Super League clubs ask for subvention

TNM Super League clubs have questioned Super League of Malawi (Sulom) over delays in paying the K20 million subvention which was pledged before the season kicked off.

Football Association of Malawi (Fam) and Sulom made the pledge as one way of helping teams meet the cost of playing in the elite league.

Bangwe All Stars Chairperson Mphatso Jika said he feels cheated as Sulom has not released any statement on the same despite the league having kicked off on Saturday.

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“This is not fair. It is making life unbearable. Planning and preparing for games is not easy without money as we do not have sponsors. We run our teams using personal resources and when Fam and Sulom made the pledge, we were relieved.

“But we are now in the second week of the league and no one is coming forward to tell us about when we will get the subvention.

We were banking on the subvention to kick-start the league. We are therefore calling on Fam and Sulom to kindly pay us so that we keep going,” Jika said.

Dedza Dynamos Administrative Officer Feston Kamkosi echoed Jika’s sentiments on the matter.

“The only change some of us have noticed is on gate revenue. But the subvention is still nowhere to be seen and we have not been told anything about it,” Kamkosi said.

Mzuzu City Hammers Chairperson Gift Mkandawire said maintaining a team in the top flight league has high cost implications.

“As small teams, we are struggling and that cannot be disputed. We have not received the money yet. So we are only looking forward to the day when the money will be made available to us,” Mkandawire said.

When contacted to shed light on the matter, Sulom General Secretary Williams Banda referred us to his deputy Donnex Chilonga, saying he was away .

Chilonga downplayed the matter, insisting they are still working on logistical arrangements.

“We are hoping to start paying the first chunk of the money next week as both our sponsors TNM and mother body Fam are yet to give us the money.

You may wish to know that Fam pledged K10 million on top of the K10 million which we, as Sulom, also pledged. So once everything is sorted out, we have the hope that we will start paying the teams,” he said.“`