2017-11-03Staff Report 2 A legend by definition is a story from ancient times about people and events that may or may not be true, this type of story or myth is sometimes of a famous person, especially in a particular field, who is admired by others: a jazz or tennis legend etc. We say she was a legend in her own lifetime, or many of golf’s living legends were teeing off. This stipulative definition of quite a bizarre kind, but less conspicuous humpty-dumptying, can lead to confusion and misunderstanding, particularly when there’s no explicit stipulation of what a word in being taken to mean. When admirers describe a notoriously cruel gang killing syndicate as a truly good fellow, this can only be humptydumptying because they hijacked the words truly good man using them to mean something quite different what they usually mean. The term humpty-dumptying should be reserved for extreme cases of stipulative definition and the idiosyncratic use of words in common use. In short, to label someone’s use of language humptydumptying is to condemn it as obfuscatory since words have public meanings and to use them, as they don’t usually leads to confusion and ambiguity, so to speak. Yours truly has been following with keen interest the hot debate about MTC’s preferred candidates for the newly introduced category for local Sports Legends. The author is on record having aired my appreciation for the initiative to recognise deserving athletes for their contribution towards the overall growth of sport in their chosen sporting careers. However, the good gesture turned ugly when some blokes who themselves felt left out and their respective admirers also joined the fray wanting to know why their favourite would-be candidates were grounded. Without beating about the bush, when we honour footballers of great substance in domestic football, the list will be incomplete without the names of Wherrick Zimmer, Times Mwetuyela, Oscar Mengo, Doc Hardley, Ivo de Gouveia, Lemmy Narib, Bobby Sissing, Bobby Craddock, Mentos Hipondoka, Celle Auchumeb, Gabes Mupupa, Tommy Ushona, Hasso Ahrens, Albert Louw, Steve Stephanus, Albert Tjihero and dozens others from their generation engraved on it. In my opinion Mohammed ‘Slice’ Ouseb was the most influential footballer of Namibia’s golden generation after the country gained democracy in the mid 90’s. From my own observation, the honoured athletes were those who made their mark after Namibia’s Independence in 1990, but then one wonders why an outstanding athlete like Andre Stoop was overlooked. Once again, we must really applaud MTC for the bold step to recognise deserving athletes for their performance. It goes beyond any comprehension as to why two of the most outstanding performers during the Brave Warriors’ golden era, the air of Lolo Goraseb and Bimbo Tjihero were cold-shouldered. The only concern is the sequence of the chosen candidates. For starters, I will bet you my last penny somebody like Slice won’t feel the value of the recognition, as he would feel unappreciated to receive the accolade a year later than footballers who would be polishing his shoes during his prime. Come on, this isa man who was highly rated in the South African Professional Soccer League (PSL) during a successful stint with Africa’s best supported football club, Kaizer Chiefs, and is now reduced to a mere second class athlete in his own country. Surely a slap in the face of the man who was once on the radar of English giants Arsenal and had it not been for Namibia’s lower placing on the FIFA World rankings he could have gone to become the first footballer from our neck of the woods to ply his trade in the world’s richest football league. This debacle has once again opened the long-held idea to introduce without further delay a hall of fame for Namibian athletes. I rest my case. 2017-11-03Staff Report 2
