By Ben Williams At the Caf forum in Cairo

On the face of it, Caf's forum on African football is a great idea.

But the practical realities of the Cairo conference are a completely different ball game.

The discussion document produced by Caf admits that the response from national federations, which were asked to submit pre-conference ideas and suggestions, was deplorable.

Having an open platform to debate issues affecting the state of the game have been welcomed by the delegates present in Cairo.

Unfortunately, few of them have offered any practical solutions or believe that the recommendations of Monday's and Tuesday's conference will have any significant impact.

However, the two-day meeting has demonstrated that many federations want change and are keen to do some serious soul searching.

Some have suggested that the lack of money in the African game should not prevent them from being innovative.

While acknowledging the effect of poverty, they believe that African football can do a lot to help itself.

Corruption within African FA's has been highlighted, as fingers are pointed at football leaders who are serving themselves rather than the sport.

There is also recognition that too many sporting bodies in Africa compete with each other, rather than work together, which has been counterproductive for the continent.

Gambia's Omar Sey, who chaired the opening session on developing the game, remains optimistic of the possibility for change.

"This is the first time that Caf has called together all national associations and experts around the continent to examine the question of football development in Africa.

"Problems have been identified and now the forum is trying to come up with possible solutions," he said.

It may be that just a few concrete solutions will come out of Africa's first football forum but the concept that its problems should be openly discussed is a definite step in the right direction.