- Harrison only obtained an attendance certificate, not a CAF License
- Harrison could be banned from getting a CAF A License
- He took four days to complete a two month course, raising suspicions
BONGANI MALUNGA
The Botswana Football Association is currently carrying out an investigation to determine the legitimacy of Mark Harrison’s CAF A License course attendance, which took place in Lesotho last year without the consent and approval of the association. The former Township Rollers coach resigned from his post last week and has already left the country but he could still face action from the BFA if found guilty when the investigations are over.
It is believed that Harrison had sought the CAF coaching badge in order to meet the criteria set by CAF for the continent’s Champions League, a competition in which Rollers will participate in by virtue of being domestic champions.
Gazette Sport has established that the BFA is investigating suspicions of a dubious act; firstly, they found out that he actually did not attain a CAF License but rather received an attendance certificate which still does not count as a full CAF License.
Secondly, he reportedly took only four days to complete the course, normally the course takes two months to complete, the first four weeks are theory exams or tests conducted in classes, the last four weeks are practical evaluations whereby coaches are required to note their teaching and learnings on log books. However, Harrison attended the course for only four days and still forwarded an attendance document to CAF with the hope of garnering a License.
As a foreign coach with a UEFA B License, Harrison should have informed UEFA of his plans to attain a CAF coaching badge, according to those in the know he should have sought a UEFA B equivalence License which would eventually be recognized as a CAF A License.
The equivalence is only done in Cairo but an exception can be made if any other African member association is conducting CAF A courses, the CAF A aspirant would have to apply through his host country’s association, in this case that would be the BFA which Harrison reportedly bypassed.
BFA officials learned of the potential CAF License scandal when they were processing documentation for Rollers’ upcoming CAF Champions League campaign. They found out that Harrison obtained only an attendance certificate which is still short of CAF’s requirements.
“We are currently investigating how Mark Harrison attended a CAF A License course in Lesotho without informing us. We believe we are nearing a conclusion in our investigations, he is no longer in Botswana and that has changed the dynamics a bit. The evidence we have gathered so far suggests that he did not follow the right procedure. We only found out about this at a later stage. Further comments about this ongoing matter cannot be made until we make a final judgement,” said BFA Public Relations Officer Tumo Mpatane.
Although the BFA did not confirm his possible punishment if found guilty, reliable sources informed this reporter that the local association would be well within their rights to report the matter to CAF and UEFA. This could also result in a fine, the former Rollers coach could also be banned from seeking another CAF A License on the recommendation of the BFA.