The end was certain, but, «in principle», reports of all games in the I District Football Division will continue on Rádio Fóia. The Sports department and management continue to turn their backs, but the intervention of the Algarve Football Association (AFA) helped to unblock the imbroglio. At least, for now.
«We want to thank you for the company you kept us and the attention you gave us on that side. Let's go. When it’s time to say goodbye… who knows. Good Easter".
It was with these words that Armando Moreira said goodbye to more than 20 years serving the microphones of Rádio Fóia. It was Saturday, March 23rd, and everything seemed to indicate the end of a long journey always following district football.
Armando Moreira, department coordinator and pivot, he didn't hide the sadness in his voice. In question, I would have to tell the Sul Informação days later, there was a lack of payment on the part of management, which led to the end of the reports.
“They don’t pay us. Sport works autonomously – we raise advertising for the whole year, we give it to the radio and then the radio pays us", he lamented.
One cannot properly speak of white smoke, but, when it was no longer expected, an “agreement” was reached.
A meeting between the Sports department and the Algarve Football Association, which has a protocol with Fóia to ensure reports throughout the season, allowed a possible solution to be envisaged.
«They asked us to continue and we accepted», comments Armando Moreira.
That is if… the management allows it. Paulo Rosa, president of the Board of Directors of the Cooperative that manages Rádio Fóia, does not provide complete certainty. “In principle, the reports will come back over the weekend, after we have swallowed a lot of frogs,” he says.
For this state of affairs to have arrived, Armando Moreira places all the blame on Fóia.
«They have no interest in maintaining the department, but I ask: what gives the radio prestige? Is it the music? This everyone passes. We were heard by a lot of people: we gave an audience,” she laments.
On the part of the management of the Cooperative that manages Rádio Fóia, the blame is attributed to the Sports department.
«They were granted autonomy and it was by their own decision that they ended the reports», says Paulo Rosa.
Throughout these decades, the Algarve Football Association (AFA) has always been a partner of Fóia, helping, even financially, with the weekly reports.
Reinaldo Teixeira, president of the AFA, admits that he was aware of the problems between the management and the Department of Sports, wanting to be “part of the solution”… just as he ended up being.
At the end of the season, there will be a meeting between the Sports department and the management of Rádio Fóia, mediated by AFA.
For José António Pires, one of Fóia Desporto's oldest employees, if, after this meeting, there is no way back, those who will lose «are the clubs and football in the Algarve».
«We are the radio heritage of the Algarve», he concludes.
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