RUNDU Chiefs and Tura Magic recently secured promotion to the Namibia Premier League for the first time, but their route to the elite division could not have been more different.
Before Independence, the Rundu club – started up by Flamingo Football Club renegades in 1976 – regularly competed against the top clubs in the country until they were demoted to the second division upon the establishment of the NPL in 1994. While it didn’t take the club long to make the jump to the first division, they toiled for years in the second-tier league – missing out on promotion to the NPL by a whisker last season.However, after a solid showing in the 2011/12 campaign Chiefs can finally put to bed the taunts of being a ‘big small-league club’ by bitter Rundu rivals Cuca Tops and United Stars.’For us, it’s a huge achievement. It has been our objective for a long time now to be in the NPL,’ said club chairman Siwombe Nestor Mufenda. ‘We came close many times in the past but now we made it. It means a lot for our players and our supporters.’In contrast, Tura Magic have taken just four seasons to reach the premier league. Initially established in 2005 as an academy to groom young talented footballers, the club joined and won the second division at the first attempt during the 2008/09 which earned them promotion to the Southern Stream First Division the following season. They finished fourth during that campaign but were second the subsequent season, just a point behind the eventual winner Hotspurs.This season Magic went one better, winning the SSFD championship with a round to spare. ‘When we started, our objective was to reach the premier league after five years but we’ve done it in three years,’ said head coach Timo Tjongarero.Tjongarero attributed his side’s meteoritic rise to the close-knit environment in the club.’We are family. Apart from football we look after the social part of our players. Since we have a young group of players, we regularly interact with their families just to see how things are at home,’ Tjongarero said. In Petrus Shitembi, Rundu Chiefs have arguably the most sought after footballer in the country.The 21-year-old playmaker’s worth was brilliantly underlined when netted a hat-trick against Touch and Go to secure a 3-2 victory which earned Chiefs top-flight status. And having consistently snubbed moves to one of the NPL’s top clubs for years, Shitembi will be expected to lead his team to success in the elite division.’We groomed Shitembi. We don’t want to give him up,’ Mufenda said of the his star asset. He’s one of the best players in the country and he is very important to us.’Shitembi will become even more valuable if he succeeds in keeping his side in the big league.’Our main aim is to stay there. We want to remain playing with the top teams in the country.Like their fellow rookies, Tura Magic too have prioritised maintaining their newfound status. ‘Survival is what is key for us in the first season. I think it was good that we were not promoted last season because we would have struggled. But now we are better prepared for the NPL,’ said Tjongarero. While they may have blitzed their respective first-division rivals, both sides – with an average age of 24 – said they will look to strengthen their armour if they are to remain competitive next season. ‘The NPL is much tougher than the first division so even if we know we have good players we will try and add some new players to help us in the NPL,’ Mufenda said.’We will not change too much but we must bring in one or two new faces to add to what we already have,’ said Tjongarero.
