2008-03-19Staff Report 2 By Carlos Kambaekwa WINDHOEK Despite the Namibian Football Association's Disciplinary Committee's outright dismissal of the prolonged case involving Black Africa and African Stars and the subsequent Appeals Board decision to uphold the ruling - the case is far from over. African Stars as the aggrieved party vehemently protested against a decision by the Namibia Premier League to reschedule the ill-fated MTC Namibia Premiership 1st round match against Black Africa that was abandoned before kickoff. At the centre of the storm is Black Africa's protest against the presence of FIFA accredited referee Mathew Katjimune, whom they accused of having taken a yet to be revealed substance that could have rendered him unfit to officiate at that particular match Earlier, the NFA Disciplinary Committee dismissed charges levelled against Black Africa for having brought the game of football into disrepute - citing a technicality in the constitution which constitutes some sort of ambiguity on the interpretation of days. Infuriated by the ruling, the red-faced Association appealed against its own Disciplinary Committee, a move that appeared to be an exercise in futility as the Appeals Board summarily upheld the Disciplinary Committee's ruling. However, the Reds would have none of that, and vehemently protested against the rescheduling of the match as they strongly felt hard done by the inability of league officials to deal with the matter adequately. Stars' lawyers made their presentation to the Namibian Premier League at a hastily arranged gathering in the capital on Monday, and are anxiously waiting to hear their fate. Stars argued that the NPL erred big time by not divorcing the charges of misconduct from what actually led to the initial cancellation of the match. According to reliable sources, the Reds believe the NPL has the full mandate to make a ruling when a football match is prematurely ended without seeking refuge in the NFA statutes. A case in point is the Life Fighters/Tigers abandoned league match which prompted the league to rule in favour of Tigers after the apparent failure of Life Fighters to provide adequate security at the ground on match day. Strangely, the NPL has requested Black Africa to furnish the league for the umpteenth time with a detailed report on what really transpired during the ill-fated match and also to provide reasons as to why they want the match to be rescheduled. In a last ditch effort to disassociate themselves from the hot potato, the league has in the meantime passed the buck onto a scrambled sub-committee to study the league statutes and come up with recommendations within the next two weeks. The 5-member hastily-assembled sub-committee consists of Mark Kutzner, Bobby Sissing, Haroldt von Luttichau, Ruben Philander and Paul Stramis. However, there are question marks over the credibility of certain members on the sub-committee with doubts hovering seriously over the heads of Kutzner and Stramis, since both gentlemen are strongly believed to have vested interest in the ruling because of their close links with title-chasing Ramblers and Civics respectively. 2008-03-19Staff Report 2
