Chairperson of the Fifa-appointed Normalisation Committee for the Namibia Football Association (NFA), Bisey Uirab yesterday informed all affiliates of the association that domestic premiership football activities will start only once funding is secured.
Although the NFA had initially set itself a target of commencing with football activities either later this month or by next month, Uirab yesterday explained it would be illogical to put the cart before the horse, saying the NFA is not in a position to start with the new football season until a sponsor or adequate funding is secured for the leagues.
“The normalisation committee has at various platforms announced that it wishes to commence all the various leagues during August/September 2022 – and where funding for a league is available, the season for that league can start. This having been said, the normalisation committee worked very hard by having engaged various corporates and continuing to do so, offering them well-packaged propositions of the various football products for potential sponsorships to assist the NFA to commence the football season in all earnest. During our sponsorship discussions, we assured them that it was our commitment to resolve the challenges experienced in the Namibian football fraternity,” said Uirab.
He, however, painfully admitted the NFA’s ‘damaged image’ has and continues to make it very difficult for the normalisation committee to attract and engage sponsors, as no sponsors want to be associated with the endless infightings that have crippled local football.
As a solution, Uirab urged all football stakeholders to start working in unison and realise their endless bickering will help nothing but push potential sponsors further away from the business of football.
“Regrettably, the normalisation committee, through various stakeholder engagement sessions with potential sponsors, found that some potential sponsors hold negative connotations of the image and brand of the NFA and Namibian football. Our efforts to secure commitments for sponsorships are ongoing and keep posing their challenges. It is evident that all stakeholders of the football community should not only place the collective interest of football at the heart of all our activities – but additionally and most importantly, they need to focus on repairing the public perception of the damaged brand of the nation’s most loved sport.”
“We remain committed to starting the football season as soon as we are financially able to do so. Let us work in unison to ensure that our leagues start sooner – rather than later. Let us, as a collective, give peace of mind to our potential sponsors and corporate Namibia that we, as football people, are fully committed, aligned and on the right track to return our beautiful game of football to our stadia,” appealed Uirab.
– ohembapu@nepc.com.na