By Otniel Hembapu
WINDHOEK – Approximately by the year 2015, all clubs plying their trade in the Namibian Premier League will be obligated to have at least two youth teams in their development structures, a highly qualified coach and proper training facilities, otherwise they stand a chance of not competing in any national or continental competitions.
Secretary General of the Namibia Football Association (NFA), Barry Rukoro, revealed the new resolutions taken at the association’s 23rd congress, held in Rundu last weekend, aimed at enforcing new requirements for club licensing.
In an interview with New Era Sport yesterday, Rukoro said that clubs would have to adhere and operate within the lines of the set club licensing regulations and requirements, if they harbour ambitions of wanting to compete in any NFA or CAF competitions. He added that the NFA is yet to announce itself on the kinds of sanctions clubs would incur should they fail to meet the requisites.
Queried about the financial implications clubs might endure while trying to implement this highly ambitious club licensing programme, Rukoro defended the association’s resolutions, saying the initiative would in fact be to the benefit of clubs as they will now have to work hard to source extra funds to cater for their youth and senior teams, while their operations would be more advanced and professional because they would be operating like other clubs worldwide.
‘’These are CAF regulations and requirements and once we start with the implementation process, CAF officials will visit Namibia to inspect all clubs and see if all teams have met the requirements. The CAF officials will also screen the qualifications of various coaches and the clubs’ style of management, that’s why I’m urging teams to adhere to the rules and work hard to meet the requirements, if they want to be part of the future because the new rules will be compulsory,’’ said Rukoro.
NFA bemoans low funding of sport
With regard to the association’s continuous financial woes, Rukoro said the NFA still faces the harsh reality of having to maintain and cater for seven national teams with a mere N$8 million – a practice he says will always have an impact on the general performance of the country’s various national teams.
“It costs about N$500 000 or N$600 000 to host a single international friendly match for the Brave Warriors, so how do you expect the NFA to smoothly carry out its duties with mere grant of N$8 million from government? Unless our government and others sponsors realize the importance of decently funding sports in this country, Namibia will never reach a level of competing but will remain as just participants wherever they go,” bemoaned Rukoro.