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As we all know, it was not by mere chance that Senegal made it to the last world cup finals nor will it be if Zambia makes it to the World cup finals in Germany next year.

The presence of any African country in the World Cup or in any Africa Championship sport is explained by the strength and quality of the organization of sports in the country and, in particular, by a well structured Government sports management and federations well run by creative sports leaders.

This underlines the importance of proper sports structures that constitute the best terrain for the international tournament be it in soccer, volleyball, basketball and so on. This includes greater investment, training, provision of facilities and having the right sports structures and bodies in place from local up to regional and national level. Ways of finding expertise should be explored in order to raise the standard of sports trainers, either through creation of agencies and using retired former sports people.

Indeed, it is only with this type of organization and coordination and with the right talent that great national teams can emerge. The latter, in turn breed emulations among youngsters and assure the promotion of all sports. This is what Tanzania is missing.

We miss the direction. Each national federation works on its own effort. There are no national correlation initiatives. These federations are managed like individual properties of the leaders. No support, nothing. That is the road we have chosen to follow but this road is getting us nowhere.

England would not have been picked to host the 2012 Olympics if the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, (the British Government for that matter) was not involved. France also ensured that strong government backing, publicity and marketing of the Olympic application was spearheaded and backed by the government. This is the support required in sports in every country. It is time for the Tanzanian Government to invest in backing teams participating in regional or international competitions by supporting them before such competitions, rather than just receiving them at the airport in the instances where they do win.

If we follow Senegal in soccer and Kenya in womens volleyball for example, it turns out that the basics of the organization of their sports are for the most part in line with their Government sports structure. You need only look at their organizational diagrams to realize that their operations are quite well attuned to that of international standards. Kenyan Athletics is also another example. You will find a solid government sports management and solid sports administration teams in these countries, despite the fact that sports personnel in Africa are generally inadequate.

We need to learn from these countries. Can you believe that a club like Young Africans could in the seventies beat the Burundian national team 11 goals? It happened. This is not the case today.

Look at the history of those years and you will see consecutive successes: in those years Filbert Bayi brought us a gold medal from the Commonwealth games, the handball women's national team played in the Africa Championship finals, Maulidi Dilunga and Omar Mahadhi (late) played in the combined team of Africa against Mexico, the volleyball men's team played in the Africa Volleyball Championship finals in Libya. This success cannot be found today except for Simba Sports Club soccer team, which played up to the final of the Africa Club Championship some years back. (the last success if you like).

My question is, where are we heading to!

My advice is that all parties concerned - the Government with its sports policies, structure and support, the leaders of the clubs and federations with their innovative mind, honesty and integrity - should go back to the drawing board, unit together and work to finds effective and practical solutions as soon as possible.

I believe we can do a lot if we decide to behave professionally.