Football consultant and columnist Ponga Liwewe says the quality of players over the last thirty years cannot march the standard set pre-1990.
Observations have been made over the last couple of decades about the lack of depth in quality of players especially in the attack and goalkeeping departments.
Ponga said the pre-90’s era  benefitted  from learning  the fundamentals  in organized  junior community and later reserve league structures that were phased during the denationalization period thirty years ago.
But he added that the biggest gains made since then have been off the field in the commercial and management side of the game.
“If you talk about football on the field, I would have a slightly different opinion. In the 70’s and 80’s, obviously the game has come in a long way since then in terms of fitness etc. But I would say we had a product at that time that could draw thousands of people into the stadium based on the quality of the football,” Ponga told SUN FM.
“But that should also come with the qualification that we didn’t have televised football from Europe to the extent we have today, we had a highlights package (of English football) every Friday and probably in the whole year, the only live game you would watch was the FA Cup final.
“So very much football was rooted in the local product but we had players who had gone through proper development in that era and by proper development I meant from primary school level, starting in the communities where 8-9 year old kids played in structures where you train and played league games.
“But all that happened to fall away at the start of the 90’s with the liberalization of Zambian companies. Those that took over state-owned companies thought running social amenities or running sport weren’t really a priority so we lost something in that window.
“I would say therefore we do not have the quality players we had in the past in terms of the ability to play on the field. We do have players who are good but I would say that players of the earlier era having worked or developed in a structure gave us much more than what we are able to see in the players of today.”
  Â
Ponga should keep quite. You were part of this FAZ, & you scampered. What did you achieve? Y do Africans only become loud when they are no longer eating from the same table? Just like politicians, when they are in the system they are quietly eating, after they are kicked out then they become the wiser. And they want Zambians to listen to them. Fokolo
Ba Ponga, your father tried to teach you football commentry but you failed. When yo got into FAZ you were the worst FAZ General Secretary ever. You sneaked in Kitwe United and also failed. You are better off a soccer fan like me. Keep away from football analysis . Lets just seat in the terraces and watch.
Kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk oh boy! Interesting comments here!
Ponga is RIGHT!! Privatization did a big blow to soccer! Our national league has weakened for the reasons he has tabulated. We no longer produce football sensations on the scale of Johnstone Bwalya, Charles Musonda, Efford Chabala, Ashios Melu, Kalusha Bwalya ..etc. Please do NOT always look at who is speaking BUT GET THE MESSAGE! If you look clearly, with the history we have in Football as country, why have we failed to produce players in the European or even English Priemer Leagues while countries like Senegal, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, DRC have etc?? That said, PONGA SHOULD HAVE ENDED HIS PROBLEM ANALYSIS WITH A SOLUTION TO FIT IN OUR CURRENT TIMES!!
Some people should just stick to writing articles like Pongwe …he was at FAZ in high position why didn’t he sell this concept? At FAZ he quit when it got too hot.