Maqonda Ndlovu
Black Africa Sports Club has found itself in shambles as two groups vie for control of one of the biggest football clubs in Namibia.
Tensions reached fever pitch high on Saturday after a group calling itself ‘Die Hard Supporters of Black Africa’ stopped what was supposed to be BA’s first match of the season in the Southern Stream First Division league at Ramblers stadium.
The fans intervened after two sets of BA squads pitched up for a match at the Ramblers Stadium against Latinos.
The two sets of teams warmed up before the fans invaded the pitch, with the Namibia Police having to be called to intervene.
This forced the SSFD to request police presence at the Ramblers stadium for the match between BA and Namibian Correctional Services, which was scheduled for yesterday morning.
League director Tovey Hoebeb postponed the match indefinitely yesterday.
However, on Friday, the fans went to the Namibia Football Association offices and handed over a petition criticising the decision made by the newly elected NFA vice president, Murs Markus. Earlier in the week, Markus declared that the executive committee of the SSFD considered the faction led by Thomas Adams as the legitimate office bearers at BA.
Another faction led by Bonnie Paulino is challenging the Adams-led faction for control of BA.
The fans, led by Shaun Aspirilla Gariseb, were requesting the NFA to postpone all BA’s games, starting with the matches against Latinos and Namibia Correctional Services.
“We request the postponement of BA’s games to give leaders a chance to respond to queries by the board of directors pertaining to the pronouncement made by the SSFD chairperson. We also demand clarity on how he arrived at the decision to impose leadership on BA. We will stage aggressive demonstrations at the games should you decide not to hear our cry,” part of the petition read.
The fans also requested the withholding of funds meant for BA until they resolved the leadership crisis.
Accusations have been made that BA registered one of their teams at the NFA after the deadline, raising questions about their two registered teams.
Responding to the petition, Markus, who is also the SSFD chairperson, said the fans have every right to demand action, but it must be done accordingly.
“The petition was submitted to the NFA instead of the SSFD. Shaun submitted the petition late on Friday to request a postponement of the games. The teams were already travelling; I advised Shaun on how to go about this issue,” Markus said.
He added that the league’s statutes will guide them regarding abandoned and postponed matches.
When questioned about the whole BA saga, Markus repeated that the SSFD gave the two warring factions an opportunity to find common ground.
“They failed to find common ground. We asked for the appointment letters of the interim committee, which called for an AGM as per the BA constitution, but they failed to give us those letters. That’s when SSFD then followed our guiding documents and made the pronunciation regarding the rightful leadership at BA,” he explained.
Markus said they would meet the two factions, starting with the Thomas Adams-led faction, before meeting the Bonnie Paulino-led faction during this week.
When contacted by New Era Sport, Adams said what happened on Saturday was embarrassing.
“Those people are not BA fans; they are hooligans masquerading as football fans. They have no respect for football and football laws in this country. As the legitimate BA chairman, I have reached out to my colleague Paulino to sort this issue out. But he has refused to meet me face-to-face. BA is bigger than both of us,” Adams said.
Efforts to get comments from Paulino and Gariseb proved fruitless. – jrnmarko@gmail.com