New Era Sport (NE) recently caught up with Cricket Namibia (CN) chief executive officer Johan Muller (JM), who spoke candidly about the association’s long-term plans, youth development and how they have succeeded in professionalising local cricket at almost all levels.

NE: To start off with, the Namibia senior cricket side – the Eagles – had a very impressive run at last year’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Dubai, where they reached the Super 12 stage of the competition to automatically qualify for the next edition of the World Cup. How big of an achievement was this for CN and also for the country as a whole?

JM: That achievement was of great significance and it remains one of our most exceptional runs at that stage. With that achievement, we became the team in Namibia with the greatest number of matches won at World Cup or Olympic Games level, which makes our team the most successful when compared to other sporting codes in the country. 

It is also important to note that it was the first time competing at the T20 World Cup and we played against the top-16 teams in the world, not just on the African continent. So, for us to beat the likes of Netherlands and Ireland, which are ICC full member countries and also beating Scotland in the first round of the Super 12, was an amazing performance and experience for us. All those teams I mentioned are ranked above Namibia, so it was great. 

We lost against big teams like Pakistan, New Zealand and India, who are the makers of cricket in the world, but we still managed to record decent scores against them. In fact, we had very close encounters against Pakistan and New Zealand, and that was exceptional. 

NE: CN also announced last year that the men’s team is now fully professional. Take us through the process of how CN managed to transition the sport from being an amateur setup to being fully professional.

JM: We operate very much the same as other sporting codes in the country, such as rugby, football and hockey in the sense that we are also affiliated to our international mother bodies; ours being the International Cricket Council (ICC). We are funded by the ICC based on the level of competitions we play and also based on the number of participants we have in our development programmes. 

So, when we attained our One Day International (ODI) status in April 2019, our level of income of funding from the ICC increased, and that enabled us to start signing players on contract. The same can also be said about our workforce here at the office; they are all full-time employees. 

The increased funding and other additional sponsorships have also enabled us to play high-quality matches with top opponents, and that allows us to broadcast these matches and sell the content to the international market. That has been our second biggest income generator. We also had to do a lot of work to bring foreign investment into local cricket, because it is expensive to professionalise a sport code without additional funds. Those aspects were really the most significant game-changers for us.

NE: In terms of the time frame, how long did it take CN to reach full professional status?

JM: Since the inception of cricket in Namibia, we have never had a professional setup where players are contracted on a full-time basis. But we had to start off in small numbers, by putting about five or six players on full-time contracts. We continued to work hard and now we have a full squad of 14 players on permanent contracts with CN. 

NE: Would you say the entire organisational setup of CN is now fully professional?

JM: We cannot say the entire organisation is now fully professional, because we still depend quite a lot on volunteers and sub-committees like schools and clubs to help run certain programmes in the regions. Going into the future, we would also like to get our female players the same contracts on a full-time basis, and that remains our biggest focus.  

NE: It takes a lot of resources and serious planning for any sport code to go fully professional. What are some of the financial and human capital pressures that come with running and maintaining a professional organisation such as CN?

JM: I have to admit that it is continuous pressure, because we are depending on private enterprises in Namibia to assist us with sponsorship and in turn, we have to make double sure that we provide those sponsors with the same value in terms of publicity and brand awareness. 

As said, we are very dependent on local sponsors, and I must say we are very fortunate to have quite a high number of sponsors involved in cricket and we can only appreciate what they do for us, especially in this Covid-19 trying times. It has been two years of harsh economic conditions and we are very lucky to have a high number of very loyal sponsors.

NE: On average, if you don’t mind sharing with us, how much do our players earn as professionals? Just on average…

JM: Lol…Unfortunately, that’s a very confidential matter which I can’t disclose with the media or the public. It’s really private for the players and CN.

NE: You had a successful roadshow last year, which saw hundreds of children receive basic cricket training at various schools. Are there any plans to have a similar development roadshow this year?

JM: Definitely! We did a roadshow in 2019 and in the following years, and we are planning to do one this year as well. We just have to establish our international calendar. Our men’s side is playing nine international tournaments and the women’s side will play three tournaments, so we have to balance the calendar. We want our national players to be able to go on these types of roadshows and take them to the community to get them engage with their local heroes. 

So, we need to work around when they are available. We have a World Cup at the end of the year and it takes a lot of build-ups heading into such a big competition. Our mission is to use our national tours to develop coaches and expose more children to cricket.  

NE: Thanks a lot for sitting down with us and sharing CN’s plans with the entire public through the media.

JM: It was indeed a pleasure.