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Jagged Blue |
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Monday, July 1, 302 AP
Web posted at 1219 UST.
The Utanian Football Association has been reborn! And reborn with a mission clearly in its mind.
The best part is, it's very easy to remember. Ready?
"Football."
"To promote football", attracting fans to the game; "To support football", through the thousands of clubs nationwide; "To provide" a national competition and a national team. It begins with the catch-phrase "To do nothing by halves". Doesn't it all sound a little... well...
"Laughable? Yes, I suppose on one level it is", CEO Robert Aranja told the crowd. "But, the UFA is entrusted with a glorious past, and a huge responsibility for the game that is infused in the veins of Utanians from birth. We simply cannot go about with that responsibility without a clear idea of what we should achieve."
"Without a target to shoot, we have no criteria for success."
Aranja also points out that the mission statement's goals are not stamped "not negotiable". On the contrary, he says, "We have a mission so that what we think we are supposed to be doing can be evaluated and criticised by the 48 million people whose sport we are hoping to continue to manage and support."
TV UFA's role
Notably the mission also includes a clear statement of guidance for the role that TV
UFA is to play: "To provide a framework by which the history of the game is preserved and
made available to all."
"We did not create the television station purely for revenue raising. It is our library, our central repository for all the history of the game. It is much more than just a television station."
Speaking with the CEO, Robert Aranja, in the post-unveiling press conference, it is clear the new organisation is being lead from the top. Chairman Beyose and CEO Aranja have the UFA under their iron grip, and not a single cent will be squandered on their watch.
Aranja also points out that the foundation on which the mission will be fulfilled is the UFA's continued commitment to ethical, corruption-free operation. While the hand-out briefing for the press conference, nor the website clearly say so, it is clear that Aranja, and his boss, Chairman Beyose, appreciate that the game suffered while the UFA wallowed about in its own venality and corruption.
It is clear that both men want to put the past behind them. Today's statement marks that break as clearly as it can.
Long-time coming
Yet, that was an action a year in the making, which began when the Chairman of the UFA was arrested for fraudulent use of government grants to the UFA. While the chairman and dozens of others protested their innocence, and then protested the federal police's entrapment of them, commentators saw truth in their claims: it was clear the President was not going to tolerate corruption anywhere in the country, least of all in the guardian-organisation of Utanian football.
Today, the fruits of the President's work were collected and put on display: a revitalised UFA.
The organisation is filled with staff ethical committees to find ways of maintaining the ethical standard, of keeping the organisation "completely transparent". A business ethics consultant is on the Board.
Criticism
Not that there is an absense of critics. The Parliamentary opposition claim the government has over-extended the Ministry of Culture by getting involved in the UFA, granting it some Û70 million in 302ap alone.
There is also many grumbles within the organisation saying the ethics committees are overly intrusive, and making the organisation overly bureaucratic. And the UFA has been accused of arrogance in promoting exclusively its vision of the game.
Perhaps, says Aranja, but he remains undeterred.
"We either accept that there must be pain in reforming ourselves, or we give up now and let the government run football", he told journalists after the presentation. "I, for one, believe there is enough resilience in the UFA to endure the short-term pain for the long-term goal of renewed football in Utania."
"And, as for arrogance," he continues, "We represent the views of over four thousand clubs. I think we have some right to speak forthrightly, don't you?"
Perhaps the fruit of all this work can only come as the year progresses, and the thousands upon millions of people who play the game on a dry, dusty evening in Chiquiti, or in the streets of Mulgrave, or the fields of Luka, are visited by the UFA agents, who provide free footballs, score-sheets and goals. Will they get what they asked for, or will the agents return to the bad old days when they spent the money on themselves, or their old school.
David Aranja doesn't think so. Perhaps only time can tell.
Only this time, the whole nation will be watching. Very closely.
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©Zeitgeist Magazine, 300 AP.
<TECH> ©Mike Ham, 2000. All rights reserved. No reproduction without, at least, tacit approval. ;-) |