One of very few sport entities not birthed along ethnic lines, youthful Soweto outfit Hotspurs Football Club set the domestic football scene alight with their exciting style of one-touch, carpet football that kept spectators on the edge of their seats. Like many other newly-established football clubs, Spurs started life in the country’s lower-tier divisions, and worked their way up to the flagship football league setup. 

Spurs announced their arrival in the country’s topflight league with astonishing jaw-dropping performance, beating established teams left, right and centre with relative ease…..much to the chagrin of their more fancied opponents. At the heart of their fluid game-plan was attacking midfield general Fadiga, who mesmerised teams with his unmatched dribbling skills.     

Born in Namibia’s chief commercial hub Windhoek in 1984, Asino started kicking a football a bit late, unlike his buddies in the neighbourhood. He started his elementary education at Mandume and Namutoni Primary Schools, but was not much into football. 

“I was good buddies with a cool boy from the hood, Shorty. He was football-crazy, and always played the game after school. Since we lived in close proximity, I was obligated to wait for him while playing football until he finished so that we could accompany each other on the way home”. 

As fate would have it, one day the team had a shortage of a left-footed player, and ‘Shorty’ persuaded the shy boy (Asino) to try his luck. Growing tired of being engulfed in the less, glamorous role of ‘ball-boy’ watching his age mates enjoy themselves on the pitch, no second invitation was needed, Asino must have impressed his teammates with his faultless display as he was included in the squad afterwards. 

His next stop was the revered Centaurus Secondary School after a short stint at the newly-opened English Primary School where the main sport activity was rugby. Asino found himself grounded, and didn’t play much football that whole year because rugby was dangerously too physical, in his own words.    

In the interim, the football buck bit him as Asino found himself surrounded by highly-gifted young ‘ballers’ in the neighbourhood with the likes of Quinton Jacobs, Michael ‘Lazizi’ Pienaar Jnr, Asprilla Wermann  and a few others all in the mix of things. At the time, Jacobs was an already-established name, rubbing shoulders with the German-based Razzie Tjikuzu. 

‘The latter always challenged and encouraged us to play competitive football. He would often throw a few coins on the table for the hotly-contested winner-takes-it-all stake games. That’s when I started to develop a serious interest in football’. 

Upon completing secondary education at Centaurus, where he made his mark as a promising ‘footie’, he joined second division campaigners Hotspurs. After narrowly missing out on promotion in his debut season, his impressive display steered the exciting youthful Soweto outfit to promotion in the country’s elite league the following season. 

Asino was duly selected for the Khomas regional team for the annual Namibian Newspaper Youth Cup held in Keetmanshoop in 2007. His impressive performance earned him a place in the Shadow Team, but the left-footed playmaker requested to be excused as he felt exhausted. 

Back at club level, the dribbling wizard produced wonders on the playing field, putting in five-star performances week in and week out. The boy with the delicious left foot became a hot property, and some of the big guns in the business started circling like vultures over the young, raw talent. 

Well, it came as no surprise when emerging football aristocrats Eleven Arrows, under the stewardship of mining mogul Johnny ‘JJD’ Doeseb, came knocking on the door, dangling a juicy carrot in his face. He couldn’t resist the gigantic Atlantic Ocean’s amazing fresh air, and packed his bags, trekking down sea level. 

Shepherded by big name stars such as George Hummel, Chris Katjiukua, Freedom Puriza and Virgil Vries, Asino was not overawed by the big stage. He arrogantly announced his arrival at the flawless Kuisebmond outfit. 

The new recruit dished out breathtaking displays, and played a pivotal role when Arrows held the visiting Kaizer Chiefs to a goalless (0-0) draw in a well-attended exhibition clash at the Sam Nujoma stadium in 2010. The visitors won on penalties.

The silky midfielder played a blinder, propelling Arrows to victory in the prestigious 2011 NFA Cell One Cup, dispatching Civics 2-0 in the final. However, the victory left a stink in the tail as some of the club’s old guard demanded a cut from the sizeable prize money. ‘JJD’ would have none of that, and dug his heels in the sand, telling the circling vultures in no uncertain terms where to get off as he felt gravely undone. 

The kindhearted, generous Bro ‘JJD’ was solely responsible for the team’s upkeep, sustaining the team out of his own pocket without financial assistance from other stakeholders, including the sudden appearance of the so-called ‘legitimate owners’.  Sadly, this unfortunate self-inflicted debacle signalled the end of the club’s newly-acquired status as a progressive unit obliging the Pilot (JJD) to vacate the smooth-sailing ship. 

‘What actually transpired is the new management asked the players to take a pay cut. I decided to leave Arrows and return home joining Tigers. Regrettably, I sustained a serious ankle injury and was laid off for an extended period. So I decided to call it quits because I was fed-up with the entire chaotic setup where players were not getting paid during the off season’. 

This tricky arrangement obligated Asino to stop playing competitive football at age 27. He went job-hunting at Oranjemund, and is currently employed as a Logistics Assistant at Namdeb. The former Mountain Rangers’ midfielder nowadays plays for Oranjemund FC in his adopted diamond mining town.    

Despite his abbreviated flourishing football career, Asino is the proud recipient of multiple accolades that include Golden Boot winner, Best Player of the Season, and Hotspurs’ Most Valuable Player awards. Truth be told, football politics and shoddy administration have robbed Namibia of one of the most outstanding young talents of all time. Nonetheless, Asino will go down in history as one of the greatest attacking midfielders of his generation.