Where do I begin? There are not one, not two but numerous problems our football is facing at the moment. From the problematic presidential election of EFF, to the poor form of the national team and from the flat and uninspiring games in the league to hooliganism, Ethiopia’s football is passing through one of its darkest periods.
Let’s start from the top… the election of president and members of executive committee for EFF is set to be held on December 25. That’s two weeks away. But the disagreements are still going on. From the reports Soccer Ethiopia received yesterday, some members of the Electoral Committee are stating that the process is not fair and they are planning to write a letter to FIFA about it.
One of the complaints was a current member of the committee Mr. Mekonen Desta was also a member of the electoral committee 4 years ago and the fact that he is once again a member goes in direct violation of FIFA’s standard electoral code. The code clearly stipulates under article 4 sub section 2 that ‘The members of the committee are not permitted to serve for two consecutive terms.’ But here we are quarrelling over a clearly written rule… Furthermore, representatives of Oromia Football Federation are threatening to boycott the election on the ground that a president of another sport association is not an eligible candidate. It’s no secret that Dr Ashebir W/Giorgis who was the president of Ethiopia’s Basketball Federation is one of the candidates.
So from the drama in the office to the drama on the field, Ethiopia suffered a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Burundi on match day 2 of CECAFA. This is the heaviest defeat Ethiopia has endured in the competition. The manner in which our national team conceded the goals was absolutely laughable. But as always we keep on making excuses and move on. The problems on the field haven’t been addressed and it doesn’t look like they will anytime soon. We can only watch in horror.
And finally let’s talk about hooliganism. I don’t really have any new thing to say. We have been hearing it all around the sport media, but what I will say is let’s all stop and think. Why do we watch football? Because we love it and because we find this indescribable joy in it, right? So why take something so entertaining and make it a stage for hate and division. Who could this possibly benefit? Unless you want games to be cancelled or postponed then there is no valid reason behind these destructive acts.
The situation with Ethiopia’s football is going from bad to worse. No matter how many articles we write, no matter what we say on TV or Radio unless every individual takes responsibility it will be futile. Let’s stop for a moment and think!
