Rhonie ||Garoeb
Rehoboth-The second semi-final match in the DebMarine Namibia Cup elimination round for the ||Karas Region is outstanding due to protracted arguments over which field to use.
This round took place this past weekend in Rosh Pinah and was supposed to determine the team that will represent the region in the Round of 32 of the DebMarine Namibia Cup.
The delay was caused when an earlier match between Mountain Rangers Football Club (FC) from Rosh Pinah and Real Fighters from Keetmanshoop started about two hours late. It was scheduled for the Rosh Pinah Private School rugby field but Rangers insisted on playing at the Exzarro football field.
The match eventually took place at the Exzarro football field and Rangers won 2-0. The disagreement over the field resulted in the postponement of the second semi-final match between Rangers and Airborne from Karasburg.
Chris Vries, match commissioner during the games, confirmed they stopped the last semi-final.
“It is because of the hold-up by Rangers that we had to stop the games due to bad lighting,” he told Nampa on Wednesday.
Contacted for clarity on Monday, Rangers’ team manager Klaas Blom said the hold-up was caused by a communication breakdown between the regional executive and teams.
Blom explained that when the fixtures were released, the Exzarro field was listed as the A-field since all their league matches are played there.
“We were dressed and ready for our game but then the executive and referees came to inform us that we should move to the rugby field. We argued that we were scheduled to play there (Exzarro),” he said.
Blom said the match officials are partly to blame because some games had to be stopped when referees demanded upfront payment. “Fortunately someone from the executive paid them from his pocket and games continued,” said Blom.
Vries, however, denied demanding upfront payment, saying he only enquired whether they will be paid after the games. They received payment on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Young Beauties from Keetmanshoop who qualified for the final are not happy about the delay. Bino Cloete, chairperson of Young Beauties, told Nampa on Sunday that this would now mean his players will have to travel about 400km to Rosh Pinah again for the final match at their own expense. They defeated Lovely Superstars 2-1 in the first semi-final.
Chairperson of the ||Kharas Region Football Association Isack Fredericks said that after studying the match reports, the executive decided that the outstanding semi-final and final will continue tomorrow in Rosh Pinah.
“It’s unfortunate that this has happened, therefore I ask the teams to read and understand letters from the executive to avoid such incidents,” Fredericks said, adding that Rangers thought they were the hosts, forgetting it was a Namibia Football Association-sanctioned tournament.
Full results of the ||Karas Elimination:
Round 1
Airborne 7-0 Diamond City
Forever Thistles 13-0 Atlantic Stars
King Pele Santos 4-3 Youngsters
Arsenal 2-5 Novanam
Aus United vs Lovely Super Stars (United forfeited)
Mountain Rangers 2-0 Real Fighters
Brazilie 0-1 Atlanta Bucks
Rush Ups 2-3 Dates Eleven
Men United vs Orange Rangers (Men United forfeited)
Round 2
Dates Eleven 1-2 Lovely Superstars
King Pele Santos 2-0 Novanam
Mountain Rangers 1-0 Atlanta Bucks
Forever Thistles 1-5 Airborne
Round 3
Airborne 2-1 Orange Rangers
King Pele Santos 0-3 Young Beauties
Semi-Finals
Young Beauties 2-1 Lovely Superstars
Mountain Rangers vs Airborne (To be played tomorrow)