Literature teaches us various forms of state capture involving diverse strategies and methods aimed at strengthening the objectives of certain institutions and individuals. There seems to be more than meets the eye in the seemingly unending wrangles that have stalled the progress of domestic football.
Let us call a spade by its name… not a large spoon: the suspension of the country’s flagship football league the MTC Namibia Premiership (NPL) from all football-related activities by the trigger-happy NFA hierarchy is chief contributor to all these nauseating shenanigans.
Interpersonal intelligence is a vital component of our togetherness and a good recipe for success, notably when the going gets tough and some are quicker to find an easy “get out” solution. It’s obviously normal to get angry but certainly not exactly cool to get out of control. We need to manage our emotions especially during critical moments where emotional intelligence is required.
For starters, my take is that the Fifa-installed NFA Normalisation Committee (NC)’s modus operandi was wrongly defined. Instead of managing the day-to-day business of the game, the NC should have appointed a steering committee to keep an eye over the business of domestic football.
HEITARAZO !!!! You can’t be the applicant, defendant, judge, prosecutor and magistrate all in one sealed package.
With the much-anticipated NFA elective congress just around the corner – it will be in the best interest of football to uplift the ILLEGAL grounding of the NPL and level the playing field if we are to preserve Fifa’s much-trumpeted Fair Play slogan.
Furthermore, yours truly is still struggling to fathom MTC’s sudden change of heart shortly after the mobile communication giants assured the masses that it has no plans to abandon the beautiful game of football.
Truth be told, the current dilemma prevailing in the corridors of our football, which has stalled league activities, was not the direct making of the NPL, but through the unwarranted gross interference by the NFA NC meddling in the autonomy of the country’s flagship football league.
Fair enough, it’s of course the prerogative of MTC to sever ties with the NPL when they so wish upon expiry of its three-year contract agreement but alas, the fashion and timing of the jaw-dropping announcement raises some eyebrows, so to speak.
‘Don’t play the man, play the ball’
This weird decision raises suspicion that external forces are indeed at play here in what can be interpreted, and rightly so, as a desperate effort to force the hand of NPL clubs to remove democratically elected officials to pave the way for those with sinister motives and worse still, a mass entitlement mentality.
As it stands, football has become a lucrative industry with some overly ambitious blokes already having their eyes cast on the plum NFA presidency.
Potential candidates should be obliged to convince the masses with tangible blueprints through well-prepared presentations. Yours truly has been worrisomely monitoring the pattern of discussions and the desperate efforts on social media with regard to potential suitable candidates for the NFA presidency.
As committed football followers and watchdogs the media and all other relevant authorities have a moral duty to work closely to ensure our football is not engulfed in advancing tribal agendas, so to speak.
With the utmost respect, tribalism, race, political affiliation, geographic dominance or any form of discrimination should have no place in sport or any civilised society. We must confront this potentially dangerous cancer unfolding in our football structures.
Football is a massive profit-making industry nowadays and has become a major role player in the employment sector, thus it can no longer be trusted in the muddy claws of bloodthirsty vultures.
It’s no longer about service delivery, it all boils down to some blokes trying by all means to safeguard their fragile squatting within the football structures and ultimately a ticket to Fifa, where their itchy palms stand to be greased handsomely.
Namibian football is in dire need of a complete overhaul from top to bottom. Administration in the lower divisions must be upped whilst the welfare of athletes should enjoy priority. Wishing you a happy new year ahead. Until next week, I’m signing off for now.