Letter to the Editor |10 December 2020
Bring back the days of high level football
I was involved in football as a manager from 1997 till 2015.
I was the manager of St Michel FC from 1997 to 2005.
I have no regret whatsoever having served as the manager of this team. I achieved lots of success by winning mostly all the competitions in Seychelles and scored a number of wins abroad when representing Seychelles in the African Champions League as we travelled three or four times a year.
We played all those best teams on the African continent, the likes of Power Dynamos FC of Zambia, Highlanders FC of Zimbabwe, Green Buffaloes FC of Zambia, Shabana Mines FC of Zimbabwe, Orlando Pirates of South Africa and not forgetting Al Ahly of Egypt in 2001.
The same day we played against Al Ahly they were awarded with a trophy as the team of the century in Africa just before the match. If only we could have managed to win this game we would have qualified for the first time to reach the group stage of the African Champions League.
In 2002, we almost qualified for the group stage when we lost against AS Vita of DRC Congo in a controversial match played on Stade des Martyrs in the town of Lingwala in Kinshasa, DRC Congo in front of 83,000 spectators.
My biggest achievement with the team was in 2003 when we received a letter of recognition from the former president of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (Fifa) Mr Joseph S Blatter, congratulating us for our success.
In 2004, we played against the champions of Sweden by the name of Elfsborg in a friendly match and we won 1-0. It is to be noted that at that time Elfsborg were playing in the European Champions League.
In 2006, I joined Anse Reunion FC as manager and for the first time the team progressed to the first round of a Confederation of African Football (Caf) competition and we were drawn against Ajax Cape Town of South Africa and drew 0-0 away. I left the wonderful people of La Digue at the end of 2011.
The above achievements clearly show that during those days football was being played at a high standard in Seychelles. We were lucky to have had Mr Suketu Patel as the chairman of the Seychelles Football Federation (SFF) with a group of devoted people who did their best for the betterment of our country. Unfortunately, Mr Patel left the Seychelles Football Federation to concentrate on his role as first vice- president of Caf.
During this time, Fifa was not giving out millions of dollars to local federations as is the case today. The Seychelles Football Federation managed to build and maintain all of its infrastructure. It also helped all football teams and schools with equipment.
By the end of 2013 I re-joined the Seychelles national team set-up again and to my dismay I noticed many changes within the federation which forced me to quit for good in 2015. The Seychelles Football Federation suffered a big loss upon my departure as I had sought for sponsorship from overseas and had to cancel it.
However, being a good citizen and having my country at heart, I again requested for sponsorship from the same individual for development of kids in Seychelles and everything is expected to be finalised soon.
I feel so sad for devoted football lovers like my good friend Brian Uranie and others who give their time to help many Seychellois in that sport.
It is to be noted that we were doing all these work as volunteers.
Last but not least I was informed by some friends who wanted to stand as candidates for a post as a member of the Seychelles Football Federation during the latest elective general meeting that they were wrongly informed of the procedures, therefore they were unable to participate. In my opinion, it was a one party state election.
Very sad for football.
I believe that Mr Suketu Patel, the former first vice-president of Caf and a member of various committees of Fifa, should be able to help bring back the good years of football in Seychelles. Since he has done a good job serving Fifa and Caf he can help Seychelles too.
Yours faithfully,
Michel Willis Albert