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What it takes to produce champions?

Date: 09 November 2006
By: Mohamed Niyaz

Fazeel (L) one of the many top players joined VB sports

An end to the mayhem and speculation. A big sigh of relief for the fans and clubs groping in the dark for what now looks like an exhausted transfer market after a big poach by well-known VB brothers!

The moment we heard a takeover bid by VB brothers’ tongues started wagging about a possible shift in power of local football; debates started raging, and questions started being asked: Is it going to be first division team? Where will their money-spinning radar stop, some first-division strugglers? Taken by surprise Maziya FC couldn’t believe their luck, when the rumors circulated at their backyard, about them, by them, all and sundry. But even before they could stifle the excited nerves, before their dreams take wing they are brought down to the earth. They are halted in their track when it dawns on them – after what transpired in boardroom – VB Brothers are now pursing IFC, not Maziya.

An unsuspecting Maziya took them for a ride, far too long and now pay the price despite they were the target of VB brothers, as some observer put it. An opportunity to live life on a thick wallet; to be in the company of big teams, to rub shoulders with the elites, and don't forget to register a new benchmark in a minnow’s short history let alone a serious title contender. But sadly it is not to be. After what looks like a dirty wrangle in which Maziya couldn’t agree on one key clause – to change Maziya's name to VB Sports, to surrender once and for all the pride and prestige associated with the name ‘MAZIYA' – for it was like asking for moon.

The transaction is now done and dusted. Over.

Today IFC, now newly named as VB Sports lay surrounded by riches of VB brothers and top star players. The hype is as usual deafening among fans, the usual doing the rounds. What they could do and the silverwares they could fetch to VB’s boardroom. The damage Fazeel and the Ali Umar can do to other high-flying teams and all the breathing taking stuff. Temptation irresistible!

It doesn’t mean history should repeat itself but looking back it is not so promising. Look what happened to VB sport’s predecessors. IFC rose with a big bang from the remnants of Orchid Sports Club navigating rough weather just after a few years in the generous hands of the Bandos Island Resort. Before that it was New Lagoons, living dangerously on relegation zone. The sooner these teams breathe new life into the preceding one than the faster they die a natural death, don't they?

IFC started so rich that  they went on a shopping spree to collect the then glittering stars, money was lavished on their whim and fancy, players were contracted for thick wads of money, full salary given, in some cases couple of years in advance. Yet managed what, just a few championships. In the last two seasons they were a spent force living on borrowed times.

The point is, can money alone wean on a success story? Where and why did Orchid and IFC fail when they started with such a big financial clout and an array of stars? Is it erratic players or poor management? Looking beyond national borders further away from Asia to Europe you see Chelsea doing so good with Roman Abramovich’s billions, two league titles in the last two seasons. Once vibrant, free-flowing star-studded Real Madrid is now history, still recovering from the debacle of forgettable season last two seasons. US tycoon Malcolm Glazer’s Manchester United is yet to get a foothold, dislodged by a resurgent Chelsea. In the face of this logic it gives a mixed result.

Yes, Chelsea is going great guns but no, not just solely because of a Russian billionaire, it’s just as much to do with money pumped by an oil magnate as a sound management and professional footballers. Now the question spring to mind is “don’t compare our local teams with the giants of Europe?” with everything at their disposal.  No comparison is made; Yes, let’s be crystal-clear here, it all has to do with our reluctant admission, that the fault lies here  with us, that it is our penchant for quick-fix solutions that brings a untimely end to a dreamy start to many of our hard-won ventures.

It's a weak fixation on our part think you buy a club today and expect to reap fruit tomorrow. Only a Mourinho can conjure up such magic. The biggest blunder IFC had made is they spent so much within the first two years and expected too quick a return. Demoralized at what was not forthcoming their gradual downward slide changed hands with changing managements, when, the perseverance and developing young talents should have been the mantra. A sound management and players playing for the love of the club. Ended up mostly empty-handed; it is imperative somebody has now learned something.

A lesson VB Sports cannot do away with: don’t expect Ali Umars and Fazeels and other high-profile players fill your boardroom with silverwares next season. You need to gradually and steadily do exert yourself to develop and furnish a professional team sweating out for the interest of the team; not self-centered individuals looking for personal glory. Very often money plus popular appeal is equated with success in sport. It’s a folly if you go by that logic – it doesn’t seem to be backed by adequate empirical evidence as far as football is concerned.

The harsh truth is money power and a handful of stars in the kitty will not make you an overnight sensation unless professionalism and perseverance go hand in hand, unless we sit up and take notice what stands between indulgence and ambition, between an idea and action, between defeat and victory? ‘Hard work! Hard work! Hard work!’ Which sport is like a walk in the park?

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