Brave Gladiators poster-girl Zenatha Coleman on Saturday took to social media to blast the Namibia Football Association (NFA) for its poor treatment of national team players and the shoddy manner in which the association went about making her travelling arrangements from Turkey to Cape Town, South Africa.
Coleman, who is never one to shy away from speaking her mind, described on her social media platforms how her travelling arraignments resulted in her having to wait for over eight hours at the airport and also complain about her ticket arriving late.
“It is always an honour to represent my beloved country. Two years ago, I flew in from Spain, arriving on the day of the match and waited for four hours to be picked up by the organisers of NFA at the Hosea Kutako International Airport. I arrived three hours prior to kick-off at the hotel and ate my lunch – and with no rest, I went to the field and scored two goals against Angola in a friendly match. But today, with great sadness, I’ve decided to withdraw from the Cosafa Cup squad due to an issue of my ticket arriving late and having to wait for eight hours at the airport... I wish the team and the coaches all the best in the upcoming Cosafa tournament,” posted Coleman, who plies her trade professionally for Turkish giants Fenerbahçe S.K.
Reacting to Coleman’s unceremonious withdrawal, Gladiators coach Paulo Shipanga yesterday expressed great sadness with the player’s overall conduct, especially posting her withdrawal on social media without using existing internal communication channels. “Obviously, it is very disappointing to wake up and read such things on social media. I have been in touch with Zenatha almost every day, checking up on her to see how she has been training and so forth. But to wake up and read her withdrawal on social media is really disappointing because she could have communicated directly with me as we normally do with other things. She is one of our senior players, and this will obviously derail our preparations as a team. But what can we do? She has already made her decision, and we cannot force her,” said a disappointed Shipanga.
The coach pointed that as much as it is within Colemen’s rights to withdraw if she does not feel like being part of the national team, the manner in which she went about her withdrawal sends a bad message to the young players in the team.
“There are young players who look up to her in this squad, and I don’t think her actions will do much to inspire and uplift the young ones who look up to her. This is not just a Zenatha Coleman issue; other European-based players are also facing the same problems with their travelling arraignments because the situation is beyond us, as a technical team. It has mostly to do with the unavailability of flights, and there is nothing much we can do. We are all facing the same situation; it is not just her who will be affected. But we will move ahead with our plans to do our best in South Africa. Football is a team sport and not an individual sport; so, we will go out there and fight on.” Namibia is in Group B alongside Zambia, Lesotho and Eswatini, and will kick off their campaign with a clash against the Copper Queens of Zamia this coming Thursday in the 2022 edition of the regional showpiece in Nelson Mandela Bay from 31 August to 11September.