WHY ARE THERE NO BIG COMMUNITY CLUBS IN ZAMBIA? Al Ahly, Zamalek or Egypt, Simba and Yanga in Tanzania, Accra Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko in Ghana, AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia in Kenya, Espernace and Club Africaine in Tunisia, the Casablanca teams of Raja and Wydad in Morocco, Asec Abidgan and Africa Sports in Ivory Coast, Canon Yaonde and Tonnere Yaonde in Cameroun, Big Bullets and TNM Wanderers in Malawi and Dynamos and Bulawayo Highlanders in Africa. All these teams have one thing in common, they are community teams. Infact in every single African League there are big community teams except for Zambia. This begs the question on why Zambia lacks any community teams of note. Firstly there is a missintepretation in Zambia of what a community team is. In Zambia a team is a community team if it has a stadium or plays its matches within a township. So the likes of Nkana are referred to as community teams. But they are actually not. A community team is simply a club which is owned by the community. No big club in Zambia falls under this, all the Clubs are run by the Sponsors employees with key roles like Chairman coming from the sponsors. Infact most Zambian teams are owned by the Sponsors. With that put aside its interesting to note why Zambia is the only African country without a huge Community Club presence. For one, Zambia does have a number of community teams, the biggest of which are City of Lusaka and Matero Tigers. City of Lusaka are the only Community club who have won the league title. Winning it once in 1964. City of Lusaka FC own Woodlands Stadium and now play in Zambias Division 2 South and attracts crowds of less than 50 people, at its peak City would fill its 10,000 Capacity Stadium in the 70s, 80s and 90s but the club rarely challenged for the league title or Cups. As to why Zambia lacks Community Clubs the key lies in Zambias history and resources. Zambia has some of the oldest teams in African history. With a number formed as far back as the 1920s. Initially football was a whites only game, since Zambia was the first African country where extensive mining began creating an entire new province called the Copperbelt. Due to segregation whites who had settled and worked on the mines decided to create teams and not before long they created the first league which was played between Northern Rhodesia ( Zambia) and Congo Kinchasa ( Congo DR) teams from the border town of Lubumbashi. The teams were all sponsored by mine teams as well as Government wings. Some of the teams are Brokenhill Warriors ( Kabwe Warriors), Roan Antelope FC ( Roan United), Rhokana United ( Nkana), Mufulira United, Luanshya United, Kitwe United, Mufulira Wanderers among others. In the 1940s the league introduced Lusaka Sides such as City of Lusaka and Lusaka Tigers ( Now Matero Tigers). An all indeginous League was also formed but without financial backing all the teams went into oblivion. City of Lusaka where the first Community team of note and was one of the top clubs in Zambia in the 60s. But by the 70s they couldnt compete with the Corporate and Service sides who housed players and employed them. The only reason City still exist today is because they own their own Stadium. In Zambia teams which do not own stadiums always disappear when they face financial difficulties. This is one of the reasons why Corporate teams have an advantage in Zambia, historically there was investment and infrastructure such of the stadiums were built in townships or towns where the Sponsors employees resided and were embraced by the community. The motto for most of the early fans of clubs who numbered thousands was My Employer, My Community, My Club. Mine companies especially created huge townships and built stadiums there with the entire community backing them. Mine teams werent the only teams who used this strategy, teams like Kabwe Warriors sponsored by Zambia Railways turned the entire Kabwe town and surrounding areas into Warriors zones, as time passed a number of teams evolved and had more fans across the country. Kabwe Warriors who due to Sponsors Zambia Railways having bases in a lot of towns would attract thousands of fans away from Kabwe. Scouting networks were created through this way as teams like Warriors would get first details on an upcoming player, teams like the service side Green Buffalos were among the first to setup feeder clubs through numerous provinces in Zambia, giving them an extensive scouting network. Community clubs just couldnt compete, Infrastructure wise, Resources and financially the Corporate and Service sides have always been miles ahead. Even at its peak City Of Lusaka almost always used to recruit players exclusively within Lusaka. City have also never taken a nationwide appeal and always got its support from the nearby communities of Woodlands, Chilenje and Bauleni. These are the reasons why there are no big community teams in Zambia.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 11:22:54 +0000
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