From the Sidelines: Solutions needed

IT is good step that the football season, or in this case the Namibia Premier League (NPL), has kicked off, but what remains worrying is the lack of clarity on the status of both the first and second divisions.

Officials of the Southern Stream First Division this week said they would instead prefer the league to start in January next year, while the Northern Stream First Division officials have not expressed their views on how they see their league for the current season.
Also, the various second divisions are in limbo and no one knows when these divisions will be active again after such a long lay-off.
One may ask the question why the NPL is active and the rest of the leagues, which in my opinion can be deemed as rather important for the premiership to prosper, have not started their engines yet.
Of course the most logical conclusion will lead you to the question of money that is available to run these divisions and also for the teams to sustain themselves to carry out their league obligations.
I am not sure if there is anyone to be blamed for this non-activity of the lower leagues, but the most obvious conclusion one can draw was the split of the Namibia Football Consortium (NFC) this month.
That was serious blow to these leagues and now they seemed to be left out and treated like stepchildren, despite their affiliation to the NFA.
The NFC broke up and each of the three members decided to take a stake in what they considered their areas of priority, with MTC venturing into sponsoring the premiership, while First National Bank decided to put four teams under its wing.
The Namibia Breweries Limited (NBL) has remained mum on its plans at this stage and no one knows if there would be a cup competition from them as one of the long-serving sponsors of football in the country.
In my view, football has not kicked off as a whole in the country and the NPL is not the only form of football.
I think justice should also be done to both the first and second divisions in terms of sponsorships.
The Namibia Football Association (NFA) which has been protecting the lower leagues for years and which in my view were used to keep officials in office through votes, should be looked after too.
The NFA this week said they are negotiating with sponsors to cater for the lower divisions financially, but what is really at stake here.
I am informed that first division teams cover more travel distances than the premierships sides and yet their start-up capital in the past only amounted to N$5 000 per team a season.
That is lunatic to say the least. No team can survive on that amount for two consecutive weekends of away matches.
Trying to find the blame on anyone will be irrelevant at this stage and it is of utmost importance for the NFA, which has been dictating the future of the lower leagues for decades now, find a solution. And fast.
They need to get to the bottom of the financial needs of the various leagues and need to convince the sponsors to get involved.
At the moment, it seems that NBL is the likely candidate which can be used to sponsor the lower leagues, but since there is no more NFC, they can seek for more funding from elsewhere.
Also, the NFA should not forget to involve the executive members of the respective committees in the league in their quest for finding funding for the leagues.
But in an event that the NFA is unable to get its hands onto any sponsorships, the leagues should not be hindered to solicit funds for themselves.
I am sure there are capable league officials in these lower leagues who have great negotiating skills and who can lure big money companies to invest in the game on that level.

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