Controversy over Sports Commentator Award

The newly introduced Sports Commentor Award drew mixed reaction after it was presented to Matindi FM’s Williams Gondwa with seasoned commentator Patrick Simango getting a consolation of Second Best Award.

When the name of the winner was announced some of the patrons at the ceremony held at College of Sports Medicine in Blantyre questioned the criteria used to pick Gondwa over the veteran Simango who has  a unique flair of commentary.

“This is an insult to Patrick Simango. What image are they sending across to up-and-coming commentators,” one fan said.

Simango, who declined to comment on the issue, made his way to the podium to receive the award but his body language was enough to state vividly his disappointment over the choice of the winner.

Since Steve Liwewe Banda, one of Malawi best commentators in recent times unofficially retired, Simango stepped in and his unique style of commentary embodies Liwewe Banda in English and Geoffrey Msampha when it comes to Chichewa while most commentators in Malawi do it in the vernacular Chichewa language.

The controversy in media awards have been a thorny issue but improved in the last three years.

Standard Bank decided to involve University of Malawi, The Polytechnic’s Department of Language Media Studies to handle the media award after many controversy surrounding winners.

The controversy also arose over the choice of Best Coaching panel won by Moyale despite that Bullets coach Elia Kananji was head coach and the choice of Bullets goalkeeper Vincent Gona to become best goalkeeper of the season over Moyale Barracks’ McDonald Harawa.