The big question about money in Seychelles football that needs an urgent answer

By Lewis Betsy

Take a look at this picture of the Seychelles National Football Team in 1970.

The players, and I am among them, were young and keen. 

Our standard was high, our motivation was higher.

We wanted to play our best and do it through skill and talent.

Every week, we looked forward to running out on that pitch and giving everything we had.

Money, though obviously necessary, was not the be-all, end-all. 

We had none of the facilities or cash that today’s players expect, or indeed demand. 

We paid for everything ourselves, helped by the then Seychelles Football Association, local sponsorship and the kindness of friends and family.

By comparison with today’s football scene in Seychelles our game was one of simplicity and innocence.

I was team captain in the Seventies (in the picture, I’m in the back row, fourth from right). I was proud to play many times for our beloved islands, though I missed the first match overseas when the squad, on April 12, 1970, travelled to Kenya for a friendly tournament. 

It took the team two days to reach East Africa by boat and playing for the first time on a full-size football pitch, they drew 2-2 with Feisel and lost 1-2 to Mwengi in the Mombassa Stadium.

Even so, the players were ecstatic. They had made the big time.

Today’s football teams are also hoping for such events on that scale.

However, the biggest talking point in Seychelles football today is debt. The Seychelles Football Federation overspent its budget in 2022 by R27 million and has had to get a bank loan for R3.3 million.

This is incredible.

Since 1986, when it became a member, the SFF has been getting huge amounts of money from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and FIFA. Possibly other sources too.

Today, the coffers are empty. The Federation looks to be in crisis.

Just when we thought the LDS government was in general getting a grip on sports after years of neglect we were proven wrong. We got this fiasco.

This is very sad not only for the players, but all the people of Seychelles. We have been let-down and there are obvious questions in the air that, amazingly, I have heard no one ask.

So I will ask them here.

What has happened to the huge amounts of money we have been given over the years? Where has it all gone?

Someone must know.

Meanwhile, it is the time for everyone who loves football in Seychelles and those who hold Seychelles dear in their hearts to get together.
We must help the SFF regain the high position where it rightfully belongs so we can progress going forward, instead of continually going backward every time.