Opinion / Columnist
Milking a cow to its last breath
01 Jun 2013 at 06:45hrs | Views
I have had the pleasure of trying my hand at milking a cow in my rural home in Filabusi, ko Godlwayo. It's an interesting exercise and if you are lucky and the herd boys hand you a tame one, the experience is unforgettable, but the whole thing can be a nightmare if you are tasked to milk a wild one, where you risk losing your teeth from a powerful kick!
Milking a cow is an art. You have to know from which side of the cow to approach it and you have to know how to handle the teats to get the milk out, you don't just pull, and most importantly, you have to know when to stop, keeping in mind that there is a calf that has to feed from the same cow.
Depending on the behaviour of the animal, you can either go for it without using a rope to tie it or have it tied, and while in the act, you have to talk to the animal and that's why I say it's an art.
Apart from milking a cow or a goat, as some people do, there are other individuals and institutions that are milked like cows. Some institutions are called cash cows, as a number of dependent organisations keep milking the same institution for cash.
They go to it in the morning to get milk for tea, go to it in the afternoon to get milk for lunch, go back to it in the afternoon to get milk for tea "eka four" and go to it again at night for milk for supper, and at the end of it all, there is nothing left for the calf. The calf is then forced to survive on grass and leaves alone, which is not healthy.
That is the situation that the country's big two clubs find themselves in, or rather, what PSL clubs find themselves in. What the clubs get from their home matches does not correspond with the crowds that pay to watch their games, not because people pay little, but because the clubs' share of the revenue is very little.
"Instead of empowering clubs, the PSL, Zifa, Sport and Recreation and local authorities have become charity cases surviving on the financial sweat of the same clubs," noted one newspaper.
After every home game, clubs remit six percent of their gross gate-takings to Zifa and the Sport and Recreation Commission, three percent goes to PSL, 20 percent to local authorities who own the stadiums, another large chunk goes to the Zimbabwe Republic Police who provide security at matches and another to a security company that provides cash-in-transit services. There is a big chunk that goes to the payment of cashiers and ticket tearers.
Minus player bonuses and other internal expenses, the home club gets very little. When Highlanders hosted Dynamos before a paying crowd of 25 957 at Barbourfields Stadium last year, the Bulawayo giants grossed $104 445, but were left with $40 500, far less than half the total amount, after the authorities and service providers had wolfed down the rest.
The Bulawayo City Council took $20 885, $9 800 went to the ZRP and a private security company, $9 200 to the PSL, $1 044 to Zifa and $6 200 was gobbled by the SRC.
The argument out there has been that "in essence, all these organisations should be helping the clubs when they are struggling financially, but they want to milk them to extinction. Zifa and the SRC have been collecting money from clubs for years, but where is it going, since it has not developed our football? Teams struggle to participate in continental competitions and one would expect Zifa and the PSL to chip in and help. Our football is going backwards thanks to poor management."
Moreover, despite stadiums being filled with perimeter boards as part of touchline advertising, clubs get nothing from that, as all the money goes to a private advertising company contracted by city authorities to run touchline advertising at stadiums like Rufaro, Luveve and Barbourfields, with only the privately owned stadiums like Morris Depot, Motor Action Sports Club, Larfage, the Colliery and Mandava benefiting from touchline advertising.
Highlanders treasurer, Jerry Sibanda, reminded the world of the harsh environment that clubs are operating under, but the message hidden in his submission was that those who are not investing in football were the biggest winners from gate-takings.
The clubs that groom players from juniors to seniors get very little, and most interestingly, even the players who train everyday and are the reason why people come to the stadium, actually get far less than what some cashiers take home from a single game.
On average, winning bonuses for players would range from $100 to $250, depending on the club, but it boggles the mind if you consider that a cashier can walk away with a similar amount or more from a match. This is not to say cashiers do not have a big role to play in taking care of the finances, but in that half a day's work should they get more milk than the owners of the cow?
No matter how packed the stadium, the clubs will always take home less than a quarter of what is generated from the turnstiles and with sponsorship levels very low in the country, it's about time the PSL and Zifa held an indaba with football stakeholders to see how best they can share the cake and leave clubs with the bigger chunk for their survival. Even if clubs like Highlanders and Dynamos increase gate charges, the biggest winners are the service providers and it hurts, because it's not the players and coaches who woo thousands to the stadium.
When Highlanders played Black Mambas on Sunday, they grossed $26 444 but were left with a paltry $6 219. The Bulawayo giants had certainly spent more than double that in the week ahead of the match, taking care of the players, transport and camp plus food.
