Born and raised in South London, England in the United Kingdom (UK), Russell Parker started working for De Beers in 1982 in their London office, but was requested to do contract work in the then-South West Africa (SWA – Namibia). 

“I had always played amateur football from a young age, so when I arrived in South West Africa (Namibia) in June of 1988, I was eager to find a football club to join. Coincidentally, two other English guys from De Beers, Alan Hardy and Simon Price, were also looking forward to joining a local club,” he said.

So, without any knowledge of Namibian football, the trio phoned a club called Sport Klub Windhoek (SKW), but the person who answered could only communicate in German, and the Englishmen did not understand a single word of what was said.

They decided to try their luck elsewhere and called Ramblers, where they spoke to the club’s player/coach, the late Erich Muinjo, who went out to meet them at the Kalahari Sands Hotel. Muinjo invited the trio to come for training with Ramblers. As they say, the rest is history.

A devastating left-footed winger, Parker made an immediate impact and played for Ramblers for two seasons in a squad that included the skilful Alan Gonzalves, Stakes Coetzee, Joseph Martin, Butzi Schultz, Richard Wahl, Mark Kurzner, Peter Schwartzer, Mike Rohr, Jorge da Purificaca, and player-coach Muinjo. 

Parker established himself as a vital cog in the Rammies’ firing line, scoring some match-winning goals whilst providing dozens of assists. He was also selected to represent his adopted land in a Namibian Shadow Invitational side against a visiting team from neighbouring Angola, just before Independence. 

He won silverware with Rammies after the fired-up Tunschell Strasse Boys defeated bitter rivals SKW in the final of the annual Stoesel Pokal on penalties after a 1-all stalemate at the SKW stadium. 

Interestingly, Parker kept close contact with many of his former teammates, and is still close buddies with some of them. It brings back great memories about my stint with Ramblers. We had a great bunch of brilliant players.

Upon expiry of his contract, Parker retreated to his native land, England, but the Namibian buck was too good to shake off as he was back in his adopted Land of the Brave sooner than expected.

He came back to Namibia to work a few times since the mid-90’s, coaching the Pepsi Youth Football Clinic every Saturday in Khomasdal alongside his buddy Gary Grotzinger before going back to the UK.

He finally came back to Namibia in 2008, where he has remained put until this day. Parker was amongst the first coaches at the newly-formed Ramblers Football Academy in 2008, and has been coaching at Ramblers every year up until now. 

“I’ve coached from U/7’s up to the U/21’s and all ages in-between, and always in partnership with my Italian friend and coach Alessandro Micheletti, as we both try to give young Namibian footballers some European ideas and football philosophy,” he said.

The popular Ramblers Academy is home to close to 200 boys and girls, which over the years has provided players not only for the Ramblers first team, but many local Premier League clubs, the national senior team and even some clubs in South Africa. “As much as I enjoyed my time as a Ramblers player, I am just as proud of what we at the Ramblers Football Academy have achieved.” 

The humorous socialite is happily-hitched to his Namibian bird Zeta, who bore him a pair of children, son Jack and daughter Tilly. Like father, like son, Jack has represented Cricket Namibia in different age groups, including captaining the U19 side representing Namibia at the World Cup Qualifiers in Rwanda. 

The multitalented youngster also came through the Ramblers Football Academy since the age of five, and was eventually elevated to the Ramblers’ first team. 

Tilly is a sturdy hockey player, who has represented Namibia at the U/16 level. 

Parker is nowadays a retired citizen after years of unbroken service at De Beers, but is still very much involved with Ramblers football club at an executive level, assisting with the first team and coaches. ‘Once a ‘Rammie’, always a ‘Rammie’.