WINDHOEK – The F i f a – a p p o i n t e d No r ma l i s a t i o n Committee for the Namibia Football Association (NFA) this week Monday wrote to the leadership of the Namibia Premier League (NPL), wherein they strongly admonished the league’s headship for constantly undermining the NFA’s statutes
and decisions of the committee.
A point of locus the committee expressed dismay with is the NPL’s recent decision to declare a national dispute with the association as well as the league unilaterally announcing kick off dates and that the 2019/20 NPL season will consist of only 13 clubs as opposed to the traditional 16 teams.
As per Monday’s letter, the Normalisation Committee says the NPL’s recent resolutions are in direct contravention of Article 67, which states that; “The NPL will organise competitions [the NPL Championships and the NPL Cup] between members and other clubs as approved by the NFA, which competitions will be regulated by this constitution and other rules which shall comply with the NFA
Manual on Rules and Regulations”.
The Normalisation Committee is also convinced that the NPL’s recent decisions, such as declaring
a dispute, announcing kick off dates and the number of teams for the new season without the approval of the NFA, is deliberate.
“We thus place you in terms that no Arbitration Tribunal has been installed or recognized as envisaged in Article 63 of the NFA (1), in any event, the impugned decision made by the NFA executive committee is final and binding…The NFA executive committee thus place you on terms that it never delegated such
authority [to declare dispute, announce kick off dates and the number of teams for the new
season], neither expressively nor impliedly,” reads part of the committee’s letter.
Article 63 of the NFA constitution says: “The NFA shall create an independent Arbitration Tribunal which
shall deal with all internal, national disputes between NFA, its members, players, officials, match and players’ agents and all decisions taken on any of the aforementioned issues that are not declared binding and final… The Executive committee shall draw up special regulations regarding the composition,
jurisdiction and procedural rules of this Arbitration Tribunal. As long as within the territory of
NFA no Arbitration Tribunal has been installed and recognised by the Congress of NFA, any dispute
of national dimension may only be referred in the last instance to the Court of Arbitration for Sport
(CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland.”
The Normalisation Committee, in its letter on Monday, directed the NPL leadership to retract all public
statements/announcements made pertaining to the number of teams competing in the league of the 2019/20 season and the announcement of the envisaged kick off dates.
The committee further demanded that the NPL respect and abide by the NFA’s communication
that stated that no relegations nor promotions will be recognised in the last 2018/19 season. “Comply with these directives within five days of this letter as failure to do so will result in the NFA taking action against the NPL as envisaged in Articles 13 (2) read together with Articles 14 and 15 of the NFA statutes.
The Normalisation Committee invites the NPL to meet with the Normalisation Committee
and discuss the way forward on condition that the NPL retracts the public announcements as
requested.”
Article 13 of the NFA reads: “The Congress is responsible for suspending a member. The executive committee may, however, suspend a member that seriously violates its obligations as a member with immediate effect. The suspension shall last until the next congress, unless the executive committee has lifted it in the meantime. A suspension shall be confirmed at the next congress by a two-thirds majority
of the delegates representing the members present and eligible to vote. If it is not confirmed,
the suspension is automatically lifted. A suspended member or a member of a member shall lose
its membership rights.
Other members may not entertain sporting contact with a suspended member or a member of a member. The disciplinary committee may impose further sanctions. Members that do not participate in the sporting
activities of the NFA for two consecutive years shall be suspended from voting at the congress and their representatives shall not be elected or appointed until they have fulfilled their obligations in this respect.”