Bad off-field organisation for Gladiators

THE Brave Gladiators proved their worth on the football pitch against Zimbabwe over the weekend, but off the field, the organisation of the two international friendlies in Windhoek failed to live up to expectations.

Lack of medical personnel, unsung national anthems and players who had to jump in at the last minute to put markings onto a football pitch with visible holes in it, were some of the flaws that brought shame to the home side. The Namibia Football Association’s (NFA) Competitions Committee failed to arrange for medical personnel at both matches over the weekend, despite several players picking up injuries during the ties.The Namibian women’s football team played two international friendly matches in Windhoek as part of their preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games qualifiers, which will be decided later this month and in March.Namibia won the first match 2-1 at the SKW Stadium on Friday night, before they fell 2-0 the following day at a badly maintained Unam Field in Pionierspark.Ahead of the two matches, there were no national anthems sung by the two countries and there were also no medical services provided.At least four Namibian players picked up injuries in especially the last match on Saturday, but were all treated with some degree of efficiency by their team medic Melinda Kgobetsi, who had to run onto the field with blocks of ice and a water bottle each time.Namibian coach Jacqui Shipanga expressed her dissatisfaction with the overall organisation off the field, saying that it was embarrassing for especially the national anthems not to be sung during a match that was of international status.”I am going to call a meeting with all the ones who are involved in the logistics of the national teams so that we can avoid all these things from happening in future,” she told The Namibian Sport yesterday.She said it was unacceptable for people who are entrusted to take care of simple tasks not to even show courtesy to the visitors.”We are going to play against the Democratic Republic of Congo in just over two weeks in an important match and we cannot even organise the singing of national anthems by the teams and the spectators,” she said.Shipanga said she does not want to be distracted by the organisational aspects, as she has a team to prepare for matches.”I want to focus on the games with the girls and these things are not called for.We need to show that we are well organised on and off the field and it is really distracting if my players have to do markings on the field themselves before they play,” she said.The Unam Field, which looked abandoned and had large patches of grass missing, especially in the centre of the park, also contributed to the poor performance of the side on Saturday, as the ball was swinging into a different direction each time it landed on the ground.NFA executive member Jackey Gertze, who serves as the head of mission for the women’s national team, was also upset about the organisation, suggesting that it could have been left in the hands of the team itself.”If they found it so difficult to cater for this basic stuff, they could have delegated it to us so that we could organise it ourselves,” she said.The national women’s team has a dedicated staff of at least three people at its women’s desk at Soccer House.Gertze said the lack of organisation reflected badly on the organisational skills of some of the NFA’s officials and could not go unchallenged, as it needed to be rectified the next time around.NFA acting secretary general Barry Rukoro said he was also concerned about the organisation and felt that improvements had to be made next time.He admitted that they could not find a better venue than the Unam Fields on Saturday, as the other fields were booked for other events.Rukoro also hit out at the Sport Klub Windhoek’s (SKW) management for disregarding the national team, as SKW were practising at an adjacent field while the women’s team was involved in an international match.”They knew that Namibia was playing Zimbabwe on Friday night, but they still went on to train while the team was playing at the same time.This is total disrespect for the national team and the NFA as such.It should not happen again,” he said.There were no premiership matches this weekend, and Rukoro argues that SKW could have trained on another day instead.The Namibian Sport could not trace SKW coach Richard Starke for comment yesterday.The Namibia Football Association’s (NFA) Competitions Committee failed to arrange for medical personnel at both matches over the weekend, despite several players picking up injuries during the ties.The Namibian women’s football team played two international friendly matches in Windhoek as part of their preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games qualifiers, which will be decided later this month and in March.Namibia won the first match 2-1 at the SKW Stadium on Friday night, before they fell 2-0 the following day at a badly maintained Unam Field in Pionierspark.Ahead of the two matches, there were no national anthems sung by the two countries and there were also no medical services provided.At least four Namibian players picked up injuries in especially the last match on Saturday, but were all treated with some degree of efficiency by their team medic Melinda Kgobetsi, who had to run onto the field with blocks of ice and a water bottle each time.Namibian coach Jacqui Shipanga expressed her dissatisfaction with the overall organisation off the field, saying that it was embarrassing for especially the national anthems not to be sung during a match that was of international status.”I am going to call a meeting with all the ones who are involved in the logistics of the national teams so that we can avoid all these things from happening in future,” she told The Namibian Sport yesterday.She said it was unacceptable for people who are entrusted to take care of simple tasks not to even show courtesy to the visitors.”We are going to play against the Democratic Republic of Congo in just over two weeks in an important match and we cannot even organise the singing of national anthems by the teams and the spectators,” she said.Shipanga said she does not want to be distracted by the organisational aspects, as she has a team to prepare for matches.”I want to focus on the games with the girls and these things are not called for.We need to show that we are well organised on and off the field and it is really distracting if my players have to do markings on the field themselves before they play,” she said.The Unam Field, which looked abandoned and had large patches of grass missing, especially in the centre of the park, also contributed to the poor performance of the side on Saturday, as the ball was swinging into a different direction each time it landed on the ground.NFA executive member Jackey Gertze, who serves as the head of mission for the women’s national team, was also upset about the organisation, suggesting that it could have been left in the hands of the team itself.”If they found it so difficult to cater for this basic stuff, they could have delegated it to us so that we could organise it ourselves,” she said.The national women’s team has a dedicated staff of at least three people at its women’s desk at Soccer House.Gertze said the lack of organisation reflected badly on the organisational skills of some of the NFA’s officials and could not go unchallenged, as it needed to be rectified the next time around.NFA acting secretary general Barry Rukoro said he was also concerned about the organisation and felt that improvements had to be made next time.He admitted that they could not find a better venue than the Unam Fields on Saturday, as the other fields were booked for other events.Rukoro also hit out at the Sport Klub Windhoek’s (SKW) management for disregarding the national team, as SKW were practising at an adjacent field while the women’s team was involved in an international match.”They knew that Namibia was playing Zimbabwe on Friday night, but they still went on to train while the team was playing at the same time.This is total disrespect for the national team an
d the NFA as such.It should not happen again,” he said.There were no premiership matches this weekend, and Rukoro argues that SKW could have trained on another day instead.The Namibian Sport could not trace SKW coach Richard Starke for comment yesterday.