I personally supported the NPL because of the way they were treated by the NFA. The reliance placed by the Normalisation Committee on apparent Fifa directives and the need to religiously adhere to them, was found to be a fallacy when the same Fifa was issuing directives which were not supported by the powers that be.
There should be professional football in Namibia and I sincerely hope that the NPL can start with the same. I do not necessarily see Patrick Kauta’s desire to meet with the Fifa/Caf delegation as an admission of failure but I see it, albeit from a distance, as his and his group’s desire to reconcile in the name of football. The NPL went to court and their primary prayer was to be reinstated so that they can start football. That’s a fact, regardless of however you want to see it. The founding affidavit to that court case is a public document. The NFA could have waived the jurisdictional issue and allowed the court to deal with the merits; they chose not to.
The unfortunate reality is that it seems as if the powers that be are more concerned about who will beat who in the boardroom, who is most admired by Fifa and unfortunately, these fights are not helping anyone.
The fact is that the division has divided the football fraternity. There are teams that are fully and exclusively aligned to the NPL and others to the NFA. This division has some teams divided in themselves as to who they should support, and have some executives supporting the NPL and registering it with the Business and Intellectual Property Authority and other executives from the same teams supporting and registering with the NFA. Either way we look at it, the greatest loser in this is football.
It should be clear that I am unapologetically NPL in this saga and would love them to start the professional league. Others are unapologetically NFA and would love the NPFL to start. Both can start, but the reality is that Namibian football will benefit greatly from a united front.
We all have issues. Many of us are debating football with agendas and others with emotions because of their attachments to the “warring parties”.
The rumour mill has it that there were discussions to bridge the divide and I believe that will be the best. But trust me even my love @+264 85 281 7838 and my brothers @+264 81 219 2635 and @+264 81 864 6808 will agree that a united football front will be the best. The fact is, are we ready to compromise for the sake of those young ones on the streets who have to make a living from football?
Are we really not ready to realise that football is bigger than all of us? All we can do is call one another names and hide behind tribalism.
We can and should move for a united football front. I would love the NPL to start the professional league so that I can tell my adversaries that I told you so, but will that be the best for the greater game? I thought out loud and long…