THE Namibia Premier League faces one of its biggest crises with no clear indication when the football season will officially kick-off.
The NPL has so far not drawn up fixtures for the 2004/5 season, as there are delays in identifying two teams from the lower division that need to be promoted to the league this season. The league administrators, and the Namibia Football Association (NFA), currently find themselves in a dilemma as the promotion play-offs, which were due at least two months ago, have not yet taken place.The promotion play-offs, involving four teams from the Nationwide First Division, need to take place for two winners to join the elite league.Mae Dae Chiefs and Liverpool were relegated last season, but wrangling between United Stars (North Eastern Region) and Mighty Birds (Southern Zone) about who should be in the play-offs is till ongoing.Team officials and players have expressed disappointment and are frustrated about the league that was supposed to take-off earlier this year.Civics technical adviser, Ali Akan, argues that the league should instead not start now, but rather resume in February next year, to give enough time for the administrators to sort out the mess.We are tired of being told about the kick-off, but the dates they come and go.They should re-organise themselves and start to plan properly for the league, he said.Akan proposed the current football administrators quit the game, if they cannot run it the way it should be.They should give other people a chance to run it if they are not up to it, said the former Black Africa coach.Chief Santos spokesperson, Cosmos Auchumeb, said by the time the league starts, players will be exhausted because of all the training they have been doing so far.The quality of the games will be affected as players will not be as hungry as they were earlier this year.The state of football in Namibia is so bad that the sport is no longer regarded as one of the prime codes, he said.Golden Bees club chairman, Imms Tjipura, was equally disappointed saying that so far, they are in the dark abut what is happening in Namibian football.All we know is that the promotion play-offs have not been concluded and until then, we will still be in the dark about the actual kick-off date of the football season, he said.He said the proposed dates from the beginning of the year have been changed on several occasions and at this stage, they have lost faith in the football administrators.Our team is currently training, but the players are slowly losing their patience.It is a matter of wait and see, he said.Orlando Pirates team manager, Lucas Damaseb, says his players have also started losing faith in the team management.We cannot tell them precisely when the league will start, and some of them have started calling us liars, he said.He said players are desperate for action and have been training for over two months with no competitive games, apart from two friendly matches they played recently.In the 70s and 80s, we knew months in advance what tournaments our team would be playing and when the league would resume.We even got fixtures way before the league starts.Nowadays, we get the fixtures a week before.As things are now, there might possibly be no football for this season, he said.Damaseb also complained about the high cost of keeping the players.We have players that are coming from outside Windhoek for training.There are transport and accommodation fees at stake.It has been going on for months now, he said.Civics defender and captain Amos Shiyuka, was sympathetic towards the football administrators, saying that he was currently praying for them to get matters sorted out.It is frustrating to wait for such a long time, but I just hope they will settle all the matters to get the ball rolling, he said.Benfica midfielder Eddy Gobetsi, said he was extremely disappointed and felt pity for the players who have been training for months.I am personally also disappointed and I think it is time that people should handle matters to advance the cause of the game, but not for their own interests, he said.Former Blue Waters spokesperson and now Namibia Sport Commission member, Eliphas Shipanga said: I don’t want to talk about football.Meanwhile, long serving NPL referee Boy-Boy Ndjandila, says he is about 90 per cent certain to quit the game, if the league does not start by the end of this month.I will go.I am tired of the level of unprofessionalism, incompetence and lack of planning of these people.I will just go, he said.Secretary general of the NFA, Alpheus Gaweseb on inquiry said the association will try to finalise the play-offs on September 11, while the kick-off is planned for early October.We are faced with a lot of difficulties and we are working around the clock to get things in order, he said.If the league kicks off in October, teams have to play through the December holidays until early July to complete the fixtures.The Federation of International Football Associations (Fifa) requires mother bodies to conclude their leagues at the end of May.According to NPL administrator, Tovey Hoebeb, Namibia is planning to have matches on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, to