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Home / Shooting From The Hip ! - Give Unto Caesar ...
Shooting From The Hip ! - Give Unto Caesar ...
2008-02-29Staff Report 2 "Carlos Kambaekwa It's no exaggeration to say that thousands of Namibians, including the usually hard to please yours truly, are sharing in the joy of the exodus of local footballers leaving the shores of Namibia at lightning speed in search of greener pastures abroad. However, in all fairness to my conscience, I don't think at this point in time I'm capable of finding a single sentence of commendation for how an important aspect such as compensation is being handled by greedy, or let us conveniently rather label them ignorant, club bosses and small time agents. Without beating about the bush, yours truly is pissed off, to say the least, by the manner in which rules and regulations are being sidestepped and twisted at will whenever it comes to the issue of amateur footballers turning professional. What we dismally fail to address is the issue of ""compensation"" as clearly stipulated in the FIFA statutes on the status of amateur and young footballers moving clubs and the signing of professional contracts. We all know that young footballers start their careers somewhere before finding refuge in the comfort of bigger clubs, but these clubs have an obligation towards the smaller clubs that have unearthed the talent and developed the players in question. These clubs are entitled to compensation, but I've never heard a word uttered about compensation being advanced to the player's former clubs when they are sold to foreign clubs by the current employers. After all, there exists an element of secrecy in the local transfer market with many teams extremely reluctant to reveal the exact amount of transfers and signing-on fees, very much against the spirit of the game as they defy global practices Clubs must also wake up and demand compensation for it's rightfully owed to them when former players sign up with professional clubs. Some players with a little bit of help from high-ranking football officials have been getting away with murder by just resigning at the drop of a hat from their clubs just to become free agents in order to pocket hefty signing on fees without their previous clubs receiving any compensation as stipulated by FIFA statutes. The clubs must wake up and smell the Java, but the country's football authorities should also act as watchdog and alert the teams whenever such malpractices occur by making sure that Caesar gets what is rightfully his. Dust Refuses to Settle Up to this day, yours truly is battling to come to terms with the exclusion of Invincible Football Club from the MTC NFA Cup competition, because no amount of explanation can rationalize the blunder of punishing a team purely on own discretion rather than applying the rules. Invincible Football Club was found guilty by the NFA Disciplinary Committee of match fixing and the club was strangely relegated to the lower division as punishment without the result of the disputed match being nullified. Invincible partners in crime Flying Eagles got off the hook despite the fact that corruption involves both the giver and taker, and to compound matters Invincible received its prize money for finishing third in the Southern Stream Division One league. Rightfully so, because the NFA Disciplinary Committee did not rule in favour of point forfeiture when it meted out judgment - a decision that leaves question marks over the credibility and competence of the Disciplinary Committee. Nowhere in the judgment is stated that Invincible Football Club should be excluded from participating in the lucrative MTC NFA Cup competition, and even up to this day, the final log standings of the Southern Stream Division One league have Invincible engraved in third position. So, those responsible for the blunder should have the courage and own up to that rather than embark on a futile mission of finding scapegoats by pointing fingers at perceived troublesome journalists who are merely steering the wheel of justice. In truth to myself and my maker, I perfectly appreciate the current mess in which the MTC NFA Cup Organizing Committee finds itself now, obviously the heat in the kitchen must be too hot for them to negotiate, but alas that is no reason why they should think the buck must pass them and rather stop at the poor club. That is what happens when people make the serious mistake of thinking that anything to do with legal aspects can just be done by every Dick, let alone Tom and forget about their good buddy Harry, whether they possess the expertise or not. Part of Article 55.2 of the NFA Disciplinary Committee reads as follows: The function of this body shall be governed by the Disciplinary Code of the NFA and shall generally be responsible for all disciplinary matters that might occur within the NFA and across its membership. No member of the NFA is authorized to have a separate Disciplinary Committee or equivalent body. Now, the fundamental question that invites dialogue is: which body besides the NFA Disciplinary Committee had the jurisdiction to amend the judgment already meted out to Invincible? " 2008-02-29Staff Report 2
