Make sure to plan for life after football – ex-defender Kuuahee advises

Former Okahandja-based Liverpool and junior national team star defender Ignatius ‘Kamitiri’ Kuuahee says he regrets not having planned for life after football, and he is advising current footballers not to repeat his mistakes.

Kuuahee explains: “I have been too busy enjoying myself on the football pitch and I got carried away by the limelight I was enjoying for playing for one of the country’s top teams. I was winning trophies with Liverpool and I got the impression that I was living the high life.

“I didn’t think that I was going to stop playing one day and that there was life after football. I regret that I didn’t further my studies and get a good job after retirement. I want to warn today’s players not to live for the moment but to think about life after their playing days.”

Born at Omaruru, the former hard-tackling defender attended his first two years of primary school at Walfrienden where his parents worked, before he went to St Joseph’s High School (Dobra), where he completed his high school.

“It was during my years at Dobra that I was introduced to the game of football. I started playing for the school’s under-nine team under coach Jimmy Ngunovandu before I later played under the acclaimed coach Willem Hans when I got a little older,” the retired star says.

“I joined Black Magic hostel team at Dobra and it was during those years that late Gatze Gaseb used to come get Smithley ‘Chacklas’ Engelbrecht and I to go play for Black Africa (BA) during the weekends. I grew up a BA supporter and I loved playing for the team.”

Kuuahee’s time with the Lively Lions was, however, short lived after they acquired South African coach Bush Bush Phoofolo, who asked him to leave because he felt that Kuuahee was too hard on his teammates during training.

“It didn’t take long before Bimbo Tjihero, who was my schoolmate at Dobra, told me that they were starting a new team called Liverpool and he invited me to join them. I slotted into every defensive position – at left-back, right-back and central defence,” Kuuahee notes.

He became part of a solid Liverpool defence which consisted of Phillemon Namene at right-back with Hellao Naruseb, the Tjihero brothers, Albert and Bimbo, guarding the central defence, and him slotting into left-back.

“Joining Liverpool was the best thing that ever happened in my football career. I soon became one of the key players of the team and it was going places under the legendary Oscar Mengo and the late uncle Bobby Sissing, who were our co-coaches before the club appointed former South African ball magician Professor Ngubane who elevated us.”

Liverpool always competed for top honours and, with the talented team they assembled, they won the Windhoek Lager NFA Cup in 1992 to secure a berth in the Cup Winners’ Cup (now the Confederations Cup) before winning the Castle Classic Cup in 1994.

“Our ride in the continental competition was not rosy but at least we progressed beyond the preliminary round. We drew with FC Tafic of Botswana in the home leg and went on to beat them with Bimbo’s free-kick goal to progress to the first round,” Kuuahee says.

“The going in the first round was rough because we were pitted against Motema Pembe from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Teams from that part of the world are notorious for their hostile reception towards visiting teams and it wasn’t any different with us either.”

Liverpool were annihilated 1-7 by Motema in a very controversial fashion. Midfielder Kilian Kavari collapsed after scoring the match’s opening goal. The home fans invaded the pitch afterwards and goalie Touvi Mbako was thrown with powder in the face.

The match officials looked on haplessly as the drama unfolded and were careful to take any action, and soon the goals started to rain into Mbako’s net, Kuuahee says.

The NFA Cup was won thanks to a 2-0 victory over Young Ones and Ramblers were on the receiving end of a 4-3 win by Liverpool in the Castle Classic Cup final.

The Okahandja-based outfit clinched the Top Eight Cup in 1993 after a hard-fought 1-0 victory over bitter rivals African Stars.

However, Liverpool’s most memorable sporting moment was wining the Namibian Premier League in the 2001/02 season.

Kuuahee was in the form of his life preventing and assisting goals for the strikers on the overlap and was duly rewarded with the most improved player of the season award by Liverpool, a personal accolade which attracted the attention of the junior national team selectors.

“It was a very exciting moment for me when I was called up to the national under-23 team which made history by hosting the Africa Zone Six Under-23 Championships in 1991. The team consisted of the cream of the country’s young players,” he enthuses.

“Players like Dahle Mutilifa, Ronnie Kanalelo, Dokkies Theodore, Eliphas Shivute, Bobby Samaria, Stanley Louw, Eric Quest and the late Munyanda Muaine formed the core of our team that competed against Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, and Zambia on home soil.”

Kuuahee, who retired at Chief Santos, says the team did very well despite only having two weeks to prepare for a tournament of such magnitude.

“Two is not enough for the players to gel because a national team is selected from players from different clubs. Also, a tournament of that calibre is very demanding because you play against other good players from other countries and the stakes are high,” Kuuahee explains.

“All the games that we played were good and we approached all our games like a final. Our best moment came after we beat regional powerhouse Zambia 1-0. We drew with Botswana before we went down to another regional powerhouse Zimbabwe in our last group match.”

Kuuahee describes himself as a no-nonsense defender who was comfortable playing in all the positions in the backline. He competed in the 200m, 800m, and 1 500m races at school while attending sifu Lawrence Hochobeb’s karate classes.

Kuuahee, who is widower, is a father of four children and is currently job hunting after being retrenched from Dundee Precious Metals at Tsumeb.

“I have been based at Tsumeb ever since I secured a job with Dundee where I was employed in the warehouse. I am currently looking for a job but I am a part-time farmer. I’m farming with cattle at Ozondati reserve in the Omatjete area, in the Kunene region,” Kuuahee says.

The former defender mentions Albert and the late Five Hochobeb as the two people with the biggest influence at Liverpool and BA, respectively.

Kuuahee says this is not how he imagined his life after football because he wanted to study further while playing, but never got a chance to complete his studies.

“I also wanted to go play professional football in South Africa but our chance to go on trials was dismissed by our management at Liverpool.”

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