by Elvis Majani and Nick Osoro
Introduction
Sport management involves any combination of skills related to organizing,
controlling, directing, budgeting, planning, evaluating and leading within the context
of an organization or department whose primary objective is related to the
development of sport.
Governments must be seen to be making a positive impact in sports
management for its sportsmen and the entire sports federation at large. It would be
fool hardy for the government to sit back on its laurels and expect sportsmen to
self sustain their careers and the sports fraternity at large.
It should be again said that sports in Africa has suffered a setback as a result
of poor management and interference by movement officials. Such can be attributed
to:
Poor policies in place by the government, such policies include lack of proper
ticketing procedure or crowd management in case of violence in stadiums.
General abandonment of sportsmen by government departments as is the
case being witnessed by the lone Olympic boxer, the Kenyan police Benson Gacheru,

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who has had to pay from his own income to train while in Cuba, while it is a settled fact that Kenyan police are paid meagerly1 thus expecting a police officer to foot his bills in a foreign country while representing his own country would be expecting too much from the young lad.
Thirdly is the case of government interference into the sports fraternity,
this is where corruption and underhand dealings surface leading to missed
opportunities and chances. Corruption cannot be underscored owing to the fact that it is seen as a necessary evil not just in sports corridors but in virtually every facet of our lives.2 While Kenya is well known as a sporting nation, this success is not reflected in the football sector, which has been particularly prone to squabbling and corruption.
Corruption in sports is not new. There are concerns the world over about the lack of transparency and accountability in sports and the resultant social and economic impact. The risk of corruption has increased dramatically as commercial influences grow.
Fourthly, political interference of sports is an issue that has bedeviled the
sports fraternity for a long time now; this is more especially where politicians try to use sportsmen to further their careers. Well someone may say there is nothing wrong with this set of facts as normally these are adults of sound mind. However, politics should be separated from sports owing to the fact that over the past, politicians have used their positions in government to undermine sportsmen by ensuring that only their own rise to the helm in management positions some have promised the upcoming lad heaven yet they have failed to deliver simple roof tops, leading to despair and discouragement.
Despite all these, African sports men are resilient people who despite all
odds somehow find a way to triumph and win the gold, silver and bronze as
Kenyans are well known for in the 3000m steeplechase.
The Swahili have a saying “mgala muue na haki umpe” which means
give the man his blame but give him his right as well. Therefore, African governments have in the past done useful work in boosting the morale of its sportsmen. Through the ministry of sports in various countries governments have tried to harness the talents of young men and women trying to come up a case in point are the success
of the Kenyans in Olympics where through their umbrella body Athletics Kenya, have managed to propel Kenyan athletes to great heights in sports.
1. International Recognition
The value that sports brings to countries cannot be underscored. For example Kenyans are so well known in athletics3 such that any Kenyan walking along the streets of Berlin or any country in the world could easily be mistaken for an athlete, simply due to their exemplary performance at the races. Sports has also earned Africa numerous revenue collection, as the prize monies collected at the events won by our sportsmen is usually brought back to the country and used within Africa. Such money is eventually taxed by government in turn being used in building roads, schools hospitals among others.
Sports personalities have been used in times of conflict to mediate and
create a lasting solution that promotes peace and prosperity in the society.4 This was evidenced in Ivory Coast where the sports icon Didier Drogba has been instrumental in quelling the violence that had been witnessed in that country for a long time. George Weah is another example of a sports icon that has played a crucial role in bringing stability in times of war within the African continent.
2. Autonomy of Sports
Autonomy of sports is basically the independence of sport organizations all over the world to run their own activities without fear, and free from manipulation and interference from outside. Over the years sport has evolved from a fun activity for a few people to a social movement for billions of people all around the world.
Sport is now a major global, social, economic and political phenomenon.
Autonomy is vital for sports movement, as it preserves the values of
sport and the integrity of competitions, thus providing participants and volunteers with motivation and not forgetting the education of young people and their contribution to the well-being for women, men and children, thereby contributing to credibility and legitimacy of sports. In brief, autonomy in sports is the selfregulation and self-management without any interference and manipulation. However this independence does not mean that sports management is beyond law but that in certain areas of sport a regulating autonomy must be taken into account and respected.
Most Sports Federations have always advocated for independence and
ways of preserving and maintaining their autonomy and resisting outside interference from other organizations.