make up for lost time.I doubt that we will finish all the matches by the end of May, but we will see, Hoebeb said.The league administrators, and the Namibia Football Association (NFA), currently find themselves in a dilemma as the promotion play-offs, which were due at least two months ago, have not yet taken place.The promotion play-offs, involving four teams from the Nationwide First Division, need to take place for two winners to join the elite league.Mae Dae Chiefs and Liverpool were relegated last season, but wrangling between United Stars (North Eastern Region) and Mighty Birds (Southern Zone) about who should be in the play-offs is till ongoing.Team officials and players have expressed disappointment and are frustrated about the league that was supposed to take-off earlier this year.Civics technical adviser, Ali Akan, argues that the league should instead not start now, but rather resume in February next year, to give enough time for the administrators to sort out the mess.We are tired of being told about the kick-off, but the dates they come and go.They should re-organise themselves and start to plan properly for the league, he said.Akan proposed the current football administrators quit the game, if they cannot run it the way it should be.They should give other people a chance to run it if they are not up to it, said the former Black Africa coach.Chief Santos spokesperson, Cosmos Auchumeb, said by the time the league starts, players will be exhausted because of all the training they have been doing so far.The quality of the games will be affected as players will not be as hungry as they were earlier this year.The state of football in Namibia is so bad that the sport is no longer regarded as one of the prime codes, he said.Golden Bees club chairman, Imms Tjipura, was equally disappointed saying that so far, they are in the dark abut what is happening in Namibian football.All we know is that the promotion play-offs have not been concluded and until then, we will still be in the dark about the actual kick-off date of the football season, he said.He said the proposed dates from the beginning of the year have been changed on several occasions and at this stage, they have lost faith in the football administrators.Our team is currently training, but the players are slowly losing their patience.It is a matter of wait and see, he said.Orlando Pirates team manager, Lucas Damaseb, says his players have also started losing faith in the team management.We cannot tell them precisely when the league will start, and some of them have started calling us liars, he said.He said players are desperate for action and have been training for over two months with no competitive games, apart from two friendly matches they played recently.In the 70s and 80s, we knew months in advance what tournaments our team would be playing and when the league would resume.We even got fixtures way before the league starts.Nowadays
, we get the fixtures a week before.As things are now, there might possibly be no football for this season, he said.Damaseb also complained about the high cost of keeping the players.We have players that are coming from outside Windhoek for training.There are transport and accommodation fees at stake.It has been going on for months now, he said.Civics defender and captain Amos Shiyuka, was sympathetic towards the football administrators, saying that he was currently praying for them to get matters sorted out.It is frustrating to wait for such a long time, but I just hope they will settle all the matters to get the ball rolling, he said.Benfica midfielder Eddy Gobetsi, said he was extremely disappointed and felt pity for the players who have been training for months.I am personally also disappointed and I think it is time that people should handle matters to advance the cause of the game, but not for their own interests, he said.Former Blue Waters spokesperson and now Namibia Sport Commission member, Eliphas Shipanga said: I don’t want to talk about football.Meanwhile, long serving NPL referee Boy-Boy Ndjandila, says he is about 90 per cent certain to quit the game, if the league does not start by the end of this month.I will go.I am tired of the level of unprofessionalism, incompetence and lack of planning of these people.I will just go, he said.Secretary general of the NFA, Alpheus Gaweseb on inquiry said the association will try to finalise the play-offs on September 11, while the kick-off is planned for early October.We are faced with a lot of difficulties and we are working around the clock to get things in order, he said.If the league kicks off in October, teams have to play through the December holidays until early July to complete the fixtures.The Federation of International Football Associations (Fifa) requires mother bodies to conclude their leagues at the end of May.According to NPL administrator, Tovey Hoebeb, Namibia is planning to have matches on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, to make up for lost time.I doubt that we will finish all the matches by the end of May, but we will see, Hoebeb said.
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