Gladiators match off

THE international friendly match between Namibia’s Brave Gladiators and South Africa’s Banyana Banyana, which was due this Sunday in Johannesburg, has been postponed.

The match was called off because of logistical problems in the South African camp, the head of the Namibia Football Association’s (NFA) Women’s Football Desk, Jacky Gertze, told The Namibian Sport yesterday. She said the South African Football Association (Safa) did not specify in their letter received yesterday what logistical problems were encountered, but it became clear that there were still several matches that had to be fulfilled by the South African women side.She said a new date would be found for the Namibians to travel to South Africa for the encounter, which will most likely be later in June.”We are very disappointed by the message we received and the girls are really sad that they cannot go out there and compete.They have been looking forward to this match, but unfortunately there is nothing we can do about it,” she said.She denied that the Brave Gladiators faced any financial troubles ahead of the clash, after The Namibian Sport picked up from sources that they did not have a budget for the trip.A source said the Namibia Sports Commission (NSC) told the NFA that there was no money to sent a delegation of 22 team members to South Africa.”No, there is no such thing.The NFA has money and we did not have to spend much on the trip.Air Namibia gave us a good discount and there were also allowance fees for the players made available.So we were basically covered for the trip,” said Gertze.This week, the Namibian team struggled to find a field to practise after they were told to leave the Katutura Multi-Purpose Centre field.The side, which is led by Jacqui Shipanga as coach, instead had to train at the Windhoek College of Education.Shipanga said she was concerned about the problems that the team faces with training facilities in general.She said it was embarrassing for the national side to be denied access to train on a particular field, while she also blasted the football bosses for not availing training material such as bibs, balls and other basic necessities for their training sessions.She asked the NFA to look into the issue, saying that the women’s football side deserved the same respect as the male national teams.NFA acting secretary general Barry Rukoro was not available for comment.She said the South African Football Association (Safa) did not specify in their letter received yesterday what logistical problems were encountered, but it became clear that there were still several matches that had to be fulfilled by the South African women side.She said a new date would be found for the Namibians to travel to South Africa for the encounter, which will most likely be later in June.”We are very disappointed by the message we received and the girls are really sad that they cannot go out there and compete.They have been looking forward to this match, but unfortunately there is nothing we can do about it,” she said.She denied that the Brave Gladiators faced any financial troubles ahead of the clash, after The Namibian Sport picked up from sources that they did not have a budget for the trip.A source said the Namibia Sports Commission (NSC) told the NFA that there was no money to sent a delegation of 22 team members to South Africa.”No, there is no such thing.The NFA has money and we did not have to spend much on the trip.Air Namibia gave us a good discount and there were also allowance fees for the players made available.So we were basically covered for the trip,” said Gertze.This week, the Namibian team struggled to find a field to practise after they were told to leave the Katutura Multi-Purpose Centre field.The side, which is led by Jacqui Shipanga as coach, instead had to train at the Windhoek College of Education.Shipanga said she was concerned about the problems that the team faces with training facilities in general.She said it was embarrassing for the national side to be denied access to train on a particular field, while she also blasted the football bosses for not availing training material such as bibs, balls and other basic necessities for their training sessions.She asked the NFA to look into the issue, saying that the women’s football side deserved the same respect as the male national teams.NFA acting secretary general Barry Rukoro was not available for comment.