By MICHAEL MIYOBA
New Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) General Secretary Reuben Kamanga says camps should not be encouraged for the continuous development of the Zambian game.
Kamanga, speaking in an interview after the FAZ executive committee approved his appointment said there is need for the football community to belong to one camp.
He said he will work to ensure that waring football camps are united for the benefit of the Zambian game.
“The legacy I want to leave is a united football family. A family that truly works together for the common good of the game. Not a divided family.
“I want to unite… working with different stakeholders, all the stakeholders in football, the fans the government, the Football Association of Zambia, the clubs and other people who have played football so that we can have one goal of achieving greater things for Zambian football,” Kamanga said.
“It will take a lot of efforts of ensuring that all stakeholders pull in one direction. There should be no camp of I belong to this one, I belong to that camp. I think we all belong to one camp and that is the football camp,” he said.
On the VAR which was used for the first time in Zambia during the ABSA Cup final which Forest Rangers won after defeating MUZA FC 2-0 at Woodlands Stadium in Lusaka, Kamanga said the technological part made the game more exciting as it corrected human error.
“The ABSA Cup final was exciting. The president attended for the second time running as president of Zambia. I think that was important and the use of the VAR was a good one and the fans loved it. The people turned up in huge numbers and the sponsors ABSA must be congratulated for continuing to sponsor football,” Kamanga said.
Asked how soon VAR will be introduced in the FAZ Super League, Kamanga said; “The stakeholders have to sit together and plan. There is a lot of things involved but fans want to see it because it corrects mistakes. We saw during the final it corrected one mistake, it takes out the human error so I think it is important for the game and we have to move with time.”
VAR was used to overrule Moro Amenu’s 50th minute goal for Forest Rangers as it was deemed that a foul was committed by the eventual champions before the goal was scored.
The VAR technology proved to be a success thanks to North African match officials who worked with the locals Diana Chikotesha and retired Janny Sikazwe.
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