Maqonda Ndlovu
The Namibia Rugby Union (NRU) has co-opted Christel Janet ‘CJ’ Kotze and Uakazuwaka ‘Wakka’ Kazombiaze to their executive committee with immediate effect.
Kotze will be responsible for Women’s rugby at the NRU, while Kazombiaze will be responsible for leading the Players Association.
This was confirmed to New Era Sport by Johan Diergaardt, the vice president of rugby at NRU, yesterday. He said the two were co-opted during the annual general meeting, which took place in April.
“Kotze will be responsible for women’s rugby at NRU. Her focus will be development, starting at the school level. She will develop women’s pathway of rugby playing, refereeing and management,” Diergaardt said.
He added that Namibia cannot appoint a national coach for the women’s team because the programme of NRU women’s rugby is not yet competitive outside the country.
“We need to start from scratch; we need to have our Rugby Sevens team to be competitive. Currently, we cannot compete against teams like South Africa or Zimbabwe, who have established sides. We have an agreement with World Rugby to put up this programme,” he said.
Diergaardt acknowledged that this programme will take between three to five years to get a competitive side, hence their aim to develop the sport at the school level.
Speaking to this publication, Kotze said she was not taking this position lightly, as this is a massive task, following the game being dormant for over a long time.
“The last three or so years, the game has peaked; my job will be to make sure that the league is ongoing and make sure there is grassroots development that will continuously feed the top league. I will focus on making sure that girls start playing rugby at a younger age just like the boys,” she said.
The former national women’s team coach said women usually start playing rugby at 18 and above, while the boys start as early as six years old – and that will be her focus to make sure the girls do not miss out on development.
Kotze added that she will also make sure the current teams are supported for them to continuously improve and that they are catered for by the mother body.
“The first project will be to establish a schools league for the girls. We would also like to develop administrators and referees. As we progress, we will then improve the quality of the local league and be able to compete outside Namibia,” she said.
Meanwhile, Kazombiaze expressed excitement about his new role, saying it is quite an exciting challenge that will help Namibia to comply with the constitution of the NRU and World Rugby. “I am currently visiting the regions, helping them to elect one member, who will sit on the Namibia Rugby Players Association Committee; it should hold its first meeting by July. This committee will draft and submit the constitution to the NRU Board and become an official affiliate,” he said.
Kazombiaze noted the job is very tough, as they will need to look at the players’ welfare, as well as contractual obligations at the national and club level, and grow the base of rugby players.
The former national team player said they will also look at the establishment of a trust fund that will look at the welfare of injured players who will need rehabilitation.
“Some players cannot afford proper medical bills; we want to venture in there and see how the union can help there. We have a high number of players who are retiring early due to injuries. We will also look at making the players take responsibility,” he said.
Kazombiaze said there are many things that the NRU and the players’ association will have to work together to make rugby the sport of choice.