At its weekend’s non-elective Annual General Meeting (AGM), the council of the Namibia Rugby Union (RU) resolved that the country’s flagship league, the Namibia Rugby Premier League, along with all other national leagues, will start next month.

The NRU over the weekend held its non-elective AGM at Windhoek’s Safari Hotel, where an assortment of issues was discussed and resolutions pertaining to the country’s top tier rugby league were taken. The union decided that the country’s premier rugby league will kick off next month, on 10 April, to be precise.

The 10th of April will also mark the rerun of the other national leagues resorting under the NRU, including the First Division. The union placed serious emphasis on how leagues will conduct their activities, especially in light of the raging Covid-19 pandemic. 

“All leagues under the auspices of the NRU will commence on Saturday, 10 April 2021. As a result of the prevailing Covid-19 protocols and preventative measures, the first round of rugby will be played as a competition on its own – and any further round will also be treated as a competition on its own. This approach was taken to mitigate the risk of the pandemic and to ensure player welfare. The final schedule will be made public soon,” said the NRU.

Meanwhile, the AGM at the weekend also announced that World Rugby – the world’s rugby governing body – has pledged further financial and technical assistance to Namibia for the next World Cup circle which runs until 2024.

“Our successful presentation of our Performance Case to World Rugby resulted in World Rugby’s financial commitment to the NRU’s High-Performance Programme for the next World Cup Cycle until 2024. It is huge for us as a union; with these funds, we are committed to strengthening our programmes, such as hosting short coaching courses, training of referees and other activities. But most of this funding will go straight to the NRU high-performance centre,” said NRU president Corrie Mensah.