Football organisers demand explanation

THE organisers of the International Under-17 Youth Football Tournament in Germany, VfL Theesen have called on the Namibian Government to submit an official letter by yesterday to state that Namibia’s players were under 17.

Namibia won the tournament with an Under-20 team on June 13 when they beat Arminia Bielefeld 1-0 in the final, but according to the organisers they were of the opinion that it was Namibia’s Under-17 team.’The Football and Athletics Association of Westfalia (FLVW) invited the Namibian U/17 team on a Youth Exchange Programme. We took it for granted that this exchange programme was carried out with players of the corresponding age group,’ the organising committee of the Theesen Youth tournament said in a statement on Sunday.’We are expecting an official letter from the Namibian ministry confirming that the players that were sent were Under-17 by Monday, June 20. In order to avoid the same situation in future, we will demand a players list with their birth details in the future,’ the statement added.According to an article in the Westfalen newspaper, published on Friday, the organisers were still trying to find out who had given Namibia special permission to field an overage team in the competition, as the Namibia Football Association’s secretary general Barry Rukoro claimed.It furthermore quotes the NFA’s technical director Klaus Stark, who accompanied the team, as saying that ‘Africa is a bit different.’’As we all know, Africa is a bit different … we must all stay calm. I assume that it was a mistake of our team manager Roger Kambatuku in the euphoria of the celebrations, when he submitted the players’ cards. I have no other explanation for all of this,’ Stark was quoted as saying.Stark was quoted as saying that Namibia’s victory was a great achievement.’We definitely livened up the competition and our victory was great for the development of Namibian football.’’The physical appearance of our boys was by no means suspicious, and they did not look older. There were in fact other players who looked older than 17,’ he added.The article quotes the chairman of VfL Theesen Klaus Weber as saying that Namibia will not be invited again if it turns out to be true that they were overage.’If they turn out to be overage we will never again invite a Namibian team,’ Weber said.The Sports Director of VfL Theesen’s Youth Department, Wolfgang Klee, had a different view, however.’It’s not the boys’ fault. They entertained us and we don’t want to be on bad terms with Namibia.’He added that it would be a ‘sensible solution’ to strip Namibia of the title if it emerged that their players were overage. – namibiasport.com.na