Mogane implores former players to plough back

Brave Warriors’ former head coach Rusten Mogane has called on ex-footballers to plough back into the various football structures.

Mogane was entrusted with preparing the Namibian Legends against the visiting South African Legends in the Dr Hage Geingob Cup held at the Independence stadium recently.

Mogane said he was not impressed with the weight gained by most players and called on his former charges to consider getting into various football structures.

Speaking to Desert Radio recently, Mogane acknowledged the roles played by former players like Ricardo Mannetti, Robert Nauseb, Ronnie Kanalelo, Dokkies Schmidt and Sandro de Gouveia, in the development of football in the country.

“If not directly involved in football, let them be active in other sport codes. By doing that, they will stay fit and not just that they must go to the gym because another opportunity might come up in future to play against any other Legends from any other country.

“Instead of them idling around doing nothing, they must be involved in social football leagues and academies. Of course, not all can be coaches or academy owners but they must find a way to contribute to the development of the game loved by so many Namibians.

“You saw how the Independence Stadium was packed to capacity, that my friend was a mega event filled with entertainment across the board.”

Former Brave Warriors captain Bimbo Tjihero disagrees with Mogane, however, and the former skipper underlined that most of the Legends are highly educated in various professional fields and can contribute in many other ways other than coaching or being part of a technical team.

“Not everyone wants to be seen coaching just to be recognised and seen to be doing something because you are visible. We can play other equally important roles in football structures.”

Tjihero, who serves on the Okahandja United FC executive committee, questioned why it is so important to be visible if one can contribute in other ways.

He said there are other areas they can contribute, like helping mould players seen to be ill disciplined, to be more exemplary players.

“Yes, not all of us want to be on the touch line, we have those who are qualified in marketing and financial management and can be headhunted by those in need of their expertise,” Tjihero said.

“Visibility for what? To be seen doing something while a lot can be done by these former football legends behind closed doors to positively contribute to the growth and standard of the game.”

Mogane urged other clubs like Orlando Pirates, Tigers SC and Blue Waters FC to work on luring spectators to the stadiums, as is being done by African Stars FC and Eeshoke Chula Chula.

He said filling football stadiums would gain the corporate world’s buy-in and that alone would have the positive impact of taking the game to another level.