"We grossed $26 444 and took home $6 219. We have to pay winning bonuses of over $4 000, make preparations for the next match, run an office and other projects within the club. It's just not enough as the situation is worsened by that fact that when we travel away and win, we have to pay bonuses from a case where our gate-takings are insufficient to cover a week's expenditure," said Sibanda.
From gate-takings, the Bulawayo City Council, owners of Barbourfields stadium, took $5 288, chief cashiers $500, cashiers $1 100, club treasurer $100, ticket tearers $200, attendants and supervisors $440, referees $795, police $1 610, private security $1 200, SRC $1 587, Zifa $1 587 and the PSL $848.
With Highlanders having raised their cheapest ticket price from $3 to $5, the treasurer believes it's up to the players to give fans value for money.
"The players have done good service to the club so far. We implore them to work harder and justify the $5 through good displays. Fans pay to watch good football and see their team win. The trick is people will pay $5 to watch a good game, goals and a win.
The players are key to that and we ask the Highlanders family to come in numbers to all our matches. Everyone we are playing is charging $5 for matches. Why should we raise money for others through our supporters when we are away, we should do it for ourselves in our own home matches," added the Bosso treasurer.
For interest's sake and the direction where our football should be going, the way clubs are treated puts the Zimbabwean PSL way below South Africa's Absa Premiership which attracts most of Zimbabwe's talented players.
Instead of deducting from them, the PSL pays each club a R1 million grant every month, meaning that each club gets a minimum of R16 million a season.
Absa Premiership media officer, Luxolo September, was quoted explaining that unlike Zifa and other sport organisations, the South African Football Association kept its hands off club coffers.
"Safa has nothing to do with the gate-takings of the clubs," said September.
While SA PSL clubs are responsible for their travel and accommodation, National First Division clubs' travel and accommodation are the responsibility of the league, which also gives them a monthly grant of R380 000.
Zimbabwean topflight clubs would fight to be in the same position as one of the SA's NFD clubs. Service providers in the country are surely milking the cow to its last breath. The nation should applaud companies that are sponsoring football clubs in the country, and give a pat on the back to BancABC for the kit deal with Highlanders and Dynamos. Although what clubs will get from the sale of each replica jersey is not much, which is seven percent of $50 ($3.50), it's a move in the right direction.
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For comments and contributions, email: limncube@yahoo.co.uk. You can also follow this writer on Facebook and Twitter.
Milking a cow is an art. You have to know from which side of the cow to approach it and you have to know how to handle the teats to get the milk out, you don't just pull, and most importantly, you have to know when to stop, keeping in mind that there is a calf that has to feed from the same cow.
Depending on the behaviour of the animal, you can either go for it without using a rope to tie it or have it tied, and while in the act, you have to talk to the animal and that's why I say it's an art.
Apart from milking a cow or a goat, as some people do, there are other individuals and institutions that are milked like cows. Some institutions are called cash cows, as a number of dependent organisations keep milking the same institution for cash.
They go to it in the morning to get milk for tea, go to it in the afternoon to get milk for lunch, go back to it in the afternoon to get milk for tea "eka four" and go to it again at night for milk for supper, and at the end of it all, there is nothing left for the calf. The calf is then forced to survive on grass and leaves alone, which is not healthy.
That is the situation that the country's big two clubs find themselves in, or rather, what PSL clubs find themselves in. What the clubs get from their home matches does not correspond with the crowds that pay to watch their games, not because people pay little, but because the clubs' share of the revenue is very little.
"Instead of empowering clubs, the PSL, Zifa, Sport and Recreation and local authorities have become charity cases surviving on the financial sweat of the same clubs," noted one newspaper.
After every home game, clubs remit six percent of their gross gate-takings to Zifa and the Sport and Recreation Commission, three percent goes to PSL, 20 percent to local authorities who own the stadiums, another large chunk goes to the Zimbabwe Republic Police who provide security at matches and another to a security company that provides cash-in-transit services. There is a big chunk that goes to the payment of cashiers and ticket tearers.
Minus player bonuses and other internal expenses, the home club gets very little. When Highlanders hosted Dynamos before a paying crowd of 25 957 at Barbourfields Stadium last year, the Bulawayo giants grossed $104 445, but were left with $40 500, far less than half the total amount, after the authorities and service providers had wolfed down the rest.
The Bulawayo City Council took $20 885, $9 800 went to the ZRP and a private security company, $9 200 to the PSL, $1 044 to Zifa and $6 200 was gobbled by the SRC.