2.1 International Olympic Committee (IOC)
The Olympic Charter governs the Olympic movement together with the affairs of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and it specifically protects the independence of IOC from any interference from the Government and any other
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3 See the performance of Kenyan athletes in the 2008 Olympics and Marathons across different
countries.
4 Tegla Loroupe the Kenyan marathon champion has initiated the Tegla Loroupe Marathon to promote
peace among the pokot community who are always in conflict.
68 Elvis Majani and Nick Osoro
organization in the running of its affairs. This is expressly provided in Chapter 2
Rule 16 (1.5) which states that:
“Members of the IOC will not accept from governments, organizations, or other
parties, any mandate or instructions liable to interfere with the freedom of their
action and vote”.5
Chapter 4, Rule 26.6 of the charter advocates that the NOCs maintain their autonomy
and resist any kind of governmental manipulation and interference. “The NOCs
must preserve their autonomy and resist all pressures of any kind, including but
not limited to political, legal, religious or economic pressures which may prevent
them from complying with the Olympic Charter”.6
2.2 FIFA
FIFA in its statutes has done everything possible to protect its members from
outside interference and manipulation. This also includes government interference on the affairs and management of football in countries accepted by FIFA as members.
To ensure that such rules are respected by its members and any other association, FIFA has placed sanctions for violation or infringements of these rules.
FIFA statutes Article 13 Para (1) g expressly provides for the independence
and autonomy of its members: “FIFA members have the following obligations;
To manage their affairs independently and ensure that their own affairs are not influenced by any third parties”.7
Article 13.2 and 13.3 of the of FIFA statutes provides that FIFA can
sanction any Federation that violates any of the obligations provided by FIFA in Article 13.
Article 13.2 states;”Violation of the above mentioned obligations by
any member may lead to sanctions provided for in these statutes”.8
Article 13.3 shows the concern FIFA has with the autonomy of its members
and also the zero tolerance FIFA has over outside manipulation and interference of
its members. This paragraph provides that FIFA will sanction its members when
there is an outside interference in the running of its affairs, regardless of whose
fault it is, “Violation of paragraph 1(g) may lead to sanctions even if the third
party influence was not the fault of the member concerned”.9
Article 14 of the Statute gives FIFA the power to suspend any member
who violates the obligations provided in Article 13. It also states the procedure that
FIFA will use to sanction its member.
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5 See Olympic charter chapter 2 Rule 16(1.5).
6 See Olympic charter chapter 4 Rule 26.6.
7 See FIFA statutes Article 13 paragraph (1)g.
8 See FIFA statutes Article 13 paragraph 2.
9 See FIFA statutes Article 13 paragraph 3.
Sports management and government interference in Africa 69
2.3 The International Cricket Council (ICC) As other International Sports Federations, the International Cricket Conference (ICC) has surrounded itself with rules and regulations aimed at protecting itself from government manipulation. The International Cricket Conference (ICC) recently
fine-tuned its rules and regulations to further protect it. In its rules governments are barred from influencing, directly or indirectly, and among other things, the day-today decisions of the administration, the staging of cricket matches, the dates of such matches, and the process or outcome of any disciplinary enquiries.
However these regulations have taken great pain to explain instances
where the role of government is accepted. These regulations have provided the government with the freedom to provide financial assistance, such as loans and grants, to national federations and thus giving it the power to attach conditions to that financial assistance provided it does not contravene its rule on interference with the game. Furthermore a government has the right to investigate the affairs of a Member Board in order to ascertain whether any criminal offence has been committed, including fraud, dereliction of directors’ duties (including fiduciary duties) or contravention of any relevant legislation.
Similarly, there may be circumstances where a government (or any
ministry thereof) rightfully seeks to intervene in the event that a Member Board is dysfunctional. However the ICC Governance Review Committee has allowed this by stating it is a question of accountability, not interference. Unlike FIFA and IOC, the ICC has given room for government interference which some legal analysts see as a very risky move.
3. National Politics and Government Interference in Sports
Some people argue that sports and politics should be and in fact are completely separate entities. However, evidence portrays a completely different picture. The laws, rules and regulations governing sports are mostly derived from practical state laws; sport in sports loving nations is always a very vital tool for politics, sport can be used as a means to attain peace and harmony, it can also be used as nation-building instrument and for purposes of international image-branding and marketing. Modern sport in sports loving States has seldom been free of politics thus providing the facts that sport and politics are increasingly becoming inseparable in many ways. At times politics and Sports often team up to good effect when it comes to regime change. Take for instance the fight against apartheid which
eventually resulted to the ban on South African sports teams from international competitions.
