From the Sidelines with Corry Ihuhua

THE decision by the Namibia Football Association (NFA) to accept the Namibia Rural Sport Development Federation (NRSDF) as an associate member is not yielding any positive results.

As an associate member an organisation is expected to be accountable – explain its activities and account for income generated, to the NFA. Firstly, the NRSDF makes thousands of dollars through the tournaments it hosts almost on a monthly basis.Is the NFA aware of how much income is being generated through these events? Secondly, does the NFA know who really benefits from these tournaments? In the event that the NFA gets a portion of the income generated by NRSDF, which I doubt, then that needs to be made public and people should know on what use the money is being put to.Thirdly, does the NFA have records or statistics on how many sports codes have been developed in the rural areas so far and what type of sports these are? In addition it is strange that most of the tournaments hosted by the NRSDF are held mostly in Windhoek and not in the rural areas where they are supposed to be held.The decision to hold the tournaments in Windhoek is simply to cash-in on the huge numbers of people attending.The constitution of the federation also states that it will ensure that no racial, religious, gender, political or other form of discrimination will be allowed.This is not entirely true.Judging from the numerous tournaments that have been going on, the Otjiherero speaking group are dominant.Now, how does the federation justify this and what has the NFA done to rectify this situation.Another objective of the federation as stated in their constitution is to facilitate the participation of the players in a sport club, regional, national and international level.Most of these players who turn out at the federation tournaments are first of all not involved with registered clubs such as the Namibia Premier League of lower divisions, which are in turn under the guardianship of the NFA.The players who participate in these tournaments are hand-picked and nowhere can they be seen on a premier league level or regional competition such as The Namibian Newspaper Cup.Another factor that is defeating the rules of the NFA, is that the federation hold their tournaments concurrently with important national sport events.A case in point was this year’s Easter Weekend when The Namibian Newspaper Cup was held in the north.The federation simply went ahead during the same weekend and made thousands of dollars from the public in Windhoek, in contradiction with the NFA’s rules.A previous case was last year when Namibia’s national team was also having an international commitment in the capital.These federation bosses pushed ahead with their activities on the same day, despite the warning from the NFA, a scenario that left a lot of spectators rather opting to go to the Khomasdal Stadium for the matches, instead of watching the Brave Warriors.Up to date, no one has been fined or anything similar to that.This week, the Namibia Breweries Limited (NBL) gave a whopping N$70 000 to the federation to hold three tournaments later this year.The sponsors probably get mileage from it, but don’t they know that more money than what they sponsor is made from this.I suggest that the federation should produce financial statements at the NFA’s Congress in June to account for how much money they actually make and for what purposes it is used for.Football and netball teams pay entrance fees to these tournaments and get only a couple of hundred dollars more than the fee they registered with.These tournaments draw crowds of over 5 000 people a day and mind you, each pay N$10.These events are held over two to three weekends until the winner is determined and that means thousands is generated in entrance fees.It is also not clear if some of the organisers who are running around at these tournaments are permanently employed or doing the job on a voluntary basis.The onus will be on the NFA to put its foot down.Is the federation serving its purpose or are they just here to enrich themselves.Firstly, the NRSDF makes thousands of dollars through the tournaments it hosts almost on a monthly basis.Is the NFA aware of how much income is being generated through these events? Secondly, does the NFA know who really benefits from these tournaments? In the event that the NFA gets a portion of the income generated by NRSDF, which I doubt, then that needs to be made public and people should know on what use the money is being put to.Thirdly, does the NFA have records or statistics on how many sports codes have been developed in the rural areas so far and what type of sports these are? In addition it is strange that most of the tournaments hosted by the NRSDF are held mostly in Windhoek and not in the rural areas where they are supposed to be held.The decision to hold the tournaments in Windhoek is simply to cash-in on the huge numbers of people attending.The constitution of the federation also states that it will ensure that no racial, religious, gender, political or other form of discrimination will be allowed.This is not entirely true.Judging from the numerous tournaments that have been going on, the Otjiherero speaking group are dominant.Now, how does the federation justify this and what has the NFA done to rectify this situation.Another objective of the federation as stated in their constitution is to facilitate the participation of the players in a sport club, regional, national and international level.Most of these players who turn out at the federation tournaments are first of all not involved with registered clubs such as the Namibia Premier League of lower divisions, which are in turn under the guardianship of the NFA.The players who participate in these tournaments are hand-picked and nowhere can they be seen on a premier league level or regional competition such as The Namibian Newspaper Cup.Another factor that is defeating the rules of the NFA, is that the federation hold their tournaments concurrently with important national sport events.A case in point was this year’s Easter Weekend when The Namibian Newspaper Cup was held in the north.The federation simply went ahead during the same weekend and made thousands of dollars from the public in Windhoek, in contradiction with the NFA’s rules.A previous case was last year when Namibia’s national team was also having an international commitment in the capital.These federation bosses pushed ahead with their activities on the same day, despite the warning from the NFA, a scenario that left a lot of spectators rather opting to go to the Khomasdal Stadium for the matches, instead of watching the Brave Warriors.Up to date, no one has been fined or anything similar to that.This week, the Namibia Breweries Limited (NBL) gave a whopping N$70 000 to the federation to hold three tournaments later this year.The sponsors probably get mileage from it, but don’t they know that more money than what they sponsor is made from this.I suggest that the federation should produce financial statements at the NFA’s Congress in June to account for how much money they actually make and for what purposes it is used for.Football and netball teams pay entrance fees to these tournaments and get only a couple of hundred dollars more than the fee they registered with.These tournaments draw crowds of over 5 000 people a day and mind you, each pay N$10.These events are held over two to three weekends until the winner is determined and that means thousands is generated in entrance fees.It is also not clear if some of the organisers who are running around at these tournaments are permanently employed or doing the job on a voluntary basis.The onus will be on the NFA to put its foot down.Is the federation serving its purpose or are they just here to enrich themselves.