Saintfiet NOT Fired

By: SHEEFENI NIKODEMUS

TROUBLED Brave Warriors coach Tom Saintfiet, who has been making headlines, both in local and international media this week, for looking at greener pastures elsewhere, and for being fired, is still in charge of the national team, his employers said yesterday.

The under par performance of Saintfiet’s charges has been dwarfed by the coach’s off-the-pitch antics, which have been the prime focus in the media lately.

An AFP report yesterday quoted Saintfiet as saying that he has been fired from the job by the Namibia Football Association (NFA) president John Muinjo.

Saintfiet is quoted as telling AFP that he had received a phone call from Muinjo on Tuesday informing him that “he no longer enjoyed the support of the national body”. He denied having spoken to AFP, just as he denied that he is shortlisted for a job to coach the Zimbabwe national football team. 

“I have no idea where it (his sacking) came from,” Saintfiet told The Namibian Sport yesterday. 

“I didn’t talk to any journalist. I spoke to John Muinjo last (Tuesday) night, after seeing the story and he made it very clear that I am not fired.”

The AFP stringer, who filed the story, confirmed to The Namibian Sport that Saintfiet spoke to him.

Saintfiet’s alleged sacking also made it on various prominent sports sites on Tuesday evening.

However, the association and the coach have denied the claim.

Asked if he will sue AFP and its reporter for fabricating the story, Saintfiet said he, together with the NFA, decided not to take action, but instead to concentrate on the job of getting the Brave Warriors to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations.

NFA Secretary General, Barry Rukoro, said he too had spoken to Muinjo about the supposed firing of the Belgian, but that he had not mentioned firing the coach. 

“As far as we are concerned, those are just allegations and we are not in the trade of reacting to allegations,” said Rukoro, who added that the association was happy with Saintfiet’s work. 

Sainftiet has been linked to various coaching posts of other national sides in recent times. The latest such link is to the coach hunting Zimbabwe Warriors, with whom he is rumoured to already have had ‘progressive’ talks. 

“I did not apply for that job. I have a fantastic working relationship with the NFA,” Sainfiet said, who has lost three of his thirteen matches as coach of the Brave Warriors, including the recent Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier 3-1 defeat to Gambia.

According to the AFP report, Muinjo labelled Saintfiet a “cry baby, scared of going into battle and looking for excuses,” while the coach argued Namibian football did not have “the right football people at the helm”. 

The allegation attributed to Saintfiet that Namibian football does not have the right leadership, is particularly damning for Muinjo, who is facing a leadership challenge from prominent businessman and former trade unionist, Ranga Haikali, at next month’s NFA congress.

The coach allegedly also said that the NFA wants him to jump ship to avoid paying out an estimated N$305 000 for the remainder of his contract that runs until October 2012.

“It’s not good for my name that these things, that are not true, are on so many websites,” said Sainfiet, who feels that recent reports have tarnished his reputation as an international football coach.   

“I received calls from many people in Namibia, and outside the country, who wanted to know if this is true,” said the worried coach. He added that some of his players also urgently inquired about his dismissal upon discovering the ‘news’. 

sheefeni@namibian.com.na

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