The importance of sports has varied over time, because of the growth of
nationalism which has revived the idea of using sport for promoting harmony,
peace, patriotism and national integration. Today, sport and politics are intertwined and often work together to demonstrate social, economic, or political superiority 70 Elvis Majani and Nick Osoro
over other nations. Individuals usually use sports to achieve their political goals and to maintain their political power.
Some African national leaders get into power through leading some sports
Federations. However, autonomy in sports suggests that sports and sporting events should not be under direct or indirect influence or manipulation from any other institution other than the sport federation which is recognized by the mother international Sport federation, for example, in football the National Football Federation recognized by FIFA is the only institution allowed to run football affairs of that state.
Similar to most International Sports Federations, football’s governing body
FIFA has made it clear that no government interference with regards to running of national federations would be tolerated. Article 13 Para (1) g of the FIFA Statutes states that national federations are obligated, “To manage their affairs independently and ensure that their own affairs are not influenced by any third parties”.
The Article further states in Paragraphs 2 and 3, that the federation can
face sanctions from FIFA for infringing Para 1(g) even if the infringement is not the fault of the federation. Article 1410 gives FIFA the power to suspend any organization which is in breach of any obligations under the FIFA Statutes. Despite the perceived strength of this rules and regulations by international Sports Federations, they have not been able to stop interference. For this reason many African Nations have been
severally sanctioned over the rules by FIFA due to Governments or third party interference, this will be discussed in detail later on in this article.
The Olympic Charter Chapter 2 Rule 16 (1.5) states that the running of
the IOC itself should be free from Government Interference, the proviso goes “Members of the IOC will not accept from governments, organizations, or other parties, any mandate or instructions liable to interfere with the freedom of their action and vote.” Chapter 4, Rule 26.6 of the charter provides” The NOCs must preserve their autonomy and resist all pressures of any kind, including but not limited to political, legal, religious or economic pressures which may prevent them from complying with the Olympic Charter”. It is clear that the NOCs needs to maintain their autonomy and resist governmental interference.
The Charter under Chapter 4 Rule 9 expressly seeks to stop governmental
interference in the operations of a NOC by providing: “Apart from the measures and sanctions provided in the case of infringement of the Olympic Charter, the IOC Executive Board may take any appropriate decisions for the protection of the Olympic Movement in the country of an NOC, including suspension of or withdrawal of recognition from such NOC if the constitution, law or other regulations in force in the country concerned, or any act by any governmental or other body causes the activity of the NOC or the making or expression of its will to be hampered. The IOC Executive Board shall offer such NOC an opportunity to be heard before any such decision is taken”.
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10 Article 14 of the FIFA statutes reads: “The Executive Committee may (…) suspend a Member
that seriously violates its obligations as a Member with immediate effect”.
Sports management and government interference in Africa 71
The main concern for these strict guidelines is to ensure the freedom and
autonomy of members, in order for them to remain free of any political manipulation.
There are instances where the IOC used the powers available to it under the Charter and banned some of its members for what the IOC considered to be political manipulation.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has also enacted in rules and
regulations that seek to protect member boards from political or government
interference. The ICC has given member boards a period of two years up to 2013 to come in line with the new regulations or risk sanctions. Members who fail to comply with the new requirements risk immediate suspension from the membership of the ICC.
These are but a few International Sports Federations that strictly forbid
any kind of outside interference or manipulation by any organization to its members.
FIFA specifically has shown zero tolerance to outside interference by organizations to its members.
FIFA has in some instances suspended and banned some African national
teams from participating and competing in FIFA organized tournaments and
competitions due to outside interference especially from the government. In
November 2006, Kenya was suspended by FIFA for government interference in football and failing to abide with Article 13 of FIFA Statutes.
The suspension came after the then Kenya sports minister dissolved the
Kenyan Football Federation (KFF) and replaced it with a government-appointed caretaker committee. FIFA took the decision to suspend the Kenya Football Federation (KFF) after the same was recommended by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and requested by the president and interim of the KFF, due to repeated government interference in local football affairs and non-compliance with the agreement reached with FIFA on fundamental sporting principles such as the integrity of competitions and the principle of promotion and relegation.
In 2010 FIFA suspended Nigerian soccer’s governing body for government
interference. Several developments led to the suspension, including court actions against elected members of the Nigerian Football Federation executive committee, the federation’s general secretary stepping down on orders from the governmentrun National Sports Commission, and the decision of the sports minister to start the Nigerian league without relegation from the previous season.