The argument out there has been that "in essence, all these organisations should be helping the clubs when they are struggling financially, but they want to milk them to extinction. Zifa and the SRC have been collecting money from clubs for years, but where is it going, since it has not developed our football? Teams struggle to participate in continental competitions and one would expect Zifa and the PSL to chip in and help. Our football is going backwards thanks to poor management."
Moreover, despite stadiums being filled with perimeter boards as part of touchline advertising, clubs get nothing from that, as all the money goes to a private advertising company contracted by city authorities to run touchline advertising at stadiums like Rufaro, Luveve and Barbourfields, with only the privately owned stadiums like Morris Depot, Motor Action Sports Club, Larfage, the Colliery and Mandava benefiting from touchline advertising.
Highlanders treasurer, Jerry Sibanda, reminded the world of the harsh environment that clubs are operating under, but the message hidden in his submission was that those who are not investing in football were the biggest winners from gate-takings.
The clubs that groom players from juniors to seniors get very little, and most interestingly, even the players who train everyday and are the reason why people come to the stadium, actually get far less than what some cashiers take home from a single game.
On average, winning bonuses for players would range from $100 to $250, depending on the club, but it boggles the mind if you consider that a cashier can walk away with a similar amount or more from a match. This is not to say cashiers do not have a big role to play in taking care of the finances, but in that half a day's work should they get more milk than the owners of the cow?
No matter how packed the stadium, the clubs will always take home less than a quarter of what is generated from the turnstiles and with sponsorship levels very low in the country, it's about time the PSL and Zifa held an indaba with football stakeholders to see how best they can share the cake and leave clubs with the bigger chunk for their survival. Even if clubs like Highlanders and Dynamos increase gate charges, the biggest winners are the service providers and it hurts, because it's not the players and coaches who woo thousands to the stadium.
When Highlanders played Black Mambas on Sunday, they grossed $26 444 but were left with a paltry $6 219. The Bulawayo giants had certainly spent more than double that in the week ahead of the match, taking care of the players, transport and camp plus food.
"We grossed $26 444 and took home $6 219. We have to pay winning bonuses of over $4 000, make preparations for the next match, run an office and other projects within the club. It's just not enough as the situation is worsened by that fact that when we travel away and win, we have to pay bonuses from a case where our gate-takings are insufficient to cover a week's expenditure," said Sibanda.
From gate-takings, the Bulawayo City Council, owners of Barbourfields stadium, took $5 288, chief cashiers $500, cashiers $1 100, club treasurer $100, ticket tearers $200, attendants and supervisors $440, referees $795, police $1 610, private security $1 200, SRC $1 587, Zifa $1 587 and the PSL $848.
With Highlanders having raised their cheapest ticket price from $3 to $5, the treasurer believes it's up to the players to give fans value for money.
"The players have done good service to the club so far. We implore them to work harder and justify the $5 through good displays. Fans pay to watch good football and see their team win. The trick is people will pay $5 to watch a good game, goals and a win.
The players are key to that and we ask the Highlanders family to come in numbers to all our matches. Everyone we are playing is charging $5 for matches. Why should we raise money for others through our supporters when we are away, we should do it for ourselves in our own home matches," added the Bosso treasurer.
For interest's sake and the direction where our football should be going, the way clubs are treated puts the Zimbabwean PSL way below South Africa's Absa Premiership which attracts most of Zimbabwe's talented players.
Instead of deducting from them, the PSL pays each club a R1 million grant every month, meaning that each club gets a minimum of R16 million a season.
Absa Premiership media officer, Luxolo September, was quoted explaining that unlike Zifa and other sport organisations, the South African Football Association kept its hands off club coffers.
"Safa has nothing to do with the gate-takings of the clubs," said September.
While SA PSL clubs are responsible for their travel and accommodation, National First Division clubs' travel and accommodation are the responsibility of the league, which also gives them a monthly grant of R380 000.
Zimbabwean topflight clubs would fight to be in the same position as one of the SA's NFD clubs. Service providers in the country are surely milking the cow to its last breath. The nation should applaud companies that are sponsoring football clubs in the country, and give a pat on the back to BancABC for the kit deal with Highlanders and Dynamos. Although what clubs will get from the sale of each replica jersey is not much, which is seven percent of $50 ($3.50), it's a move in the right direction.
--------------
For comments and contributions, email: limncube@yahoo.co.uk. You can also follow this writer on Facebook and Twitter.
Source - chronicle
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