Maqonda Ndlovu
The Namibia Premier Football League (NPFL) Administrator Mabos Vries says his organisation will not host the end of the 2022/23 season awards due to financial constraints.
Speaking to New Era Sport, Vries said the N$13 million available by Debmarine was not enough to cover an awards ceremony.
“Our budget did not allow us to hold the awards ceremony. Our main focus was to make sure that all the clubs honour their obligations for the season. We gave the clubs an extra N$50 000 during the season to achieve that,” he said.
Vries added that they awarded African Stars with the trophy and medals at the last match of the season.
The league administrator said the match officials were also given close to half a million dollars additional to cover their expenses namely transport, accommodation and salaries.
“Most of our referees are from the north, but you are aware that we played our games in Khomas, Erongo, Otjozondjupa, Omaheke, Kavango and
//Kharas regions. The budget covered mostly their transport, food and accommodation,” he explained.
He said they also used N$750 000 on security.
Vries said all the clubs were paid their prize monies two weeks after the end of the season, with nobody complaining about the non-hosting of an awards ceremony.
He said they were waiting for the completion of all the first divisions before making announcements regarding the 2022/23 season.
This will include teams relegated and promoted to various leagues, different league winners and other top performers.
One club chairman who spoke to New Era Sport on condition of anonymity said he partly understands why the league failed to host the awards.
“While I am not privy to the whole sponsorship figures, I am happy that we managed to finish the season. We are already planning for next season. Pre-season will start two weeks into July. Hopefully, the sponsor will come to give us money to host the end of next season awards,” the chairman said.
African Stars executive director Salomo Hei said as a club, they feel strongly that top achievers will not be rewarded this season.
“As a club, we will hold our end-of-season awards ceremony where we will reward the top achievers of our club. The NPFL could have just recognised these guys without hosting any awards,” he said.
He said it was the prerogative of the league to host the awards, as there is no agreement, which mandates them to do so.
Manager for communication at Debmarine Namibia, Stella Iipinge, did not respond to New Era Sport’s request for an interview regarding the subject.
Without the awards, no player was honoured for their exploits in the field of play for the 2022/23 season, including Awilo Stephanus who was the top goal scorer with 20 goals.
Usually, the awards reward various categories, namely player of the season, players’ player of the season, coach of the season, referee and assistant referee of the season, top goal scorer of the season and the chairman’s
award.
These categories usually carry varied cash incentives. –jrnmarko@gmail.com