4. National Courts
The development in African football has over the years been astonishing and rather controversial. For the sports lawyer and other interested parties, this is a remarkable opportunity to examine and critically analyze further the perennial battle between state regulation and self-regulation. It is a well established fact that FIFA and CAF regulations prohibits attempts to seek remedies before national courts in matters which is of purely sporting nature and by pursuing this one risks violating specific 72 Elvis Majani and Nick Osoro
FIFA regulations. The general position is that national courts are usually reluctant to interfere with cases of a sporting nature as the sports associations are private bodies as opposed to public bodies. Courts cannot intervene in matters conducted by private associations, however when a matter is presented in court against a private association the courts will nevertheless go ahead with the hearing of the matter.
This on the hand translates to a violation of FIFA and CAF regulations
thus raising some questions;
a. Whether decisions made by a quasi-judicial arm of the sports associations
can be reviewed by the national courts
b. Whether the National courts can overturn or quash an unfair decision made in a game
c. Whether the National courts can solve a dispute involving members of a
sports federation
d. What happens to a decision made by a national court in a matter of purely
sporting matter?
e. If disciplinary action were taken against an athlete or a national team by
the highest decision making organ of the game, barring them from
participating in international sporting events, whether such an aggrieved
person or team can appeal to a national court by seeking judicial review
orders FIFA take a different view of clubs taking recourse to ordinary courts of law rather than taking the matter to the impartial courts of arbitration, such as the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Article 64 paragraph 2 of the FIFA statutes provides: “Recourse to ordinary courts of law is prohibited unless specifically provided for in the FIFA regulations”11 subsequently paragraph 3 states that the Member Associations shall insert a clause in their Statutes or Regulations stipulating that it is prohibited to take disputes in the Association or disputes affecting Leagues, members of Leagues, Clubs, members of clubs, Players, Officials and other Association Officials to Ordinary Courts of law.
Article 76 of FIFA disciplinary code states that “FIFA Disciplinary
committee is authorized to sanction any breach of FIFA regulations which does not come under the jurisdiction of another body”.12
African federations have on a couple of times been in trouble with FIFA
for violating the provisions of Article 64.2 of the FIFA statutes, thus leading to sanctions from FIFA. Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana have either been warned by FIFA against taking sports matters to ordinary courts or have been suspended for doing that.
In May 2012 the Football of Kenya Limited (FKL) Chairman disapproved
of sporting matters and wrangles from being taken to ordinary courts. The Chairman insisted football related disputes must be brought before an independent arbitration
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11 See Article 64 para. 2 of the FIFA statutes.
12 See Article 76 of FIFA disciplinary Code.
Sports management and government interference in Africa 73
tribunal who are mandated to resolve such kind of disputes. Ordinary courts lack
the jurisdiction to rule on matters of sporting nature.13
In the year 2010 FIFA suspended the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF)
on account of government interference and by also allowing football matters to be taken to local courts.14
5. Stadium Disaster
Stadium disasters whether they are caused by stampedes, fan violence,15 collapsing stadium structures or other reasons have been an unfortunate part of soccer in all parts of the world for over a century.16 Sports management includes managing fans at stadiums during various sports events; this is the core of any success in sports management. The fans should be made to feel safe while enjoying the games.
Article 67 of the FIFA disciplinary code 2011 edition places all
responsibilities and liabilities to the home association for any improper conduct
which includes any form of violence, and insults that can bring the game to disrepute.
Article 67.3 states “Improper conduct includes violence towards persons or objects, letting off incendiary devices, throwing missiles, displaying insulting or political slogans in any form, uttering insulting words or sounds, or invading the pitch”.17
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13 Ibid 15.
14 The Statement from FIFA read in part “The FIFA Emergency Committee decided today, 4 October
2010, to suspend the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) with immediate effect on account of government interference. This decision follows the latest events linked to the NFF, such as the court actions against elected members of the NFF Executive Committee preventing them from
exercising their functions and duties, the stepping down of the acting NFF General Secretary on the instructions of the National Sports Commission, the decision of the Minister of Sports to have the Nigerian League start without relegation from the previous season, and the fact that
the NFF Executive Committee cannot work properly due to this interference. The suspension will be maintained until the court actions have ceased and the duly elected NFF Executive Committee is able to work without any interference.
