Benjamin academy not going to court

THE Collin Benjamin Football Academy has no intention to drag the Namibia Football Association (NFA) to court after they did not receive their share of the gate-takings from a match between Namibia and South Africa about two months ago.

The academy’s chairman, Nico //Hoabeb, denied a report in The Namibian last week about their attempted move to take the mother body to court, as they failed to pay at least half of about N$200 000 they made after the match. //Hoabeb when asked yesterday insisted that they were still trying to find a solution to the problem after NFA officials failed to turn up for several meetings to sort out the issue.He said they do not want to take the legal route as the NFA was their partner and it would be detrimental for their future projects if they challenged them legally.In fact, //Hoabeb said they held a preliminary meeting on the issue last Wednesday with the NFA bosses which were led by NFA secretary general Alpheus Gaweseb, but did not yet reach an agreement.He said at this stage, the academy does not have an idea how much money was made and what percentage they ought to get from the deal that saw Bafana Bafana beat the Brave Warriors 1-0 in an international friendly played at the Sam Nujoma Stadium.He dismissed the amount of close N$200 000 gained according to a source, saying that his “gut-feeling was telling him that the NFA made at least between N$130 000 and N$140 000 instead” //Hoabeb said he intended to settle the matter by late yesterday, as he was travelling out of the country today.The Namibian Sport earlier quoted a source close to the academy as saying that the association garnered at least N$200 000 after the academy arranged for South Africa to play here.The academy paid for the flights, accommodation and transport of both the South Africans and the Namibian foreign internationals for the match.//Hoabeb when asked yesterday insisted that they were still trying to find a solution to the problem after NFA officials failed to turn up for several meetings to sort out the issue.He said they do not want to take the legal route as the NFA was their partner and it would be detrimental for their future projects if they challenged them legally.In fact, //Hoabeb said they held a preliminary meeting on the issue last Wednesday with the NFA bosses which were led by NFA secretary general Alpheus Gaweseb, but did not yet reach an agreement.He said at this stage, the academy does not have an idea how much money was made and what percentage they ought to get from the deal that saw Bafana Bafana beat the Brave Warriors 1-0 in an international friendly played at the Sam Nujoma Stadium.He dismissed the amount of close N$200 000 gained according to a source, saying that his “gut-feeling was telling him that the NFA made at least between N$130 000 and N$140 000 instead” //Hoabeb said he intended to settle the matter by late yesterday, as he was travelling out of the country today.The Namibian Sport earlier quoted a source close to the academy as saying that the association garnered at least N$200 000 after the academy arranged for South Africa to play here.The academy paid for the flights, accommodation and transport of both the South Africans and the Namibian foreign internationals for the match.