By Confidence Musariri
WINDHOEK
The mood in the national soccer team has dampened following the National Football Association’s failure to pay the squad its appearance fees for the friendly match against Zambia.
Acting NFA Secretary-General, Barry Rukoro, has accepted that the association still owes the national team money from the Zambia match and that NFA had to go out of its way to source money to pay for last Saturday’s qualifier against Libya.
“I can confirm that we have not paid the team because we are still waiting for the money from government to be processed to us through the Namibia Sports Commission. We, however, had to use another boat to make sure the team gets paid for the African qualifier,” Rukoro said.
The confirmation comes amid a wake of noise within the national team camp that players have threatened to boycott camp if their dues are not paid by this Friday.
“We are coming out of an old financial year and just getting into a new one, hence our funds have been limited. But the money is there, Rukoro assured.
The Brave Warriors were supposed to received N$2 500 as appearance fees for the Zambia friendly and normally get an additional bonus of N$2 500 in the event of victory. Namibia lost 1-2 against Zambia.
“There is no funny stuff about it. Even some government ministries have not yet received their monies, and we need to accept that the government process takes time. I will pay when I get the money,” he said.
Rukoro said NFA has never had a problem with the government and will wait for the release of the funds to pay the squad. He did not, however, mention where the money to pay players for the DRC encounter will come from if the money is not released. The Brave Warriors get a daily allowance of N$200 when they are in camp, and have been in camp since May 14.
The financial position of the association raises stink on the payment of the Brave Warriors’ technical department who have remained mum on their payments. National team manager, Tim Isaacs, confirmed yesterday that the team was still owed its money with the exception of George Hummel who walked out of training. He, however, said he hoped things would be in place for the team by the end of this week.
It is feared that the delay of the mediocre appearance fees will irk some foreign-based players who joined camp shortly after their leagues were summed off and paid their own flight tickets hoping to be refunded.