While yours truly embraces and genuinely welcomes the newly introduced Standard Bank Super Cup under the auspices of the Namibia Football Association (NFA), a quick glance at the format of the one-off match reveals a nasty picture in terms of mileage to the sponsors.
It should be noted that any investment between two parties must be reciprocated in one way or the other. The competition has been tailored in the same fashion as the English Premier League opener, the Community Shield, which rightly and justifiably pits the league champions against the FA Cup winners.
The fundamental question that needs to be addressed is should title-chasing Tigers wrestle the league title away from Black Africa at the end of the current term and Tura Magic win the Bidvest Cup, how will the sponsors, the financiers of the competition benefit in terms of mileage from a football match that is likely going to draw a small crowd of less than 200 people? I’m just asking.
Dear readers, please pardon me, yours truly is not in the habit of multiplying entities beyond necessity but for football authorities to introduce such a major tourney out of the blue halfway through the season is quite baffling and goes beyond any comprehension, so to speak.
It’s my sincere belief that the powers that be at Football House should swallow their pride and rethink altering the current format to a more flexible and acceptable style that will suit all including those responsible for their togetherness, the paying customers.
Football clubs are required to re-register at the start of every football season and should reserve the right to be told beforehand in which competitions they are going to participate so that they can put their ducks in the row and beef up their respective squads according to the number of tournaments they are obliged to participate in during the season.
In all honesty, many a club could have made it their sole province to go full out and win the Bidvest Cup en route to secure participation in the Standard Bank Super Cup that comes along with a handsome cash amount of half a million dollars.
It’s now a well documented secret that the decision to increase the number of teams in the country’s topflight league – the MTC Premiership – from 12 to the ballooned 16 was not exactly met with unanimous approval by the football fraternity. Yet those who control the purse strings of Namibian football resolved to turn a blind eye to the dire consequences of such a thoughtless resolution.
Truth be told, this absurd decision was primarily based on authority at the expense of expertise since the arrival of more teams will effectively weaken the already substandard quality in the Premier League.
A quick reminder – when the country’s leading football clubs led by Black Africa, African Stars, Blue Waters, Tigers, Orlando Pirates, Eleven Arrows, Benfica and Chelsea formed the breakaway Namibia National Soccer League (NNSL) way back in 1985, the abbreviated eight team league became the toast of local football followers across the country.
The league was very strong and almost all the great footballers available dreamt of plying their trade in that league because there were no Mickey Mouse campaigners in the mix of things. I rest my case.
By Carlos Kambaekwa