15 Violence on the football fields in Africa is very common. With a few exceptions, violence is not organized but rather spontaneous. Most of the anger is directed at the referee and the players, coaches and officials of the opponent team. There are towns in Ghana where away teams never
leave without a few bruises, or worse. The general rule is that you cannot win away matches. There is so much pride and politics involved that losing a home match is not an option. This is true for top league matches as well as village matches. Good infrastruc-tures and security personnel are mostly
absent in the villages, increasing levels of violence. Sometimes things get out of hand. Two of Africa’s worst stadium disasters happened in 2001, first in South Africa, then in Ghana. Every year many supporters die in stadiums in Africa. Researchers argue that inadequate infrastructures, contempt for
spectator safety on the part of the administrators and non-professional security personnel are the prime causes. Mismanagement worsens the situation (people are allowed in when the venue is already full.
16 See the Article on Ivory Coast Disaster Exhibits Safety Deficiencies in African Stadiums April 02,
2009 07:30 AM by Denis Cummings in brief (Sunday’s deadly stadium stampede in the Ivory
Coast is the ninth soccer stadium disaster this decade in Africa, where stadium security and
safety protocols are often lacking).
17 See Article 67 of FIFA disciplinary code 2011 Edition.
74 Elvis Majani and Nick Osoro
Therefore to avoid stampedes and/or fan violence various countries have
adopted different strategies. Dr. Prince Pambo, a sports medical director with the national sports authority, who made the call at a workshop on stadium security,
said most crowd troubles recorded at stadiums could be chiefly credited to football fans’ intake of alcoholic stuff which impaired their sense of judgment ”Promotion and sale of alcoholic beverages should be stopped at the stadium”.18
As much as alcohol intake should be controlled some stadium disaster
occur because of lack of awareness among the fans on sports rules, for example when a player is reprimanded for a foul, this may cause fan trouble basically because they fail to understand the sport, moreover how the authorities choose to calm the situation is another area that should be looked at, during the disaster in Accra police officers fired tear gas into the stands in their efforts to control rioting fans after Hearts overturned a one-goal deficit to lead 2-1, resulting in a stampede which ended the lives of 127 fans as they attempted to escape.
There should be clear guidelines on how authorities handle such incidences to prevent more chaos as it was witnessed above.
Further as learnt from the Ellis park disaster whereby during the early
evening of Wednesday 11 April 2001 a large crowd of people descended onto the Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg, to watch a soccer match between Kaizer Chiefs Football Club (Kaizer Chiefs) and Orlando Pirates Football Club (Orlando Pirates) a stampede ensued. At the end of it all, 43 people had lost their lives and scores had sustained injuries of varying degrees.19
The policies that can be adopted to prevent stadium disaster as
recommended by the Ellis park commission and which I agree with are:
a) Entry points into the stadium should as far as possible be kept clear of
immobile crowd, this will allow quick exit in case of emergencies
b) There should be a mechanism to count the number of people entering at
various points, which information should instantaneously and continuously
be fed into a central point this would enable those in charge to notice
quickly when the stadium becomes full.
c) Timeous opening of the gates, to ensure that fans are well organized in
time for the games.
d) Effective ticket design. The designs must be such that the tickets would be difficult to be counterfeited, yet easy to process in order to avoid congestions.
e) Essential information should be given to the spectators on emergency exits, emergency paths, and emergency telephone contact numbers (evidence has shown that some of the spectators carry mobile telephones). Some of the information may be printed onto the tickets.
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18 See speeches made at the ACCRA workshop during the commemoration of the 11th anniversary
of Ghana’s May 9 stadium disaster where more than 127 soccer fans died on May 9, 2001, in a tragic
incident at the Accra sports stadium in the capital during a local premier league match between arch
rivals Accra Hearts of Oak and Kumasi Asante Kotoko.
19 See Final report of the Commission of inquiry into the Ellis park Stadium soccer disaster of 11 April
Sports management and government interference in Africa 75
a) The sale of tickets by unauthorized persons (ticket touting) should be
prohibited and made an offence; inter alia, provision should be made for
the confiscation of any ticket sought to be sold in such a manner.
b) The designation of certain conduct on the part of the spectators as criminal.20
Closely related to the previous measure, would be the designation of certain
conduct as a criminal offence; for example:
! entering without a ticket;
! entering with dangerous objects or alcohol;
! invading the pitch;
! failure to obey orders of safety officials;
This would enable effective crowd control and minimizing chaos and or
injuries in our stadiums.
