Windhoek
Ever wondered why football teams plying their trade in the domestic topflight league dismally fail to lure decent crowds through the turnstiles nowadays?
Well, the answer is simple, the current crop of Namibian footballers lack charisma with very few, if any, gifted footballers capable of taking the game by the scruff.
A relatively mid-table team, established in 1971, Ramblers was the envy of every neutral football follower as a result of the type of football they dished out on the playing field.
And who would ever forget that historic Sunday afternoon in 1969 when Rocco Swallows outclassed the much-fancied Etosha Lions during a knockout tourney at the old Katutura stadium.
The late bulky acrobatic shot-stopper Cross Mannetti was the talk of the township after he gallantly saved Percy “Chippa” Moloi’s (Tebogo’s old man) weakly taken spot kick.
Ramblers used to boast a significant number of great athletes such as Andries Bekeur, Tururob, Gottie Geiseb, Doc Naobeb, Jephta Naobeb, Lemmy Uirab, Japhet Isaaks, Engelbrecht brothers – Buruxab and Hendrik, cousins Dios and Piet “Electric Power” Engelbrecht, Alpheus Gaweseb, Izaak “Izallo” Swarts as well as the Gariseb quartet comprising Jan, Max, Hatitib and the strongly built right wing Steve.
The majority of players from the defunct Jungle Boys were roped into Ramblers’ second strings – making the club’s feeder team very strong in the lower division.
Two of the most prominent players that come to mind are the deadly striking pair of Aore-Axab Gowaseb and Hendrik “Santos” Swarts. These troublesome youngsters used to bamboozle defenders with the precision of a seasoned butcher and would occasionally feature for the first team with great aplomb.
Ramblers reached a milestone when their most prized asset //Nerab Gariseb was duly selected to represent the first-ever Black Eleven against their white counterparts in the historic exhibition match at the packed to the rafters Suidwes Stadium in Windhoek in 1975.
Despite his unmatched football virtuoso, the dribbling wizard was an unused substitute in that particular match, which the blacks controversially lost 2-1.
In the intervening years, fast as lightning winger Andries Bekeur, Tururob Nowaseb, Doc Naobeb, Alpheus Gaweseb and Buruxab Engelbrecht were all regular faces in the strong Central Invitational Eleven sides, while any invitational side without the name of Zika Williams scripted on it would have been considered incomplete prior to the establishment of Ramblers.
Unfortunately, the club went the way of the dinosaur in the mid-80s with most of its playing personnel getting a bit long in the tooth while others ventured into business careers that prevented them from availing their full energy to the beautiful game.
Martin “Zika” Williams (Smithley Engelbrecht’s old man) was doubtlessly the most influential footballer to emerge from Ramblers FC alongside dribbling wizard //Nerab Gariseb, Tururob Nowaseb and the sharp shooting Andries Bekeur.