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Home / Ex-Stars call for radical reform of domestic football
Ex-Stars call for radical reform of domestic football
2016-10-25Staff Report 2 Windhoek - Retired footballers, who used to ply their trade with Katutura glamour football club African Stars back in the day, are fed-up with the ongoing shenanigans in the annals of domestic football. The athletes - led by the legendary Oscar ‘Silver Fox’ Mengo - joined by former Red’s blue-eyed coach Dieter Widmann, defenders Willy Rwida, Asser Mbai, George Gariseb and toe-poking lethal forward Ace Tjirera converged at a local eatery recently to map the way forward. The group was in indisputable harmony that the current standard of football in Namibia has dropped dramatically – a scenario they attribute to a lack of proper planning and above all, insufficient quality in governance. A serious concern about club ownership was raised and those in attendance felt strongly that the issue of fly-by-night club owners needs to be addressed and arrested with the might it deserves, should the need arise. During their heyday, the retired footballers were in a class of their own and would do the work on the playing pitch, but alas, who knew the other part of their vast football expertise and general intelligence? The group proposed that potential club takeovers should be treated with utmost care, with longterm planning amongst the main priorities. “There ought to be a time-limit. Let’s say five-year commitment whenever new owners come on board, while these potential financial backers should be obliged to come up with a sustainable module,” charged former skipper Doc Naobeb. “We need to take lessons from past experiences, because a significant chunk of these blokes come into football with their own personal agendas, only to disappear into this air when their pockets run dry. Whoever comes into football should be able to leave behind a legacy, which has sadly not been the case so far,” said Tjirera, a retired bank manager. 2016-10-25Staff Report 2
