• Shooting accurately from the hip
In response to the article written by Carlos Kambaekwa, in the daily New Era.
I, Gerald Guther, would herewith like to clear my name of any racial abuse that I was wrongly and unfairly accused of. I was raised to never abuse or criticise any human being regardless of race, colour and creed and I have lived my life accordingly
During the match, after being pushed twice in the face where one push resulted in a nose bleed and numerous times being kicked, I finally snapped. As I got up I shouted at the culprit “Stop kicking me like a donkey,” implying that donkeys kick hard and that is what I had to endure during the match. Never once did I say that anyone was descendent from donkeys. This made Mr Hoveka angry and he told me that I was a donkey and that I was a descendant from a donkey! Mr Hoveka was the one swearing at my mother repeatedly and threatened to punch me. I did not swear at his mother as this is not how I was raised. I did try to get under his skin by telling him that he is an old man and that he will not be able to beat me. This got to him late in the game and after I won a 1v1 battle with him, he then came from behind and punched me in the face.
Never in my 15 years of coaching did I ever racially abuse a player or person. Many Namibians that I know will and can back me up on this statement. This bias and inaccurate reporting by Carlos Kambaekwa has tainted my image which is unfair. After the match, he only stated that I was accused of vulgar language which I denied and he left it at that, not mentioning what exactly Mr Hoveka had accused me of saying. Had Mr Kambaekwa done so, I would have immediately given my version of events. In my 15-year coaching career I have endured many things including racial slurs and being spat at. Even to this day many players and I often have to endure racial slurs and verbal abuse from spectators. This never gets reported in the papers and I know for a fact that Mr Carlos Kambaewkwa has firsthand experience of this when he was in Walvis Bay for a match of Eleven Arrows last season. But again nothing was reported.
I am a Namibian, and a proud one at that and certainly not a racist!
Gerald Guther