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Home / Our topflight football league is just a flash in the pan … Downsizing the league, the only alternative for progress
Our topflight football league is just a flash in the pan … Downsizing the league, the only alternative for progress
2018-01-05Staff Report 2 Religious and philosophical beliefs represent an excellent though still dangerously breeding ground for the confirmation bias that constantly dismisses watertight arguments by the faithful, demonstrating just how powerful the confirmation bias is. Yours truly has been following with keen interest the latest unfolding events in our domestic football, notably the country’s flagship football league - the MTC-sponsored Namibia Premier League (NPL). After a self-imposed hiatus of almost two seasons, the league finally got underway, but certainly not without a few flaws, so to speak. It’s now a well-documented secret that reigning Namibian champions Tigers Football Club were at loggerheads with league authorities over the hasty scheduling of league fixtures at the beginning of the current term. “Ingwe” were notable absentees as the Namibian champions failed to pitch up for their opening two league fixtures against Citizens and Unam, respectively. Tigers’ no show irked the authorities who charged the club for having brought the game of football into disrepute as a result of their “apparent” failure to honour their league fixtures, despite the club having requested a postponement, citing short notice in terms of proper preparations. As I’m penning these lines now, the league is almost halfway through the season and this matter remains unresolved simply because of mere procedural technicalities. Without beating about the bush, our football administration is utterly uncreative with all these boring double-headers and matches that are played in searing heat, while gravely ignoring the plight and ultimate safety of the poor footballers. Dear readers, please pardon my ignorance, but, alas, did I hear the newly appointed NPL chairman, my learned friend bro Pat, express satisfaction about the current goings-on in the league? My honest and humble question is: what has changed from the much criticized tenure of Johnny ‘JJD’ Doeseb? Dwindling crowds is still an eyesore at the majority of league games as a result of hopelessly too many football matches in a congested league fixture list. Without an iota of doubt, there’s an urgent need to address the niggling problem of poor crowd attendance at local league matches if we are to win confidence from potential investors while satisfying current financial partners MTC. Yours truly has said it in the past – cautioning league authorities about the poorly thought idea of beefing up the number of teams in the country’s topflight football league from a manageable 12 to 16 teams. For heaven’s sake, one is not quite sure whether this was purely a political or commercial resolution. Even a fool would admit that this decision has not only come back to haunt us big time, but it has hopelessly weakened the overall standard and ultimate quality of football in the domestic league to an extent that football-loving fans are reluctant to squeeze their bodies through the turnstiles. One would have expected significant changes to the fashion things are done with the new men at the helm, but it looks like the status quo has remained intact. I’m led to believe the league is hunting for a salted Marketing Manager but from my own experience, I think this is like roping in a seasoned salesman to sell a Deep Freezer to an Eskimo. It’s like the Pepsi Cola beverage – the more you watch its adverts the more you become agitated, ultimately developing a dislike for the product. Let us not turn a blind eye to the unavoidable genuine problem – our Achilles heel is the nauseating, serially poor quality of football displayed week in and week out, punctuated by lack of gifted ball entertainers. How I wish one could turn back the clock just to have a quick glimpse on the amazing god-given football virtuosity of great athletes such as departed Ghosts’ dribbling wizard Norries Goraseb, Doc Hardley, Juku Tjazuko, Pieces Damaseb, Pius Eigowab, Koko Muatunga, Dale Stephanus, Ben Gaseb, Nerab //Gariseb, Lucky Boostander and Lolo Goraseb, just to mention a few. We need to up the quality of our football but this can only be attained with a downsized league consisting of a maximum number of 12 teams, period. I rest my case. 2018-01-05Staff Report 2
