By Edwin Mbewe
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-The Football Association of Malawi (FAM) and Super League of Malawi (SULOM) jointly conducted a two-day Stewards Trainer of the Trainer’s workshop at the Bingu National Stadium in the Capital, Lilongwe.
The training which was officially opened on Friday the 12th of April, and concluded on Saturday, the 13th of April 2024 was the first of its kind after twenty years (20) since a similar workshop was conducted.
About 45 people drawn from Malawi’s elite league teams and other security agencies including the Malawi Police Service (MPS) attended the workshop and have since been certified to be conducting Stewards training across the country.
The Football Association of Malawi (FAM) Competitions Committee Chairperson Felisters Donssi said the workshop aimed at creating a pool of local trainers who will be conducting stewardship training across the country.
“We thought it necessary to conduct the training at least for this year because, in our Moto, where we say we want to transform the game, we want to take the issue of safety and security as a priority. So as I said, we started with supporters, educating them about their role at a match organization and here we are with Stewards.
“We are not done as we are also thinking of engaging the Police separately, so I think that will be our next phase. Let me encourage all the security agencies including the stewards to work as a team and not in isolation, as by doing so, we will achieve the security we want in our stadia. We expect that we have trained a team that will train other teams hence having a successful season”, Donssi explains after closing the workshop.
Chairperson of the Stewards in the country who was also one of the participants, Pascal Mkuta hailed the Football Association of Malawi for coming up with such a pivotal workshop after two decades.
“It has been a fruitful workshop, I once attended such training twenty years ago using the British Syllabus, but now we are in the modern world where everything is now modernized hence it was really important for this initiative to happen.
“The way we trained about pitch invasion and practicals, Skills I am a changed person and I believe to deliver beyond expectations”, narrates Mkuta.
The Federation International Football Association (FIFA) and Confederation of African Football (CAF) Safety and Security expert Dixon Okello from Uganda facilitated the course.
