Lower Leagues In Poor State

THE administration of the lower football divisions leaves a lot to be desired and something drastic is needed to curb the current catastrophic state.

The authorities in charge of these leagues, from the two first-division streams right through the lower regional leagues, should by now know one thing.There is not much money in football, so why fight for positions and at the same time run the leagues into the ground?Although the Namibia Football Association (NFA) has tried to sustain these leagues over the years, there is still not much to be proud of.With these lower leagues, it does not matter if it is the start, the end or middle of the season, there are always controversies, infighting and all kinds of shenanigans especially among officials. The fundamental problem is that the rules and regulations in terms of the much-acclaimed NFA Statutes are in most cases never adhered to. The same as sitting on the rule book and making decisions based on your own agenda.The bosses in charge of these leagues take unilateral decisions and compel teams to adhere to them even if they’re unfair or ill-considered.The current situation with Blue Waters pulling out of the promotion playoffs scheduled this weekend is a clear testimony of the authorities’ total disregard of teams. For a team to be forced to play for 90 minutes on the same day after travelling 400 kilometres is unheard of. Blue Waters had to play two more matches the following two days, meaning three matches in three days. The officials clearly did not care about the situation of the coastal outfit with regard to their budget for the trip and what impact the travelling will have on the players. It is unfair advantage to the Windhoek-based teams and mind you, these are playoffs for promotion to the premiership. That, in essence, shows the lack of consideration towards one team, which can ultimately lose all its matches simply because the officials wanted their way. Another example is the ongoing power struggles in the Karas Region. That row stinks and has taken football backwards in many ways.The elections of these leagues are always problematic and the NFA has time and again failed to put down its foot when it comes to officials who want to be in power forcefully. Some work themselves into positions without being duly elected.There is always a problem with either the rules and procedures that are not followed accordingly, or officials simply skip such elections or even annual general meetings.Also, there is a persistent fiddling with points on the log standings, which has been a headache for years now.One sometimes receives three different sets of log standings for the same division. One from the NFA, one from the league itself, and another from any of the teams involved. That in itself shows the lack of control by the NFA in regulating the compilation and dissemination of such information. The other major problem is that some of the executive committee members in these leagues are owners of clubs in the same leagues. Their decision-making at the higher level is blurred as a result. The NFA should not allow people with links to clubs to serve on such bodies. It defeats the whole purpose of fair play. Now, my appeal to the football bosses, in this case the NFA, is to find a uniform way how to control these leagues and devise clear-cut measures how to deal with unruly clubs or officials.It is really in bad taste to see lower-division league officials fighting with their bosses at Soccer House over rules, positions, playing venues, promotion and relegation playoffs, tampering with points, sponsorships and many other petty issues.As football custodians, the NFA must draw the line and at the same time flex their muscles by having strict conditions that will compel all regional football executive members, teams, officials and players to play by the rules, or be banned. It will make the NFA’s work much easier. corry@namibian.com.na