Otniel Hembapu
Windhoek-The three streams National First Divisions comprising of the North East First Division (NEFD), North West First Division (NWFD) and Southern First Division, initially scheduled to kick-start their league activities last weekend, are again in a quandary.
Southern Stream First Division (SSFD) chairperson Kenneth Gaoseb yesterday informed New Era Sport that they were forced to put on ice their plans of starting activities in all three streams last weekend due to a string of misunderstandings.
Gaoseb said the Namibia Football Association (NFA) had in principle promised to advance at least N$1 million which was to be divided between all three streams to bankroll all logistics in the opening rounds of matches but the association later backtracked on that resolution and instead wanted to rather avail N$100,000 per stream to cater for their opening fixtures.
“We refused to accept N$100,000 per stream because it will not even be enough to cater the teams for more than four matches. I mean we have stadiums and referees to pay as well as cater for the travel of various clubs – what do we even do with N$100 000 per stream? So on that basis, myself and my other colleagues from the NESFD and NWSFD refused to be part of such an agreement and thus we collectively resolved to cancel the start of the leagues. I even recently wrote to the NFA executive to inform them of our position and what should be done going forward,” said Gaoseb, who added the NFA and Namibia Premier League (NPL) should jointly at least avail N$1 million for the start of their activities.
Touching on the envisaged format of how the various streams will go about conducting their matches, Gaoseb said should funds be availed on time, each stream which consists of 12 teams will be divided into two pools of six teams each.
The teams will play in a round robin system to determine the eventual two winners from each pool, with the two pool winners facing each other in the two-legged playoffs to determine who will be promoted to the NPL next season. The format will apply to all three streams.
“Should they (NFA and NPL) avail funds on time, I can promise you that we will finish our activities in June in order to make room for the NPL’s new season which initially starts in August. So that where we currently stand and until money is availed, there is no kick-off date for the national first divisions,” concluded Gaoseb.