Ja! It’s well documented secret that those entrusted to lead many a public organisation are not exactly the best of bedfellows with criticism, be it constructive or destructive.
The MTC Namibia Premiership and African Stars saga will always leaves a distasteful episode in the minds of those with close links to the beautiful game of football.
As scribes we are obliged by morals and a sense of responsibility to write critically and factually about issues of public interest. However, some people in the top echelons of our football think they are immune to criticism and scrutiny and would resolve to deny and starve those they deem undesirable objects with vital information or worse still, not granting interviews.
These are the very same people that advocate for development and taking the game to the highest level, big words indeed, but words have meanings and to use them as if they don’t, could lead to ambiguity.
Recently, yours truly has been trying to line up an interview with the chairman of the country’s flagship league but the brother has resolved to close all communication channels with this perceived trouble-maker.
A stance I guess is linked to the author’s uncompromising unbiased reporting on the African Stars debacle, which irked both parties but true leaders must learn to take constructive criticism on the shin and swallow their pride whenever they are cornered for having committed serious errors of judgment.
All I wanted to know and find out and will still pursue from the apparent untouchable gentleman is to furnish me with a detailed explanation for the football fraternity as to what happened to promises in his initial Election Manifesto.
With all due respect, the brother has done considerably much and deserves another term to fulfill his long-term dream of taking Namibian football to the next level.
But alas, perhaps a need to revisit his juicy Election Manifesto is long overdue. This included the live broadcast of high profile league matches on the national broadcaster (NBC) while the SuperSports pay channel was also mentioned in the same breath to have agreed to flight highlights of the MTC Premiership.
How many Board of Governors (BoG) Meetings took place during his reign and for how long is the vital position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) going to remain frozen?
The league has been bloated to 16 teams, a situation that is likely to culminate in the reduction of monthly grants towards the affiliates, in order to accommodate those four newcomers who suddenly darkened the NPL’s door. These are just some of the pertinent questions the public wants to know and rightfully so.
Toothless
Warriors!!!!
How much
longer?
Watching the Brave Warriors struggling to get the better of continental minnows Swaziland in Wednesday night’s International friendly on home soil, left yours truly with more questions than answers.
It should be noted that yours truly has always advocated for the omission of players who are not enjoying enough game time at their respective clubs but nobody ever dared to listen, simply because there was vested interest from certain quarters.
The decision to leave out inactive players stinks of nepotism and can be likened to the unpopular philosophy of robbing Peter to pay Paul.
For starters, locally based footballers are regulars with their respective clubs and cannot be faulted that our league is engaged in a self-inflicted prolonged long hiatus, neither is their clubs for they have been in training while playing competitive friendly matches.
Unless such decisions underlines logical and technical poverty, the match was a FIFA sanctioned International friendly, and logic suggest we should have fielded a fully-fledged Warriors side to improve on our pathetic low placing on the FIFA rankings.
We have absolutely no business struggling against football lightweights in the mould of Swaziland and the likes. Something must be drastically done to safe our football from going down the drain. I rest my case.