Carlos Kambaekwa
Windhoek
Retired footballer, former Sorento Bucks FC’s tough-as-steak defender Miga Xoagub has come out with guns blazing, castigating the web of continuing uncertainty in which domestic football finds herself entangled.
The usually calculated 57-year-old retired Xoagub, who has in the meantime found peace with life as an astute businessman and director of several high-profile institutions, is an unhappy man.
He bemoans the poor quality in the country’s flagship football league, the Namibia Premiership (NPL) and pulled no punches in putting the blame squarely on the shoulders of the clubs for the sub-standard showing which characterises the plight of local football.
“The overall standard of football has alarmingly gone down, which culminated in the players losing focus because the moment clubs started dangling large stacks of money in their faces, the game took a different direction,” charged Xoagub.
He believes the clubs were too quick to introduce huge salaries in an amateur setup without any comprehensive business module.
“In all honesty, those at the helm of local football clubs shot themselves in the foot by unintentionally trying to bite off more than they could chew since it’s now crystal clear that clubs can no longer sustain the system which has effectively rendered the clubs insolvent.”
Xoagub added that there was no proper planning, whilst football administrators lacked the required basic vision to steer the game in the right direction to make football a lucrative product for potential would-be partners.
“It must be taken into consideration that when athletes are made aware of pitfalls from the commercial side of the game – they suddenly take their eyes off the ball, abandoning loyalty in favour of money.
“The traditional club loyalty has gone out of the window from the very first moment clubs started remunerating players with large sums of salaries, an extremely dangerous system they could not sustain,” he opined. In his parting shot, the former Sorento Bucks hard man, who also had a successful short stint with Katutura glamour football club African Stars, said he believes unless drastic measures are put in place, Namibian football would remain on the slippery downhill slope.
“The current setup is unattractive and I’m having serious reservations whether any reputable company would want to associate themselves with our football if the serial sub-standard quality of football displayed on the field of play is anything to go by – let alone the unending squabbles that have been hogging newspaper headlines over the last couple of months.”