FOOTBALL Association of Zambia president Kalusha Bwalya has accused the local media of practicing yellow journalism in relation to issues of player remunerations.

On Tuesday, Radio Phoenix aired Kalusha’s statement during the 13:15 hours lunchtime news and those that paid attention to hear are still wondering.
Wonder not. In case you missed the interview Kalusha offered Robert Mwanza of Radio Phoenix shortly after the Cosafa final that Zambia lost 3-1, I got something for you.

Players at the Cosafa tournament had complained of not being paid their dues after beating Namibia and Mozambique 1-0 and 2-0, respectively. Kalusha was not amused the information had sneaked through to the press..

Anyway, here is a transcript of Kalusha’s interview with Robert:
‘I think it’s a disease in Zambia that the people would always want to have something to say about the Football Association of Zambia.
‘The players whether they have money or they don’t have money, how much can we give them to satisfy the players. So I think we should go away from all this negative perceptions.

‘The players they should play football. They are given opportunity to wear the national team colours. I think that is more important than any numerical number we can give to any player.

‘So, I think we should put a stop to… to… to you know, to all this because you have seen that even here… don’t think that Zimbabwe Football Association has more money than the Football Association of Zambia but they were able to host the tournament of this nature.

Robert interrupts (do you think it issue of allowances in Cosafa camp affected the results at the end of the day?)
‘No I don’t think that it affected the result, and it shouldn’t. I played football more than anybody else. I played almost 21 years in Zambian football. If we are to put money to the value of the amount of money that we are owed, it’s mind-boggling.

‘But the people always want to find an escape route or scapegoat. National team we are good, the players of Zambia are good players.. We should not focus on where the players are sleeping, what they are eating, which car… which transport they are using. This is football.

Football today is played all over the world and the people are competing. So this is the message that we would want the press, you guys from the press to move away from talking about allowance or where the players sleep or what the players eat or what has happened.’

‘For me it’s immaterial… for as long as we are in charge of the football team, we want our players to play for the national team and they must be proud to play for the national team because before then, there were players who used to play for the national team. Probably they don’t get nothing, they haven’t got anything. In fact the question you should ask is what has Zambia offered to its players that used to play in 1974 in 19… in the old years? What have they given to them? You understand. Even in the Gabon air disaster, what have they given them?

‘People have died for this team and the people have not been able to give them anything in return. So, I feel we should not go… that road is yellow journalism in my opinion because if the people start to talk about allowances… there is no national team today. I will tell you even Holland, Portugal or Brazil, they don’t pay them enough but the players they come there and play but the money will not be enough.

‘So, we should not talk about the money, the most important we were able to compete and we reached the final, that was the objective. Unfortunately, we have come short in the final today and we are back home, some of them with positives.’

This was part of Kalusha’s message in the wake of Zambia’s defeat. That’s why I have come to the conclusion that it’s better to be widely misunderstood for being personal than tolerate Kalusha’s style of management.

At the expense of being branded such, I find Kalusha’s behaviour immature and well misplaced for a leader. I hope he bothered to, if at all he cares, to get the correct definition of what yellow journalism is. Otherwise, I would have been embarrassed if I once provided him the definition for yellow journalism only to misinterpret it in that manner.

Instead of trying to take people for granted especially the sad but passionate football fans that have rallied behind an under-performing Chipolopolo, Kalusha decides to turn to the media.

Surely, if this statement were issued by a FAZ president who never played at the highest level, I would have probably understood their ignorance.
Not Kalusha. Does he honestly want us to remind him of his behaviour as a player? I mean when it comes to issues of allowances.

The 2000 Africa Cup of Nations is one classic example. Why did the likes of Davis Phiri, Moses Sichone among others protest over allowances involving home and foreign-based players?
And who was at the centre of that controversy? Maybe Kalusha can take us down that memory lane.

At a time when Egypt is flashing colossal amounts reportedly hitting over K1 billion as reward for each player if they secured a World Cup berth, Kalusha wants us to be inclined to statements he makes when he tours stadia in South Africa or when he goes on some irrelevant mission. No! That’s not for any media but his public relations department.

Today, Chipolopolo are camped at the FAZ technical centre. But the state of the camp house is presently not habitable yet breeding ground for mosquitoes.
And Kalusha sees nothing wrong in dumping the team at a mosquito infested and a poorly secured unfinished structure to prepare for regional honours. This should worry anyone who cares about Zambian football.

In any sport, nutrition is vital while rest is also a proven ingredient to shaping competent athletes but our FAZ chief mistakenly believes its yellow journalism.

What Kalusha should know is that our football needs a serious remedy and blaming the media is not the solution we are looking for.
Where are our eyes? The choice to reply is priceless. Let’s share the way forward.