At certain intervals, the performances of both individuals and sub-units within a sports organisation have to be assessed.
The guidelines for assessment or criteria that provide a standard for this assessment are the goals of the organisation.
Those individuals or sub-units seen as contributing most to organisational goals are usually rewarded.
However, in sport, we frequently base the performance appraisal of individuals involved on their contribution to the organisational goal of winning.
The last time the national soccer team, Taifa Stars, played an unimpressive game was when it hosted the Congolese national team in a match played at the Main National Stadium in the city of Dar es Salaam.
The game which ended up by the hosts being whipped 2-0 saw the spectators booing and cooing whenever the coach, Marcio Maximo, stood up to give instructions and sometimes pep-talk to the players.
The cooing and booing was not a sign of hooliganism on the part of the spectators but rather a sign of dissatisfaction over what was taking place in front of their eyes.
Stars will be hosting the New Zealanders on Wednesday in a match which is expected to pull a lot of crowd. The match is a crowd puller since New Zealand is said to be one of the best national teams in the Oceania and the local soccer enthusiasts are eager to see a good team playing against the rejuvenated Stars and see how much change has taken place on the way the team plays as compared to the way it played previously. Spectators’ behaviour is always determined by the trend of the game, especially how the home team plays.
When the home team players are in control, spectators enjoy the game and support the players by positive cheering which in turn motivates the players.
In most cases when the game kicks off, all spectators cheer for their team expecting that by so doing the players would realise that they have a task to fulfill.
When the home team does not deliver the goods, then the spectators are swayed by the trend of the game and begin to cheer for the best performers.
This is what happened when the Congolese played the Stars about a month ago.
In the beginning of the match, all Tanzanians present in the stadium cheered for the Stars. A small group of Congolese was completely overshadowed by the chants and cheering of the locals.
However, when the Congolese pinned Stars players to the extent of possessing the ball for longer duration without Tanzanians touching it, the crowd had to change.
Spectators are normal human beings with feelings, likes and dislikes and are always influenced by the players’ performance.
When they enter in the stadium they expect to see the team they support playing well and probably win the game.
When their dreams cannot be realised then they tend to think that they are being betrayed by either the players or the coach.
The spectators’ tolerance is always temporary; so when things become worse, they normally tend to direct their wrath to the technical bench and sometimes to individual players.
It is to the expectations of most of the Tanzanian soccer enthusiasts that the Stars have improved a lot and are ready to show up a difference when they play against the New Zealanders on Wednesday evening and bring about happiness to the spectators at the Main National Stadium.
The team has all the reasons to show a polished performance as opposed to that displayed when they hosted the Congolese team.
The only way to make spectators stop booing and cooing at both the coach and the individual players is for the team to display a splendid performance.
Mziray is a lecturer-cum-soccer coach
