An excellent way to get acquainted with the functionaries of many a sporting discipline within the confines of the domestic spectrum is to look at the absolutely skewed composition of various sporting associations, federations and umbrella sports bodies.
Truth be told, the National Sports Commission (NSC) faces an insurmountable task and must seriously get their ducks in the row if they are to steer things into perspective because as its stands, many sports codes are operating way outside the prescribed conditions and laws regulating their ultimate togetherness.
Whereas football, boxing, tennis and netball clubs are functioning under their respective regional associations, rugby, cricket, hockey and equestrian sport appear to be operating under a different set of rules, so to speak.
Cricket and rugby clubs are directly affiliated to the country’s controlling bodies. This has prompted yours truly to interrogate the system and ask pertinent questions as to why there are no bridging sports bodies between the clubs and presiding bodies.
In football, clubs are not direct affiliates of the mother body, the Namibia Football Association (NFA), and resort under different sports entities such as the Namibia Premiership (NPL), while regional divisions fall under the wings of their respective bodies, which are bona fide members of the sports commission.
This sickening or rather unprocedural exercise amongst some of our sports codes must be thoroughly interrogated as a matter of urgency if we are to avoid creating an unwanted backlog.
Yours truly has deliberately chosen the above preamble to interrogate the main reason as to why the Namibia Rugby Union (NRU) is constantly getting away with murder and daylight robbery when it comes down to sanctioning its members.
It’s now a well documented secret that the hierarchy at Lichtenstein-Strasse has no intentions of rooting out racism, so prevalent in the oval ball game.
For starters, how does any sober-minded confirmed human being comprehend or digest the union’s systematic marathon silence to pronounce itself on the much-publicized racial slur attributed to Wanderers player, one Theo Coetzee, better known as ‘Kwaaikie’ amongst his circle of friends, if he still has any.
NRU silence on this ugly incident is a crystal clear sign that the camouflaged union (wolves in sheep’s clothing) is just paying lip service to dozens of its undertakings and has absolutely no immediate plans to wipe out racism and discrimination from the oval ball game.
Remember the old slogan, an injury to one is an injury to all. The general public will not sit arms folded, watch, tolerate and allow these shenanigans to unfold in front of their eyes, while fellow blacks are branded “swart bobejaans” (black baboons) by the very same blokes who have in the past systematically deprived them of their dignity and basic rights in their own motherland.
The challenge now rests solely on the shoulders of the seemingly untouchable rugby union to roll up their sleeves, deal with this burning issue and bring closure to the debacle if we are to avoid far-reaching ramifications. I rest my case, at least for the time being.