By Linda Kwanjana
Football has been described as benchmark for national unity Malawi President Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera has said this evening at Kamuzu Palace.
Addressing the four national teams of Zimbabwe the warriors , Kenya the Harambe Stars , Zambia Chipolopolo boys and the Malawi National team the frames, Chakwera said appreciate the role football plays in uniting people of different backgrounds.
“Football
unites people of different backgrounds to share in the joys and
sorrows of our shared humanity. Football teaches us anatomy,
strategy, symmetry, artistry, chivalry, camaraderie, integrity
humility, and generosity,” he said.
Chakwera said Football provides a powerful metaphor
and model for all of life. “For we all know that to live in this world
victoriously involves mastering the multiple skills of knowing
the rules of life, tackling opposition to defend your values
without being disqualified, playing with less players than others
when you suffer fouls, taking the penalties of life with
composure, avoiding the offside traps and own goals that can
punish us when we lose concentration, healing our injuries and
wounds to stay in the game long term, and being a team player,”
He said Football is also an excellent training ground for giving
everything in achieving the dreams and learning to rise
from death and defeat when dreams come crashing down.
“Because we must not forget the words of Coach Thobejane, who
famously said that football can kill you a real death.
For these reasons and more, what a nation invests in its sports
is a reflection of how much value that nation places on its
health, its unity, its sense of identity, its youth, and its place in
the global village. For us in Malawi, we are determined to take
all the sports disciplines in which we have a competitive
advantage to the next level, and football is one of them,” he added.
The four senior football teams that
are camped here in our capital Lilongwe are all destined to compete in the Four Nations
Tournament.
