Well, I had the privilege to sit in on a conversation where my trusted colleagues were chewing the fat regarding footballers. What was quite interesting was the make-up of Group A, that consisted of German, Coloured, Caprivian, Damara and Afrikaner.
Now, the Kraut Peter ‘Blitzkrieg’ Henkel played the beautiful game of football for the then South West Africa (SWA) at the tender age of 16, playing alongside Richard Wahl. The latter went on to present the provincial senior team.
But, back to the group and what’s evident is the confident and analytical fashion these blokes dissected the performances of players at Barcelona, Real Madrid and obviously English Premiership giants Manchester United.
There was no shouting and threats thrown around as I have witnessed when the beautiful-turned-ugly game of rugby is under discussion, Numero Uno. Coming from the south, Keetmanshoop to be precise, one had to cut your teeth in football first before joining any sports code of your choice.
Unfortunately, I do possess sufficient knowledge about the finer points of football to challenge any of these abovementioned gentlemen. What is sure is that football fans are much more conversant about their subject than us rugby gurus. Or did I just open a can of worms? This brings one to the Currie Cup.
Namibia is back in this particular competition after an absence of some two odd decades. As it stands, some self-confessed rugby guru bandies our presence in this competition about as a NRU World Cup’s legacy. Nogal. Pure nonsense, a legacy is something you create, maintain and leave behind for others to benefit from.
In this case, we have been granted an ideal opportunity to partake in a household competition of our neighbour South Africa. The merits speak volumes and what should be done now is proper player and technical team management to create our own legacy on that basis. Please!
We also have a diverse rugby history, but keep repeating the same mistake of reading what we like to, because it suits our arguments. Maybe the past is also not so pleasant. Others have gone on to form rugby unions here at home and in South Africa in apparent protest of the then status quo.
How surprised I was to see Callie Schafer agreeing on Facebook on a point that award-winning sport journalist Karim Martheze made years ago. Wait a minute, the sharp tongued Martheze was deported from the then SWA for daring to write about what is still going wrong in Namibian sport. Bra Karim was a fearless journo with a refreshing style of writing, always stating his case, while substantiating his facts with pictures.
Sadly, only a few of these hound dogs are still around to cover our beloved sport(s). There are people that have the history of NANRU right in the palm of their hands. Please don’t let that part of our rugby history gather dust. It’s for all to know. Publish it guys, publish!
Maybe our participation leaves the door ajar for the first transformation steps, not in selection necessarily but in the mind-set firstly. Dear readers, this should come from the top echelons of Namibian rugby. On that note, let me wish our players good luck. I know and believe they will give it their best against the Toyota Free State team in tomorrow’s opening match.
Cheers for now.