Yours truly has always maintained that justice and law are often not exactly the best of bedfellows when it comes to fairness, let alone brutal truth.
Did I hear some quarters of the football family rejoicing with the court verdict between the country’s football governing body, the Namibia Football Association {NFA} trigger-happy Normalization Committee {NC} and the national flagship football league, the Namibia Premiership {NPL}.
From what I gathered, the Namibian court has ostensibly no jurisdiction to preside over football disputes – notwithstanding the fact that this very same house of justice has previously presided over disputes involving sport clubs, subsequently passing judgement for that matter, nogal.
Without beating about the bush, let me put it this way, the extremely “unlawful suspension” of the NPL from all football related activities is certainly not in the best interest of domestic football.
Firstly, those pulling the strings at Football House committed a grave error of judgement terribly abusing their designated authority to impose themselves on the NPL by unjustifiably mingling in the internal affairs of an autonomous organ.
Secondly, how do you suspend an affiliate without a proper hearing and subsequent sanctions?. Well, many are arguing that the directives to reinstate relegated Orlando Pirates and Civics came from the world football presiding body, Fifa but there is more than meets the eye to this wangled Fifa directives.
As it stands, the trident of Orlando Pirates, Young African and Civics have the same status as Chief Santos, Young Chiefs, Rundu Chiefs and all the other teams in the regional division one streams, so to speak.
All these shenanigans could have been easily avoided had it not been for egos from both parties at the centre of this nasty unfolding episode in the top echelons of our football top structures. And to worsen matters, NPL proposal to rather reinstate the three teams relegated in the previous season does not make sense at all.
From my own observation, this weird resolution is a crystal clear retaliation and easy way to keep those teams relegated in the 2018/2010 season at arms-length.
As far as yours truly is concerned, NPL are punching above their weight in terms of choosing teams to be promoted to the country’s flagship football league (NPL).
The latter can only relegate but the decision of promotion lays entirely in the hands of the mother-body {NFA} provided fairness is applied in the methodology of which teams must be promoted.
NFA NC erred in according preferential treatment to the 2018/2019 season relegated teams without considering the plight of the other teams campaigning in the regional first divisions including the trident of Rundu Chiefs Santos and Young Chiefs.
The recent court ruling is definitely not a victory for football, it’s a major setback for the overall development of domestic football. Those rejoicing about the court ruling obviously have vested interest in the outcome but the current scenario could have far reaching repercussions for the immediate future of Namibian football.
I would like to sincerely urge the NFA NC to swallow their pride – lift the suspension and invite the NPL to round the table discussions to find an amicable way and come up with an acceptable model for promotion that would include all teams in the regional division one streams.
NFA without the Premier League is like an aeroplane without a pilot. The outdated biblical philosophy of an eye for an eye and tooth for tooth leaves everybody blind. I rest my case.