There’s more to Shungu’s resignation than meets the eye

It remains a highly sensitive issue to discuss freely but Raoul Shungu’s resignation as Amavubi Stars assistant coach exposes the dirt that exists within the entire national team set-up—unfortunately those involved, prefer not to expose their dirty linen in the public or at least officially! Shungu, first and foremost is a very proud man, who firmly believes in his own ideas as a football coach, he’s well liked by the fans and he knows it quite well—that’s very noteworthy. And by virtue of the fact that he knows it quite well that he commands a big following and respect among the fans, the Congolese born Rayon Sport head coach found it pretty unacceptable for him to have little or limited contribution as Branko Tucak’s subordinate. Tucak is the head coach and so he reserves the right the final word as far as Amavubi Stars technical matters are concerned but what about his assistants’ input? But as egotistical as Tucak has been known to be for little time he has been with the team, there was always going to be few chances of him working together with people like Shungu and Jean Marie Ntagwabira, two men with the same degree of self-importance as he. Ntagwabira is probably the best local coach but like all the finest people in their trades, he has his weakness and of course critics—no wonder he’s jobless at the minute but it might not be for so long. After Ntagwabira, the next in line would be Shungu, who would obvious rival the former as the best local coach, unfortunately he is Congolese, and so the ex-Rwandan international wins that battle. Being solely responsible for Rayon’s success and failure since the mid 1990s, Shungu knows he’s a big item in Rwandan football, the main reason he was appointed to help with the national team in the wake of Josip Kuze’s premature exit in January last year. And so, going into the 2010 World Cup and Nations Cup qualifying campaign, the Amavubi needed the fans on their side and you can not have them in their droves than when Shungu is involved—Rayon’s fan base in the country is probably bigger than all their top-flight division rivals combined! With Shungu on board, the appointing authority (Sports ministry and the football federation, Ferwafa) achieved their target of having the fans, who had lost interest in the team back on board too but have failed to harmonize the nasty relationship amongst the coaching staff. For so long, Shungu has had his beef with Tucak but the two men opted to remain professional and let their unflattering rapport remain a mere speculation, at the least in the eyes of the public—until the former couldn’t handle the intensity of the bad blood any more, which led to his resignation over the weekend. With all the animosity that had been transpiring between the supposed-to-be close allies, the best thing was for the appointing authorities to intervene and avoid it spilling over to the players or one of the two men to resign, which Shungu, the professed victim boldly did. However, the timing of his exit could turn out to be detrimental to the team as they prepare for the big opening 2010 World/Africa qualifier against Algeria on March 28. Luckily, it’s not too late for those concerned to try and convince the two men that they can actually work together in the best interest of the team—they should not let their egoism stand in the way of the common cause for all Rwandans. Can Shungu really be allowed to walk away from the team at a time when his contribution is most needed? I thought this is a time for everyone to pull on the same string and in the same direction if Rwanda is going to have any chance of pushing for a place at the finals of the 2010 Nations Cup Angola and not let his (Shungu) resignation pass off like non issue the way the good sports Minister joseph Habineza assumes when he opens applauds it as if he’s been waiting for it to happen! It’s a very unfortunate situation. Contact: nku78@yahoo.com

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There’s more to Shungu’s resignation than meets the eye