Ethiopian Football federation’s inefficiency and lack of accountability has reached a climax, as the season is suspended indefinitely. The League Committee was blamed for the chaotic situation following the 27th week fixtures between title contender Mekele Town and popular side Ethiopia Coffee.
Since the showdown between Mekele and host Coffee is a sensitive one for having huge influence on the title race, EFF should have consulted the government security office about the situation earlier than the fixtures due date. Failing to do so and fans already buying entrance tickets and Mekele already reaching Addis, postponing then relocating the venue to Tuesday and in Adama under closed doors means a costly joke at the cost of the teams, fans and the football. Add to that the absence of confrontation between fans, aborting the match claiming to have information from a government office about serious security concerns is nothing short of negligence and irresponsible act over the football loving people as well the government that bestowed the authority to the federation.
Had EFF advised government office ahead of the game following Ethiopia Coffee’s letter of concern over security matters, measures to stop it could have been easier for all concerned bodies above all for fans that bought tickets and to the visiting sides that spent additional expenses for extended stay in Addis Ababa.
With EFF’s president Ato Essays and vice president and League Committee Chair person Colonel Awol and the General secretary ….in Paris for FIFA Annual meeting there appeared no one capable enough of handling the situation at the front desk.
EFF should have anticipated such confrontation between the two sides and come up with plan B before shuttling to Paris.
It may be to avoid the dilemma as all the heavy weights travelled to Paris leaving the hardball in to the hands of Organizing Committee chairman Yosef Tesfaye a back bencher to major decisions. Such major decisions at the hands of the second string meant such chaos was hard to reverse without long term consequences. League committee may be blamed for the chaos but forget not Colonel Awol is head of that committee and can you imagine the committee took that decision without his knowledge? You need to be so innocent or ignorant of Ethiopian Football to just say why not.
Here comes the climax of running Ethiopian Football without knowledge, experience and good will. No wonder no one to has a reasonable guess when it may resume.
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