectionately known as Yanga, have agreed to bow down to this new rule, the Simba club have blatantly said no to this rule, and their reasons remain unknown, at least to me.
So now I wonder, don’t these clubs see the benefits of this rule? Limiting foreign players in our own local clubs will clearly help us in the short and long term. In the short term, more open spots will open up for Tanzanians, and teams can scout for more local talent across the country. In the long term, this may be far-fetched but given what’s going in globally right now (i.e. the WORLD CUP), we just might make it to the World Cup years (maybe many years) from now, because we will have more Tanzanians training in football and we will hopefully get better at it over time. I’m not a football or sports specialist and I definitely do not understand the politics in these clubs, but from the point of view of a Tanzanian, I think this is the right step forward. Don’t you?
In general, Tanzania needs more of these ‘protectionist’ policies, if I may call them that, because for many years, we just sit back and let whoever come into our country to do whatever whenever, no questions asked. But change is coming, slowly, or as we’d like to say pole pole. Just recently, Tanzania banned the export of raw tanzanite, meaning (or rather hoping) tanzanite will be cut locally now. Great news for us because it will hopefully minimize smuggling, create employment for the local people and help the industry contribute more to the government in terms of revenue.
If such policies of prioritizing Tanzanians, or reserving spots for Tanzanians, were adopted in other sectors of the country, like in employment, education, the business sector and so much more, we might just develop faster than we think possible.
We need a way to formalize football clubs, and make them accessible to youth.
Gone are the days when we used to have Yanga Yosso… Tanzania na dunia nzima kwa ujumla tunajua njia pekee ya kujikwamua kwenye kabumbu ni kuanzisha (i.e. Tanzania) na kuendeleza vituo ambavyo vinatakiwa kukuza vipaji vya vijana. Nafikiri umri mzuri wa “kumfundisha” mtu nidhamu, tactics, skills etc. za mpira ni kuanzia miaka 12 hadi 18 — tafiti mbalimbali zimeonesha hivyo. Angalia Ivory Coast (Asec Mimosas) na Ghana. Mtu akishafika miaka 22 ujue ndio basi tena; ingawa wapo walioweza kufanikiwa baada ya kuanza kucheza mpira kwenye umri huo.
Sasa, sijui kama hii policy italeta mabadiliko yoyote kama hatutajaribu kung’oa mizizi ya vyanzo vya vitu ambavyo vinakwamisha mpira Bongo.
Kwa njia moja au nyingine, wingi wa wachezaji kutoka nchi za nje unaweza ukaathiri maendeleo ya vipaji vya vijana; lakini mwishoni kama hauna uwezo wa kulisakata, hata ligi yote ikijaa Watanzania tu tutabakia kuwa kichwa cha mwendawazimu.
Cha ajabu hela za kutosha (i.e. mikopo) kuanzisha academies zinaonekana zipo (unakumbuka ujio wa Brazil Bongo?). Sasa kwanini watu tunaendelea kupigana changa la macho? Siasa isiingie kwenye mpira.
Aaaah.. mi’ nitabaki kushangilia “Manjesta Yunaited” tu. Timu za Afrika miyeyusho tu na kupotezeana muda. Mi’ nimeangalia mechi kama 12 za timu zetu (mambo ya kutegea kazini hapa na pale) — halafu timu yako inapigwa kisago cha mbwa mwizi. Watu wanabebwa, lakini hawabebeki! (Huu ni mjadala wa siku nyingine nadhani…)
hahahah….nimesikia hii policy imekuja na ujio wa kocha mpya wa Taifa Stars. Kocha mpya ametaka team za bongo ziwekewe limit ya idadi ya wachezaji wa nje wanao wasajili, hapo sasa kazi ipo kwa Simba na Yanga.
Hiyo sera mimi ninakubaliana nayo moja kwa moja, kuna kipindi team ya england waliambiwa hivyo hivyo na kocha wa taifa ya nchi nyingine. Kitu alichowaambia ni kuwa, team ya england sio competitive kama zamani kwasababu team zao za nyumbani zimejaa wachezaji wa nje, Chelsea ni mfano mzuri. Mfano mzuri wa pesa nyingi invyoweza kudidimiza soka. Hivyo basi, wachezaji wa kigeni wamejaa kwenye Premier League, alafu hapo hapo ni wachazaje wachache sana wa England wanaocheza soka nchi nyingi, so issue hapo ilikuwa lack of exposure. Nadhani kipindi hicho ni Owen Hargreaves ndio aliyekuwa mmoja wa wachezaji wawili watatu waliokuwa wanacheza soka nje ya Uingereza
NImefurahishwa na falsafa ya kocha mpya, lakini inachekesha kuona kuwa, watu wa nje wanathamini zaidi maendeleo ya soka nchini mwetu kuliko sisi wenyewe. Yaani kila kitu tuambiwe..bongo bwana
Ujinga watajifuza wapi? Wakulipwa kama thelathini wanabaki mia mbili iko wapi?