From the Sidelines with Corry Ihuhua

THE way in which the Namibia Football Association is operating at the moment has been placed under the spotlight – once again.

This time, Sport Minister John Mutorwa questioned the future of football in the country. In the first place, the Minister was upset because there was no NFA official at the launch of the Coca Cola Youth Cup on Wednesday, which targets youth development in football.The only representative of the association was Beau Kauta, who was invited to the launch in his personal capacity.The NFA has once again shot itself in the foot – with a shotgun this time.Minister Mutorwa wanted to know if there were any plans in place to prepare the national team for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.He also wanted to know what the NFA was doing to develop football in the regions.He said most of the players selected for the national team were centrally based and he was concerned about the NFA’s efforts in reaching out to other regions.He said he had not seen any comprehensive plan in place for the future development of football in Namibia.The Minister is not the only person who has asked these questions.In fact, he is the very last person who is supposed to ask those questions.The NFA should be really worried now, because when a Minister of Sport questions the ability of a sports body in public, then something must be going really wrong.It is sad that the Minister will never get answers to these questions, because there is simply no plan in place for the future development of football.The blueprint that was discussed at a football indaba aimed at mapping the way ahead for football in Namibia has never seen the light of day.It has been almost two years now and still counting.The NFA has no proof that they have plans for the World Cup in South Africa in five years’ time.It is likely that the football governing body has not even thought about how it will approach the first World Cup in Africa so that Namibian football can benefit from it.Several southern African countries, such as Zimbabwe and Zambia, have set themselves targets on what they want to achieve by the time the event takes place in South Africa.They have established working committees, are making contact with the outside world for possible ventures and are also preparing their stadiums for any pre-tournament matches.These countries have started grooming young players for possible participation at the World Cup.Where does Namibia stand? We don’t have a technical director who is supposed to do this job and we don’t even know if our junior teams still exist.The last time all the junior teams played actively was in 2003.Since then, the NFA, with its self-appointed coaches, has not done anything to keep these youngsters busy.Other countries are playing international friendlies to strengthen and sharpen their teams for major events, let alone the World Cup.This Minister stepped in at the right time and it is really important for football authorities to get serious.There is now a great urgency to come up with workable plans that could get Namibian football back on its feet and working towards achieving goals.The current poor running of the game by the NFA has done a lot of damage and it will take time before things get better.The NFA administration should realise that when the highest sport authority has spoken, things should start happening.Minister Mutorwa will for sure ask these questions again after some time, and I hope by then he will get answers.At this stage, the NFA still has time to put things right.Let’s hope that a new leadership, which is to be elected in July, will come up with better ideas.If the Minister still does not get answers from the new leadership, then the possibility of Namibia competing at the 2010 World Cup will just remain a dream.Football is a dominant code in the country and has the duty to set the trend for other codes.At this stage, smaller codes are better organised and are more active on the international scene than football.This should be a concern to the association and they should kick themselves for letting these smaller codes beat them to the podium.The Government and business sector are pumping a lot of money into the game and it will be advisable for the authorities to make use of that to keep football the premier sport in the country.In the first place, the Minister was upset because there was no NFA official at the launch of the Coca Cola Youth Cup on Wednesday, which targets youth development in football.The only representative of the association was Beau Kauta, who was invited to the launch in his personal capacity.The NFA has once again shot itself in the foot – with a shotgun this time.Minister Mutorwa wanted to know if there were any plans in place to prepare the national team for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.He also wanted to know what the NFA was doing to develop football in the regions.He said most of the players selected for the national team were centrally based and he was concerned about the NFA’s efforts in reaching out to other regions.He said he had not seen any comprehensive plan in place for the future development of football in Namibia.The Minister is not the only person who has asked these questions.In fact, he is the very last person who is supposed to ask those questions.The NFA should be really worried now, because when a Minister of Sport questions the ability of a sports body in public, then something must be going really wrong.It is sad that the Minister will never get answers to these questions, because there is simply no plan in place for the future development of football.The blueprint that was discussed at a football indaba aimed at mapping the way ahead for football in Namibia has never seen the light of day.It has been almost two years now and still counting.The NFA has no proof that they have plans for the World Cup in South Africa in five years’ time.It is likely that the football governing body has not even thought about how it will approach the first World Cup in Africa so that Namibian football can benefit from it.Several southern African countries, such as Zimbabwe and Zambia, have set themselves targets on what they want to achieve by the time the event takes place in South Africa.They have established working committees, are making contact with the outside world for possible ventures and are also preparing their stadiums for any pre-tournament matches.These countries have started grooming young players for possible participation at the World Cup.Where does Namibia stand? We don’t have a technical director who is supposed to do this job and we don’t even know if our junior teams still exist.The last time all the junior teams played actively was in 2003. Since then, the NFA, with its self-appointed coaches, has not done anything to keep these youngsters busy.Other countries are playing international friendlies to strengthen and sharpen their teams for major events, let alone the World Cup.This Minister stepped in at the right time and it is really important for football authorities to get serious.There is now a great urgency to come up with workable plans that could get Namibian football back on its feet and working towards achieving goals.The current poor running of the game by the NFA has done a lot of damage and it will take time before things get better.The NFA administration should realise that when the highest sport authority has spoken, things should start happening.Minister Mutorwa will for sure ask these questions again after some time, and I hope by then he will get answers.At this stage, the NFA still has time to put things right.Let’s hope that a new leadership, which is to be elected in July, will come up with better ideas.If the Minister still does not get answers from the new leadership, then the possibility of Namibia competing at the 2010 World Cup will just remain a dream.Football is a dominant code in the country and has the duty to set the trend for other codes.At this stage, smaller codes are better organised and are more active on the international scene than football.This should be a concern to the association and they should kick themselves for letting these smaller codes beat them to the podium.The Government and business sector are pumping a lot of money into the game and it will be advisable for the authorities to make use of that to keep football the premier sport in the country.