Not quite because there were league matches that took place there last weekend.

With success indeed and no team complained about the pitch.

This weekend, the Namibia Football Consortium, with the recommendation of the Namibia Football Association (NFA) chose the Independence Stadium as the venue for the matches.

Firstly, it is sad that football action is taken away from the ones who really enjoy it, but it is also understandable that the sponsors, in this case First National Bank (FNB), do not want to compromise on the quality of football.

The bank thinks it should give the best possible playing surface for the teams involved in the competition, but at the same time, teams are losing out on the massive support they could have gained from their thousands of fans based in Katutura.

Secondly, the slogan of the NFA of bringing the game to the people is defeated, as the game is actually being taken far away from them.

If you look at it, one cannot blame the sponsors or the NFA for deciding on the Independence Stadium.

The fans unfortunately have to bite the bullet and arrange their taxi fares for the matches tomorrow.

The teams will be in a fortunate position as they will be playing on a level field.

In any case, teams never complained about the pitch themselves, but for them, whatever comes is good enough.

But who should take the flak here? The City of Windhoek is the culprit.

Building a stadium of such calibre with a poor pitch is unacceptable.

The pitch of course is more important than any structure at the facility.

That is why the stadium was built.

Mind you, N$63 million was pumped into the stadium and it has a sub-standard playing surface.

On top of that, the City of Windhoek also charges teams exorbitant fees ranging between N$2 000 and N$4 000 per match to play on a poor quality pitch.

There are other several construction flaws that can be detected at the Sam Nujoma Stadium, apart from the pitch condition.

The entrance gates are insufficient.

The African Nations Cup qualifier between Namibia and Ethiopia saw a stampede that resulted in the City Police dispersing tear-gas.

This was an unfortunate incident, only because of two entry points that were opened for over 300 people who were seeking entry at the same time.

It would be advisable to consider more entry points.

The VIP area has also proven to be problematic, as there is no difference between who is who and who sits where.

That is not a priority, but the condition of the pitch needs to be addressed urgently.

There will possibly be no matches for the remainder of the year at the Sam Nujoma Stadium.

It would be a good time for the City of Windhoek to look into some of these structural flaws before any matches take place again.

The City of Windhoek should realise that it has spent a lot of money on building that stadium.

If the municipality has no interest in the upkeep of the stadium, it should forget about the income it derives from the teams playing there.

The poor quality of the pitch often results in injuries to players and can also be detrimental to the outcome of the matches.

Sponsors such as FNB now have shown that they can take their business somewhere else.

So it is time that the City of Windhoek takes the call by the sponsors and the football administrators seriously and make the Sam Nujoma Stadium a theatre where dreams can come true for footballers.

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