2017-06-16Staff Report 2 Yours truly is just wondering what are all these apparent “important” men in blue suits, gathered at vast expense in our football structures, doing to advance the genuine cause of domestic football? Perhaps one should ask the question whether any vital and tangible decisions were made for the good of football. Not really, the decisions that mattered were made to advance personal interests of certain individuals, so to speak. Needless to state that the country’s football governing body, the Namibia Football Association (NFA), has made it its sole province to shamelessly expose its vulnerability or rather serial indiscretion at the slightest provocation. Namibia’s failure to send a team to the Cosafa Youth Cup in Mauritius is a slap in the face of the country’s inhabitants and a total disgrace to the oath of our beloved land of the brave. Do I need to remind the powers that be at Football House that the decision to pull the team out of the youth tourney was poorly thought, inconsiderable and a grave error of judgement that is tantamount to treason. As much as yours truly has sympathy with the association’s precarious financial dilemma, and I seriously mean it from the bottom of my heart, the shoddy fashion in which our learned colleagues at Football House clumsily surrendered their distinct honour as cup holders to defend the title raises serious questions and suspicion. That said, yours truly yesterday had the honour of being present when the NFA delegation paid a courtesy call at State House to brief the head of state on the latest developments in domestic football. Geingob made no secret that he is not exactly impressed with the way disputes are handled in the corridors of local football. In no uncertain terms he told those entrusted to administer the game to get their ducks in the row. Evidently, NFA president Frans Mbidi tried all the tricks in the book of tricks to play the blame game in the absence of his rivals (NPL Interim Committee) but his presentation left more questions than answers. The northern businessman won himself very few friends, if any, when he boastfully claimed there are no big clubs in Namibian football, castigating the ostensible bad behaviour by the traditional Katutura big four – African Stars, Black Africa, Orlando Pirates and Tigers. My humble advice to Mbidi is that his trying to belittle well-established football entities in order to score some cheap political points is doing more harm than good to football. Only a fool would argue against the naked reality that these four clubs indeed form the nucleus of Namibian football. With all due respect to my learned colleague and those who dismiss the aggrieved clubs’ elite status, they must think twice – honestly, what’s Namibian football without the Katutura big four? Well, I do agree 100 percent that nobody is bigger than football but alas, have we not seen enough and learnt by now from the impact of these teams, lest we forget the lukewarm interest in the ongoing Debmarine Cup? I’m just wondering. Can you imagine telling the English that EPL heavyweights Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United are in the same class as Leicester, West Ham, Everton and Southampton? Let us be careful and jealously guard against the democratic fallacy because football is not politics. We should not use majority opinion as a reliable source of truth guiding us to every solution. For instance, an airline pilot faced with the decision of whether to make an emergency landing because of bad weather conditions would be gravely ill-advised to allow passengers to vote on the issue. I rest my case. 2017-06-16Staff Report 2
