First Congress, Extraordinary or otherwise!

The FAM have announced Mon 16 June 2008 as the date for their Extraordinary congress to ratify the association's first constitution.

The FIFA backed interim committee chairman reports that they have been able to muster only around 28 football clubs that met their requirement of uninterrupted participation in the association's competitions over the last 5 years.

This five year requirement is a tall order for island based clubs for whome getting a team in competition is more expensive than for the clubs based on the capital island of Male'. The irony is that over two thirds of the 90 or so active football clubs are based in small island communities in far flung atolls. They are the clubs that miss the boat by not being able to fullfill this five year requirement.

This leaves the upcomming congress in the hands of only a third of all football clubs. The two third majority is left out of the process.

It is unclear if it was the FIFA or the Interim committee members who decided on this five year requirement. For example clubs who made it to the final round of the recent atoll (zone) championships do not qualify.

This decision of the 5 year requirement is not likely to favour the FAM's future for the simple reason that it excludes the majority of football clubs in this country.