From the Sidelines

THERE was virtually no hype around the resumption of the much-delayed Namibia football premiership when authorities announced earlier this week that it would kick off on November 11.

The delay of the league has basically deflated all the excitement that generally builds up a few weeks before its start. That should have been felt in August already by players, officials and fans.This is the third year running that the Namibia Premier League (NPL) has not started as scheduled.The previous two years it also started late in the year, basically spoiling the appetite of the domestic football lovers to see their heroes in action.The teams have been training since August, hoping that the league would start despite the infighting in the Namibia Football Association, but they were all doing it in vain.Teams have spent and are still spending thousands of dollars looking after their players and maintaining playing fields in order to be prepared for the new season.The result is that clubs are the ones that have been hardest hit by the delay, as the players are inactive despite so much money being spent on them.The November 11 kick-off is fixed for now, but who knows whether it will remain, as Namibian football dishes up new twists every time things are going smoothly.We hope that the planned NFA Congress on October 28 will be held democratically so that there are no issues cropping up after the congress that might possibly further delay the start of the league.In my opinion, it is unacceptable for the league to be delayed every year because of constant fights between officials.This year, it was absolutely annoying to witness the circus between the interim committee and the NFA executive committee, which eventually resulted in Fifa being called to sort out the mess.Although these two parties are at peace for now and are gearing up to battle it out at the October congress, it was selfish of the ones who stirred up all the trouble not to give the players a chance to do their job.I would suggest that the NPL become autonomous.The current situation of it falling under the NFA is killing its progress and the league will never move into professionalism in this way.The new leaders who step into Soccer House after the October congress should seriously consider this move because it will also relieve them of the pressure of having to interfere in NPL affairs.Worldwide, leagues are bodies on their own.It is only in Namibia that the league is attached to the mother body, which is calling all the shots.If the league had been run independently, football could have started as scheduled because the fights among the NFA leadership have nothing to do with the ones who play the game.The league would be more efficient because there would be less bureaucracy – in the current setup you have the NFA deciding on the disciplinary cases of premiership teams.A lot of clubs do not have financial backing from the corporate world, but if the NPL can be allowed to source its own funding, they will be able to pay the clubs decent start-up capital, which will ensure the competitiveness of the league.Teams only perform when the morale of the players is high, and that only comes when players are well taken care of.To do this, teams need money to invest in the players to get good results.If the new NFA leaders do not look into making the league run its own affairs, Namibian domestic football will remain amateur and this will frustrate players who want to carve out careers in football.The game will remain affected by poor crowd attendances, as there is virtually no marketing at the moment.The league has no identity – a classic example is that football lovers are more likely to identify with the English Football Association’s logo than the one of the NPL.Why? Because they don’t know what the NPL logo looks like.Some of these things are needed to drive the league into professionalism, but it will take real professionals to do it.That should have been felt in August already by players, officials and fans.This is the third year running that the Namibia Premier League (NPL) has not started as scheduled.The previous two years it also started late in the year, basically spoiling the appetite of the domestic football lovers to see their heroes in action.The teams have been training since August, hoping that the league would start despite the infighting in the Namibia Football Association, but they were all doing it in vain.Teams have spent and are still spending thousands of dollars looking after their players and maintaining playing fields in order to be prepared for the new season.The result is that clubs are the ones that have been hardest hit by the delay, as the players are inactive despite so much money being spent on them.The November 11 kick-off is fixed for now, but who knows whether it will remain, as Namibian football dishes up new twists every time things are going smoothly.We hope that the planned NFA Congress on October 28 will be held democratically so that there are no issues cropping up after the congress that might possibly further delay the start of the league.In my opinion, it is unacceptable for the league to be delayed every year because of constant fights between officials.This year, it was absolutely annoying to witness the circus between the interim committee and the NFA executive committee, which eventually resulted in Fifa being called to sort out the mess.Although these two parties are at peace for now and are gearing up to battle it out at the October congress, it was selfish of the ones who stirred up all the trouble not to give the players a chance to do their job.I would suggest that the NPL become autonomous.The current situation of it falling under the NFA is killing its progress and the league will never move into professionalism in this way.The new leaders who step into Soccer House after the October congress should seriously consider this move because it will also relieve them of the pressure of having to interfere in NPL affairs.Worldwide, leagues are bodies on their own.It is only in Namibia that the league is attached to the mother body, which is calling all the shots.If the league had been run independently, football could have started as scheduled because the fights among the NFA leadership have nothing to do with the ones who play the game.The league would be more efficient because there would be less bureaucracy – in the current setup you have the NFA deciding on the disciplinary cases of premiership teams.A lot of clubs do not have financial backing from the corporate world, but if the NPL can be allowed to source its own funding, they will be able to pay the clubs decent start-up capital, which will ensure the competitiveness of the league.Teams only perform when the morale of the players is high, and that only comes when players are well taken care of.To do this, teams need money to invest in the players to get good results.If the new NFA leaders do not look into making the league run its own affairs, Namibian domestic football will remain amateur and this will frustrate players who want to carve out careers in football.The game will remain affected by poor crowd attendances, as there is virtually no marketing at the moment.The league has no identity – a classic example is that football lovers are more likely to identify with the English Football Association’s logo than the one of the NPL.Why? Because they don’t know what the NPL logo looks like.Some of these things are needed to drive the league into professionalism, but it will take real professionals to do it.