As the Rugby World Cup kicks off today in Paris, France, many Namibians will follow the four-yearly event with keen interest.

Namibia has qualified seven times for the prestigious event but is yet to record a win.

The Welwitschias have come close but many local rugby enthusiasts believe this is the year we’ll end the winless drought. 

While the team now boasts many professionals playing all over the world, they have the odds stacked against them.

The country’s rugby playing numbers are small, which makes selecting a strong national team difficult. 

Sadly, the Namibia Rugby Union has done next to nothing to take it to rural Namibia or black communities. The limited number makes it difficult to sustain a credible code. 

Clubs can’t generate enough funds to sustain and run the club on even a semi-professional basis. 

Additionally, so much talent is lost between school rugby and club rugby. Many also leave to study abroad, never to return home again. 

It would seem that the perennial race issues that dogged the local game for many years are a thing of the past now. 

But the elephant in the room in local rugby remains: boardroom politics. The union receives enough money from World Rugby to sustain itself, build the code and make it popular. They can use the energy that fuels their personal fights to grow the game.

Many would have hoped that the office of the NRU would be better run by now but the public relations disasters around the team’s departure are evidence that we need serious people running the code. 

The country has a disproportionate number of world-class rugby players. Imagine how much talent you could unearth if you open the sport to more communities and schools. 

To top it all, World Rugby has not been serious in growing the game globally either. Namibia has played only eight test matches in the last four years. Three of those were in a World Cup warmup tournament last month. If World Rugby were serious about professionalising the game and spreading its footprint, it would unify the calendar and force tier-one nations to also play against tier two and three nations. The unified calendar will allow all nations to have their professionals in camp for a reasonable time, as well as give the players more rest, lifting the quality of the game. 

Despite the odds stacked against them, the Welwitschias made it to another World Cup. Thumbs up! 

It is a massive achievement for Namibia to be on the world stage. Let’s celebrate the achievement and support our boys. Here’s to that first win.