La Digue Sports ‘Sports on La Digue will face difficult times,’ warns Lablache |07 May 2020

La Passe president Gerald Lablache has said his team will survive the tough times

Well-known businessman and longtime advocate of sports on La Digue, Gerald Lablache, has warned that sports on his beloved island face difficult times in this post COVID-19 pandemic time.

In a rare interview, Mr Lablache opened his heart on the difficulty of maintaining sports on La Digue in normal times and says that it will be a big challenge to keep teams afloat as most of the competitions take place on the main island of Mahé which incurs financial costs.

Dependence on tourism for sponsorship

“It already costs a lot to maintain a sports club on La Digue and all sports and clubs depend entirely on the revenue from tourism to run their club and finance other sports as the other economic activities like fishing and agriculture bring in a minimal income as they exist just to support the main activity of tourism. At the moment there is no income whatsoever from agriculture and fisheries and the situation does not look like improving in the next six months and as a result, this will have serious consequences on sports on our island and sadly, it will impact negatively on sports where sports clubs face closure and even individuals might find it not viable to continue as they search for another means of income which will be their main priority and concern. Unless there is government assistance which will also not be easy in this period of crisis where health protection is our main concern, it does not bode well save a change of focus,” revealed Mr Lablache.

Need to upgrade facilities

Mr Lablache also expressed his disappointment at the current state of sports facilities on this third highest populated island in the Seychelles archipelago. He says they have been neglected for too long and immediate action is needed to remedy the situation.

“We have a sports complex which was built almost 25 years ago but it has been sadly neglected over the years with no maintenance and though top officials come and visit and make promises that it will be repaired, but nothing is done and this is very discouraging for our sportsmen and officials who invest their money in sports. The pitch has potholes and the changing rooms and toilets are in a dilapidated state but strangely these facilities are supervised by personnel on Mahé which is not acceptable for such an investment not to be maintained at least on a yearly basis,” explained Mr Lablache who says that he undertakes maintenance on his hotel yearly and every 10 years, he ensures a major overhaul of his establishment which is the norm with any facility so as to protect it and stretch its life span.

Future of La Passe FC

Mr Lablache is also the founding father and president of SeyPearl Premier League side La Passe Football Club who have been one of the leading teams in local football for over decades and are still a force to be reckoned with though they have been without silverware for some time now.

“La Passe will be here until the end of the season as we have sufficient funds to complete this season and though we have not yet applied for assistance from the government relief programme to help with our foreign players, we have sent our documents to the Seychelles Football Federation and we will see how it goes. But what we want to know is if football will continue this season as if it will be put on hold, we will then repatriate all our foreign players,” claimed the La Passe strongman.

However, Mr Lablache is not too happy with the lack of communication on the part of the Seychelles Football Federation during the coronavirus pandemic and he said that they do not know what the future holds but he is adamant how the season should end.

“We must try to complete the league if we get the permission from the department of health as the country needs to send its representative to the African club competitions next season which is our commitment to the Confederation of African Football (Caf) and if it affects next season so be it as we can always have a shorter 2020-2021 season,” stated Mr Lablache.

Nonetheless, the La Passe official feels his team have been too inconsistent in the league where at one point they were leading the way but faltered due to various reasons which he felt affected their momentum.

“We still have a slim chance in the league where we lie in fourth position though we have been too inconsistent where we have been up and down with our form after a bright start. But I would point to the disruption in our technical staff where our coach was recruited to assist the national team and this made the team unstable and we struggled after that break and we also had to reshuffle our pack of foreign players as at times these players shone in the first few matches but then looked ordinary and a lot of this problem had to do with a lack of a professional attitude,” Mr Lablache believes.  

Promoting young talents

Even though with the current plight of sports on La Digue and the hassle of sustaining his club, Mr Lablache was clear that he will continue to run his club out of his love for football and also the many friendships he has built through this sport which he wants to strengthen and use to benefit young Seychellois footballers, especially those from La Digue.

“I will persevere in this sport even through stormy waters as I have established longstanding relationships and we have an interesting plan for our young footballers. The German government is ready to assist us and we are in the process of sending three of our youngsters, namely the Abdou twin brothers – Arfan and Assad – and Achille Esther to be attached with German clubs in September or October if we are not delayed by the coronavirus. The objective is to offer these promising footballers a platform to showcase their talent with the hope of securing a career in our national sport which is a dream for me to be the facilitator,” explained Mr Lablache.

The La Passe chairman added that such a venture is with a view to raise the level of football in this country which he feels there should be a re-focus if the country is to make progress on the continent as at the moment he thinks we are at a stalemate.

“Our football must undergo a complete review as we can no longer afford to have four divisions which is too much, but rather we should have two divisions run by the federation which will bring more competition and at the same time, we move into semi-professionalism which is vital if the country wants to achieve good results in the region where in the past, we used to dominate countries such as Mauritius and even Kenya years back. But now they are ahead of us because they have changed the way football is regarded while we seem to have regressed and this cannot continue,” Mr Lablache told Sports NATION.

A united La Digue team

As a for the future of sports on La Digue, Mr Lablache said that in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are some tough decisions that must be addressed to carry our football to new heights and has even contemplated the idea of a united La Digue team.

“La Passe FC will surmount these hard times and if we have to field an all-Seychellois squad, we are ready for this challenge but as Diguois, we have to get our priority right and this might mean we should start thinking of merging our two teams to get a very solid team to represent the island in the top national league,” Mr Lablache related to Sports NATION in conclusion.

R. J-L.