SHOOTING FROM THE HIP Namibian football has been thrown further into turmoil despite desperate efforts by football authorities to keep a lid on the boiling pot containing serious allegations of power abuse by an immigration officer who took it upon himself to disrupt a Southern Stream Division One match, which was to have taken place between current log leaders, Invincible and Hotspurs, in the capital on March 25, 2007. The seemingly powerful government official, or so it appeared, invaded the pitch before kick-off and demanded to see the passports of two foreign imports in the Invincible starting lineup before he could allow them to play football on Namibian soil. The duo, Mike Tembo from Zambia and Zimbabwean Clyton Jena, are both properly registered with the league but the self-proclaimed powerful immigration officer, who appears to have become a law unto himself, would have none of the football rules and regulations, and the match had to be called off on his instructions. Now the big question is: If the players were in breach of any immigration laws, why were they not arrested on the spot and charged or subsequently deported if any laws were violated? Or was the real intention just to prevent them from playing in that particular match since there was no further harassment on the part of the boastful immigration officer in subsequent matches? In the absence of a comprehensive match report, the NFA Disciplinary Committee was left with no alternative but to reschedule the abandoned match despite serious allegations that Hotspurs brought the game of football into disrepute following their apparent refusal to take to the field if the two foreigners were not removed from the playing list, rather than playing the match under protest as clearly stipulated in the statutes if they felt undone. For some strange reason, the Match Commissioner’s report was extremely inconclusive and so full of holes that one could have driven a bus through it – the mind-boggling question is: Why did the official withhold vital information from the match report as to what really transpired during the abandoned fixture? – Well, there’s certainly a sting in the tail of the whole fiasco, and the league surely needs to launch a proper investigation into these serious and damaging allegations. The latest debacle is just confirming yours truly’s suspicion over the chaotic administration in the lower divisions where the fixture list is constantly changed to suitably advance the hidden agendas of certain individuals without consultation or proper channels being followed. Civics Raises the Bar in Domestic Football while Competitors Are Just Watching Congratulations to Civics Football Club for effortlessly clinching their third successive league title without having to shed an ounce of sweat on their way to a historic treble. The difference between real champions and wannabe champions is that certain teams are capable of winning matches with their backs against the wall, and this was the difference between the Civilians and the rest in the Namib Premiership. The Khomasdal-based outfit are deserving league champions after achieving the impossible task by collecting 13 points out of a possible 15 on the road – something which their closest rivals could only dream of after the star-studded Ramblers could only manage to amass a paltry 3 points out of a possible 15 from the corresponding fixtures. I’ve seen Civics playing ugly football on a few occasions but still manage to get the desired result, and that’s what makes the difference between Helmuth Scharnowski’s charges and the rest of the pack. I’ve always and still maintain that the ultimate measure of a decent team is not how many knock-out cups you win but the consistency in the marathon league campaign where the playing ground is more levelled. In knock-out competitions, luck plays a crucial role as you can easily reach the final of a major competition by having been pitted against minnows along the way, whereas in the league you have to play against the best opponents on a home and away basis, and it is in this department where the Civilians are having very few peers, if any. Should Orlando Pirates win the country’s most sought-after silverware, the NFA MTC Cup, Civics can easily scoff it off with tongue in cheek that they had the better of Pirates in the league this season and that the buccaneers were fortunate to avoid them on their way to victory. So what would be the argument then?. The armchair critics might argue that Civics have the resources, but so do SKW and the under-achieving Ramblers, and I strongly believe the Tunchel Street boys have a more balanced squad on paper than Civics. Until such time as other teams in the Premier league jack up their game, Civics will soon run out of decent opponents while the domestic league faces the potential of becoming a boring affair like the Scottish Premiership which has been dominated by two teams – Glasgow Celtic and Rangers – while the rest are just making up the required numbers. The arrival of Russian billionaire, Roman Abramovich, at perennial achievers Chelsea in the English Premiership brought an end to the dominance of Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool in the world’s richest league, but it took Sir Alex Fergusson just two years to dismantle the London club from the pedestal with limited resources. Oshakati City deserves a pat on the back for pushing Civics all the way despite a plucky budget, and average players including the ageing but lethal goal poacher Cascas Angula. Yo-yo teams – Golden Bees and Friends – are destined for familiar territory following another failed attempt to extend their occasional stints in the country’s elite league, while Chief Santos’ imminent return to top flight football remains inevitable. Lastly, yours truly has it on good authority that the Prima Donna, Sydney “Who?”, has been hauled before a Disciplinary Committee by his club, Jomo Cosmos, on a charge of misconduct. A quick reminder to all the big-headed players, Berlin Augumeb might not have played at the highest level, but his name is cast in the golden pages of our national archives for his winning goal against “Bafana Bafana”.