In my entire life, I’ve never come across blokes so gravely lacking integrity as football followers, notably here at home. There are four critical components that are very much in short supply amongst our football pundits; these are integrity, honesty, morals and principles.
Yours truly has been following with keen interest the unfolding saga following the shock suspension of the Namibia Premiership by the Fifa appointed Normalisation Committee (NC) for the Namibia Football Association (NFA).
Whilst the main reason for the NPL grounding remains sketchy, yours truly could not help but take offence when the very same organ (NC) saw it fit to call up subjects of the suspended NPL for national duty with the Brave Warriors.
More shockingly, some self-styled football pundits opine that it’s only the NPL Executive that has been suspended and not the players. Really? HELLO!!! The NPL Executive represents the clubs that in turn own the players. We can’t divorce that sequence of entities from each other.
Some are even claiming that the players are free agents because of the league’s apparent inactivity. What a laughable statement. The Brave Warriors are about to confront Madagascar in the decisive return leg of the Chan qualifiers on home soil.
It should be noted that this particular tournament is strictly tailored for locally based footballers, nothing more, nothing less. Selecting unattached players is a total violation of the tourney’s modus operandi, so to speak.
And to make a mockery of the entire exercise, the players resolved to let their clubs badly down by gladly accepting the invitation to join the Warriors training camp – obviously much to the chagrin of their paymasters.
Should we blame the players? Well “moolah” is the biggest evil of many fragile societies because when somebody dangles a juicy carrot in your face – logical thinking becomes secondary.
It has never been my beat to call a spade a “Groot Lepel”, I call it by its name, finish and klaar! And please don’t tell me the players are genuine patriotic Namibians who have the interest of the Land of the Brave at heart – their decision is purely influenced by money.
And those pulling the purse strings are fully aware of this precarious situation and are more than willing to exploit the ill-informed players. There is an old saying that one should be careful not to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs and this is exactly what is happening in the corridors of Football House.
Nobody in the top echelons of our football structures seemed to have a clear grip on the timing and subsequent consequences of suspending the NPL and now the chickens are coming home to roost.
Yours truly has the greatest of respect and admiration for proven football pundits, Hendrik Christian in particular. Oom Chri is not driven by emotions, revenge and attachment “braskap”.
Whoever tries to justify the misplaced belief that players are exempted from the league’s suspension need to have their heads examined. NPL is made up of clubs whose core business is the players. NPL would not be in existence without clubs and the latter’s togetherness is made possible by their primary tools (players).
My humble advice to both parties NFA/NPL is simple: set aside your differences and find a common solution to this unpleasant episode. I rest my case.