Zifa presidential candidate Trevor Carelse-Juul (left) shares a lighter moment with the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League chairman Twine Phiri at Barbourfields Stadium yesterday. The two were part of the crowd that watched Highlanders beat Tsholotsho FC 2-1
Ricky Zililo Senior Sports Reporter
“DREAM Team to reality” is the election catch phrase aspiring Zifa president and businessman Trevor Carelse-Juul is emphasising on his campaign trail. Carelse-Juul flew into Bulawayo from his South African base yesterday afternoon to roll out his campaign, which started with him attending the league match between Highlanders and Tsholotsho at Barbourfields Stadium.
Carelse-Juul is vying for the Zifa presidency against fellow businessman Phillip Chiyangwa, former Warriors’ defender James Takavada and former PSL secretary-general Leslie Gwindi in elections to be held in Harare on December 5.
Carelse-Juul, who served as Zifa chairman during the famous Dream Team era before resigning in 1993, interacted with people at the VIP enclosure, which had, among prominent football persons, PSL chairman Twine Phiri. Outlining his plans, Carelse-Juul said Zifa councillors must take heed of the public’s opinion on voting for a person who will transform Zimbabwe’s football fortunes.
He said he had been getting overwhelming comments from the general public after launching a Facebook page to aid his campaign.
“The support is overwhelming. We launched a Facebook page on Monday and people have been saying ‘save our football’. Now is the turning point. Our football needs someone with proven credentials. I think we need an intelligent person with a clear plan to take football forward and I’m that person. The lesson I learnt from the loss to (ousted Zifa president Cuthbert) Dube is to trust in God. Who can be against you if God is on your side?” said Carelse-Juul.
He said his values were centred on transparency and also spoke about the importance of working together as a Zifa team, as factions hindered football development.
“Let’s go and turn the Dream Team to reality. If voters see that the public is behind us, all that they (councillors) have to do is to be responsible. What’s needed to turn around football is collectivism. We’ve to have sustainable revenue streams and sustainable development. We need to get auditors to analyse and plan. We need to go and do a SWOT analysis, know the strengths and weaknesses so that we build on strength and opportunities.”
A SWOT analysis is a useful technique for understanding your strengths and weaknesses, and for identifying both the opportunities open to you and the threats you face. He believes the first 100 days will be key towards the transformation of Zifa.
“The first 100 days will be important and that’s when we’ll bring in auditors to come and analyse so that we understand the direction we’ll be taking. There’s need to understand the debt, verify all the details, and then negotiate with the view of settlement. There’s also need to engage the government. Getting rid of the debt as quickly as possible will be good as we’ll then shift focus on development of football,” he said.
Carelse-Juul also spoke about the need to capacitate coaches, create a scholarship for young footballers and have most of local players plying their trade in foreign leagues. “We need to arrange that we’ve at least 20 players attached overseas so that we’ve a wide pool of players to choose our senior national team from.”
He said he had the global contacts to turn this into reality. Carelse-Juul said if elected, he would ensure that coaches and referees have representation in Zifa so that they can work together as a collective to clean up and develop the local game. He said contrary to the belief that he was out of touch with local football, he has probably watched more local soccer than most of his competitors.
“I’ve watched juniors playing on fields with no grass and because the media doesn’t cover these games, people then say Trevor has lost touch,” Carelse-Juul said. He will round off his Bulawayo and Matabeleland North campaigns this afternoon before heading to the Midlands this evening. He will then leave for Harare tomorrow to wrap-up his meet the councillors’ tour.
