From the Sidelines

THE much anticipated opening of the Sam Nujoma Stadium has finally been confirmed and the gates to the N$64 million facility, are expected to be flung open on Saturday, August 13.

There has been a lot of controversy on the renaming of the new modern structure from Katutura Stadium to Sam Nujoma Stadium. But the City of Windhoek, through some of its councillors who pushed for the renaming of the stadium to Sam Nujoma, succeeded in that, despite objections from certain quarters of the public.In fact, the councillors thought it would be ideal to name it after Nujoma to say thank you for being an outstanding leader after he stepped down as president in March this year.In any case, now that we have the Nujoma Stadium in place, another positive aspect is that all six Windhoek-based Namibia Premier League teams will be afforded the chance to play on the day.Initially, the City of Windhoek only wanted one match as part of the inauguration, but after further consultations, they had no choice but to involve the other teams as well.The main reason behind this is that in case a team such as Ramblers is drawn against Civics, the attendance will be minimal, as opposed to a fixture between Orlando Pirates and Black Africa.Traditionally, teams such as Pirates, Black Africa, Tigers and African Stars have strong support bases and their inclusion at this historic opening will be vital to draw the crowds.Civics and Ramblers of course have their fans who support them in no uncertain terms, but the big four (Pirates, Tigers, BA and Stars) are the darlings of Katutura and it will only be fit to accord them the opportunity to form part of the celebrations.These four teams have produced some of the finest players on the very same field and it could have been really unforgiving for the City of Windhoek to exclude them from this.I received calls from officials from Walvis Bay and Tsumeb, saying that Blue Waters and Chief Santos also have a long history and have fond memories of the former Katutura Stadium – why are they not invited to play as well ? To be realistic, it will be a mockery at the end of the day as every team would now want to be given a chance to play.There were also calls for the former players of some of these teams to be given an opportunity to play as Žold crocksŽ to rekindle the old good times they had in their rather competitive playing days of the past.If all these teams are allowed to play on the day, the programme might possibly be concluded in the morning hours of Sunday, as there are also some cultural performances and a concert lined up to spice up the celebrations.The bottom line is that not everybody can be accommodated Žto do his or her thingŽ on such days, because it is a once-off occasion which should be held and done with within a specific period of time.The City of Windhoek as the custodians and legal owners of the stadium, has the authority to draw the line and decide who will play on the day and who not.* The other issue is the current arbitration case, which involves Life Fighters and the Namibia Premier League Disciplinary Committee.Some of the leagues in other countries have kicked-off and Namibia has so far not held their promotion play-offs as yet.The technicalities involved in resolving this case has put the credibility of the game in a bad light.We all know that Namibian football needs to resurrect itself from the current shamble state in which it find itself and with this case still holding up the conclusion of the play-offs, it is time that the ones involved show their seriousness to finalise this.It will serve no purpose to hope that the case be resolved in the course of next week.It should just be sorted out.A further extension from next week will be a shame to the ones in charge of football in this country.The league ended in May already and there are still no answers to this case.The respondents who have been asked to go to the pre-arbitration hearings, should please do so and see to it that the case be finalised before it is too late.Each year, the kick-off of the domestic league is delayed through such cases and it really puts off ardent football supporters to wait for their teams to be in action again.The players get frustrated because of no competitive action and a lot of money is also spent by clubs to keep players active.Namibian football politics should now take the back seat or should rather be left for the dogs and all energies should be diverted to grow, develop and perfect the game in the country.Youngsters and footballers in the various leagues just want to play football, nothing else.The fights among officials in the boardroom have been hindering this process and the time has come for this to be eliminated.It is sad that only certain individuals, who want to prove a point, drag the entire image of the game into the mud.I appeal to the involved parties in this arbitration case to reach a conclusion which will see the progress of Namibian football, as we are currently lacking way behind on a lot of fronts.Namibian football simply does not have time for such hogwash anymore.But the City of Windhoek, through some of its councillors who pushed for the renaming of the stadium to Sam Nujoma, succeeded in that, despite objections from certain quarters of the public.In fact, the councillors thought it would be ideal to name it after Nujoma to say thank you for being an outstanding leader after he stepped down as president in March this year.In any case, now that we have the Nujoma Stadium in place, another positive aspect is that all six Windhoek-based Namibia Premier League teams will be afforded the chance to play on the day.Initially, the City of Windhoek only wanted one match as part of the inauguration, but after further consultations, they had no choice but to involve the other teams as well.The main reason behind this is that in case a team such as Ramblers is drawn against Civics, the attendance will be minimal, as opposed to a fixture between Orlando Pirates and Black Africa.Traditionally, teams such as Pirates, Black Africa, Tigers and African Stars have strong support bases and their inclusion at this historic opening will be vital to draw the crowds.Civics and Ramblers of course have their fans who support them in no uncertain terms, but the big four (Pirates, Tigers, BA and Stars) are the darlings of Katutura and it will only be fit to accord them the opportunity to form part of the celebrations.These four teams have produced some of the finest players on the very same field and it could have been really unforgiving for the City of Windhoek to exclude them from this.I received calls from officials from Walvis Bay and Tsumeb, saying that Blue Waters and Chief Santos also have a long history and have fond memories of the former Katutura Stadium – why are they not invited to play as well ? To be realistic, it will be a mockery at the end of the day as every team would now want to be given a chance to play.There were also calls for the former players of some of these teams to be given an opportunity to play as Žold crocksŽ to rekindle the old good times they had in their rather competitive playing days of the past.If all these teams are allowed to play on the day, the programme might possibly be concluded in the morning hours of Sunday, as there are also some cultural performances and a concert lined up to spice up the celebrations.The bottom line is that not everybody can be accommodated Žto do his or her thingŽ on such days, because it is a once-off occasion which should be held and done with within a specific period of time.The City of Windhoek as the custodians and legal owners of the stadium, has the authority to draw the line and decide who will play on the day and who not.* The other issue is the current arbitration case, which involves Life Fighters and the Namibia Premier League Disciplinary Committee.Some of the leagues in other countries have kicked-off and Namibia has so far not held their promotion play-offs as yet.The technicalities involved in resolving this case has put the credibility of the game in a b
ad light.We all know that Namibian football needs to resurrect itself from the current shamble state in which it find itself and with this case still holding up the conclusion of the play-offs, it is time that the ones involved show their seriousness to finalise this.It will serve no purpose to hope that the case be resolved in the course of next week.It should just be sorted out.A further extension from next week will be a shame to the ones in charge of football in this country.The league ended in May already and there are still no answers to this case.The respondents who have been asked to go to the pre-arbitration hearings, should please do so and see to it that the case be finalised before it is too late.Each year, the kick-off of the domestic league is delayed through such cases and it really puts off ardent football supporters to wait for their teams to be in action again.The players get frustrated because of no competitive action and a lot of money is also spent by clubs to keep players active.Namibian football politics should now take the back seat or should rather be left for the dogs and all energies should be diverted to grow, develop and perfect the game in the country.Youngsters and footballers in the various leagues just want to play football, nothing else.The fights among officials in the boardroom have been hindering this process and the time has come for this to be eliminated.It is sad that only certain individuals, who want to prove a point, drag the entire image of the game into the mud.I appeal to the involved parties in this arbitration case to reach a conclusion which will see the progress of Namibian football, as we are currently lacking way behind on a lot of fronts.Namibian football simply does not have time for such hogwash anymore.