Tribalistic Sports Writers
ALLOW me to write in your newspaper to express my dismay at some of the sports journalists in Namibia.
I am shocked to see that fourteen years after independence, we
still have sport journalists who do not understand the importance
of building a nation.
These sport reporters have a tribalistic, unpatriotic and
centralistic (Windhoek) tendencies in the way they report, and this
should be condemned by all like-minded Namibians.
They are tribalistic in the sense that when a person or persons
from the reporters tribal group is omitted in the selection of the
National Squad, the reporters will report for example: "The coach
has announced his twenty-men squad, but he has raised eyebrows for
omitting the most capped player, the versatile midfielder or the
experienced defender in his team".
The question can be asked to the reporter whose eyebrows were
raised, apart from his own.
The reporter would continue citing names of such players omitted
and not surprisingly those whom he describe as 'most capped,
versatile and experienced' are from his own tribal group.
Please! Carlos Kambaekwa, this kind of reporting is tantamount
to tribalism, because other players can also have those qualities
when given the opportunity.
Why not report for example: 'The new coach, Max Johnson is
trying new blood by calling up upcoming youngsters such as
Hilarious Anton from Rundu's United Stars'?
The reporter with centralistic tendencies would write: 'Johnson
announced a few surprises with call-ups of Anton Hilarious and Joao
Paulo dos Santos of first division outfit United Stars and Blue
Water's midfielder Johannes 'Kulu Hawanga'.
Please! Conrad Angula, why describe in a good light the omitted
players and the new blood as surprises.
Windhoek is just the capital city of Namibia, but not a place
where all good players can be found.
These reporters are unpatriotic in a way that they think sport
is only about winning and forgetting that its also about building
our young nation.
On NBC-TV a sport reporter advancing his unpatriotic tendencies
by reporting "Max Johnson has raised eyebrows by not calling
players from the log leaders Civics and second placed Blue Waters
only had one player in the squad".
This kind of reporting shows that the reporter does not care
about other Namibians who are being given the opportunity for the
first time, but only care for those who on many occasions were
given the opportunity but failed.
I would like to encourage 'caretaker' Max Johnson to continue
building a true national team.
The previous coaches in my view, created Windhoek-based and one
tribe-dominated national teams, the status quo the Windhoek-based
sport journalists want to perpetuate.
Romanus Shiremo
Rundu
Note: You may have a valid point in your criticism.
However, you've made the same mistake by criticising Conrad
Angula, who is no longer on the sports beat, instead of perhaps
Corry Ihuhua, our sportswriter.
We tried to check this with you before publication but you did
not reply to our query? - Ed
These sport reporters have a tribalistic, unpatriotic and
centralistic (Windhoek) tendencies in the way they report, and this
should be condemned by all like-minded Namibians.They are
tribalistic in the sense that when a person or persons from the
reporters tribal group is omitted in the selection of the National
Squad, the reporters will report for example: "The coach has
announced his twenty-men squad, but he has raised eyebrows for
omitting the most capped player, the versatile midfielder or the
experienced defender in his team".The question can be asked to the
reporter whose eyebrows were raised, apart from his own.The
reporter would continue citing names of such players omitted and
not surprisingly those whom he describe as 'most capped, versatile
and experienced' are from his own tribal group.Please! Carlos
Kambaekwa, this kind of reporting is tantamount to tribalism,
because other players can also have those qualities when given the
opportunity.Why not report for example: 'The new coach, Max Johnson
is trying new blood by calling up upcoming youngsters such as
Hilarious Anton from Rundu's United Stars'?The reporter with
centralistic tendencies would write: 'Johnson announced a few
surprises with call-ups of Anton Hilarious and Joao Paulo dos
Santos of first division outfit United Stars and Blue Water's
midfielder Johannes 'Kulu Hawanga'.Please! Conrad Angula, why
describe in a good light the omitted players and the new blood as
surprises.Windhoek is just the capital city of Namibia, but not a
place where all good players can be found.These reporters are
unpatriotic in a way that they think sport is only about winning
and forgetting that its also about building our young nation.On
NBC-TV a sport reporter advancing his unpatriotic tendencies by
reporting "Max Johnson has raised eyebrows by not calling players
from the log leaders Civics and second placed Blue Waters only had
one player in the squad".This kind of reporting shows that the
reporter does not care about other Namibians who are being given
the opportunity for the first time, but only care for those who on
many occasions were given the opportunity but failed.I would like
to encourage 'caretaker' Max Johnson to continue building a true
national team.The previous coaches in my view, created
Windhoek-based and one tribe-dominated national teams, the status
quo the Windhoek-based sport journalists want to perpetuate.Romanus
Shiremo
RunduNote: You may have a valid point in your criticism.However,
you've made the same mistake by criticising Conrad Angula, who is
no longer on the sports beat, instead of perhaps Corry Ihuhua, our
sportswriter.We tried to check this with you before publication but
you did not reply to our query? - Ed