The following list illustrates other stadium disasters that have befallen
African Sports over the years:
June 16, 1996 — Lusaka, Zambia: Nine soccer fans lost their lives and 78 others
injured during a stampede.
April 6, 1997 — Lagos, Nigeria: five fans lost their lives and more than a dozen
injured when crowd heads for exits to find most of them locked.
April 23, 2000 — Monrovia, Liberia: Three people suffocated to death and others
were injured as thousands of fans forced their way into an overcrowded stadium.
July 9, 2000 — Harare, Zimbabwe: 13 fans were killed after police fired tear gas into a crowd estimated at 50,000 to quell growing unruliness.
April 11, 2001 — Johannesburg, South Africa: 43 people were killed and 155
injured as fans try to push into an overcrowded stadium.
April 29, 2001 — Lubumbashi, Congo: seven people are crushed to death in a stampede after police fired tear gas into unruly crowd.
May 9, 2001 — Accra, Ghana: at least 123 people died in a stampede after police fired tear gas into the stands in response to fans who threw bottles and chairs on the field. The worst stadium disaster in Africa.
Oct. 11, 2004 — Lome, Togo: four people are killed and another eight injured during a stampede at the end of a World Cup qualifier between Togo and Mali. A power outage shut down the lights and prompted panicking fans to run for the exits.
June 3, 2007 — Lusaka, Zambia: 12 fans are crushed to death as a crowd rushes from the stadium after Zambia’s victory in an African Cup qualifier against Republic of Congo.
March 29, 2009 — Abidjan, Ivory Coast: thousands of fans pushing to get into a
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2001 Chairperson: the Hon. Mr. Justice B M Ngoepe Judge President: Transvaal provincial division
of the High court of South Africa.
20 In 2011 during a league match between Masry and Ahly in Egypt at least 74 fans lost their lives
after riots erupted the match ended and the home fans invaded the pitch. Questions were raised over
the role of police and security personnel’s, who did not seem to act decisively. It was reported that
some fans entered the stadium with knives and other dangerous weapons.
76 Elvis Majani and Nick Osoro
game between Ivory Coast and Malawi set off a stampede that killed 19 people and injured more than 100.
February 2012 – Cairo Egypt: at least 74 fans lost their lives after riots erupted the match ended and the home fans invaded the pitch.
6. Management and Corruption
Leadership and management in sports is all about steering the sector into a productive direction where the sportsmen/women enjoy the game while benefiting from the same as well as the fans enjoying the daily happenings in the sports sector without hiccups of mismanagement of funds and/or disquiet among players for not being paid their allowances. The persons given the opportunity to lead the various sports sectors should be persons of integrity who will be able to promote the ideals of the sports in which they lead.
Mismanagement and corruption is a common thing in Africa and it is
always referred by many names: a “little something”, a “gift”, a “motivation”, an “envelop” or a “dash”. Most of them refer to eating – corruption entails officials using public money for their own personal benefits. Some African nations call it ‘sharing the national cake’ which tells you that the practice is to some extent legitimized. Indeed, corruption is institutionalized in the majority of African countries.
One of the main problems with African football is that the sector lacks
accountability and transparency in terms of income and expenditures.
Conclusion
Good governance at the global and national levels secures resources: it facilitates prudent management of often scarce local resources, such as gate collections; attracts local corporate sponsorship; and also attracts international sponsorship, such as those from FIFA. In turn, adequate resources provide impetus for sustained good governance. These circumstances create the environment to fully exploit football’s
capacity for leisure and employment, and offer avenues to enhance national cohesion and development.
The government and the entire football fraternity would do well to espouse
good governance framework for African football incorporating the many valuable proposals made in “For the Good of the Game” and other similar initiatives.
Manipulation of sports results has taken on worrying proportions. The
considerable sums of money involved in sports betting have encouraged the
development of new forms of corruption, providing criminal organizations with a source of illicit profits and a means of laundering money from other illegal activities.
As a result, this phenomenon not only taints the values of sport and harms the interests of the sports movement and betting operators, but is also a threat to public order and the rule of law.
Sports management and government interference in Africa 77
Africa needs football infrastructures at a grassroots level. Large stadiums
are useful a few times a year, but well-maintained training facilities throughout the country are more beneficial to the development of the game. One thing to remember is that poor infrastructures increase levels of intimidation and violence. League centers in villages and small towns commonly lack inner perimeters which make it easy for spectators to enter the field of play. Violence against the referees, unfortunately, happens on a structural basis.