By Carlos Kambaekwa
WINDHOEK
Local referees and assistants under the auspices of the Namibian Football Association (NFA) finally reached the required quota of 10 after the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) sanctioned all entries to officiate at the highest level, after it fell short by one candidate to fill up the required quota last season.
Namibia has now proudly 10 FIFA accredited referees and assistants as required by the world’s football governing body.
In what has become a global practice, match officials are subjected to an annual Cooper Test aimed at monitoring their fitness level and upgrading their technical ability in the ever-changing laws of modern football.
Namibia’s leading whistle man Mathew Katjimune leads a four-member FIFA-accredited referees panel with the fast improving pair of Arvo Mufeti and Alex Tiyeho also in the mix, while 28-year-old rookie Reinhold Shikongo jumped the queue by graduating straight to the more respectable territory of middleman.
The FIFA accredited six assistants are: Erastus Shilunga, Sackeus Kweyo, Alfeus Shipanga, Hendrik Stephanus Swartbooi, Benedictus Nasheenda and Dawid Shaanika.
“Without proper match officials, there will be no good football on the pitch, hence our uncompromising commitment towards the upgrading of local referees at all levels of our football structures,” boasted the Association’s Acting Secretary-General Barry Rukoro, at the unveiling ceremony at Soccer House in Windhoek yesterday.
The outspoken football administrator teased Namibian-based FIFA referees instructor Edward Boy-Boy Ndjadila, and urged him to ensure Namibia surpassed the required quota of 10 match officials.
“The good thing is that FIFA makes provision for referees from other countries whose quotas are already filled to the maximum to be incorporated into member states that are unable to maximise their quotas, so the mission is not accomplished until such time Namibian referees and assistants are scattered all over the region,” charged Rukoro.
And while the domestic referees’ fraternity is over the moon with the upshot regarding the increasing number of local FIFA accredited match officials, Namibian football was dealt a major blow when Ghana-bound referee Mathew Katjimune found himself in the cold from the strong field of 15 referees that have been given the thumbs-up to officiate at the 26th edition of the African Cup of Nations finals.
The 32-year-old Katjimune was amongst a list of 25-pre-selected referees to do duty at the three-week edition of the continental showpiece, that gets underway in earnest in Ghana next month.
And while four of his colleagues failed to clear the first hurdle, the likeable Namibian whistle man easily cruised through only to find himself grounded when the list was trimmed to 15.
Katjimune was recently embroiled in an unfortunate controversy with club officials, who accused him of having taken some unknown substance before the ill-fated MTC Namibia League encounter between arch rivals Black Africa and African Stars.