National rugby stadium loses its turf

FIRST the furniture was carried out, then the power was cut off – and now the cash-strapped Namibia Rugby Union has had to sell the turf at the national rugby stadium to settle an eight-month-overdue gardening bill.

Avelino Ferreira, owner of Ferreira’s Nursery, late last week confirmed that he had to enter into an agreement to lift up parts of the turf at the Hage Geingob Stadium in Windhoek to pay the NRU’s outstanding debt. Ferreira said that he “shaved” sections of the national rugby stadium’s turf for resale to other customers as a way of settling the NRU’s outstanding account of “about N$20 000 to N$25 000”.The NRU had already received N$50 000 in advance, based on Ferreira’s estimated cost for repairing the turf, from the organisers of the International Motocross (IMX) Championships the previous year.Two ten-metre-high sand ramps were built on the turf for the IMX Championships held at the stadium on December 4 last year.The lawn was “pretty battered” but more or less intact after all the sand was removed, Ferreira said.”We tried to fix it as cheaply as possible, only replaced the parts that had to be, and did a lot of after-care.Their lawn was 50 per cent better than it was before,” he said.The exact amount the NRU received for the event is not clear.Apart from the turf repair and rental fees, the NRU rented out the lowest row of 14 lodges at the Hage Geingob stadium (which included double lodges with the best view) for their own account for the December 4 event, IMX organiser Fritz Kaufmann said.Rental of lodges on the two higher levels ranged from N$3 000 to N$10 000, while tickets to the event cost N$250 per person.But even at a reduced bill amounting to half of the N$50 000 they received from the IMX organisers, the NRU still could not settle the bill for the turf repairs, Ferreira said.He eventually offered the suggestion to the NRU to sell the turf back to him in “an amicable agreement”.”To be honest, I much rather would have liked to have my money – as it is, I am losing on the deal,” Ferreira said.”But I have to do something to recoup my losses here, so it was a compromise deal (with NRU president Conradie),” he said.The NRU, which owes creditors N$4 037 199, last year received two International Rugby Board (IRB) development grants totalling N$969 091, according to their latest financial statements.It also received an additional N$627 652 in revenue from other sources, but its operating costs (N$2 517 437) still exceeded income by N$934 403 for the year ended March 42, 2005.The organisers of the IMX event, Horst Schnelle and Fritz Kaufman, said they had to bring in their own generators to be sure that the power would not be cut off during the event, which included a rock show afterwards.”When we got started (in setting up), there was no power or water …we understand that some of the money we paid them was used to settle their outstanding municipal bills,” Schnelle said.Power and water management appears to be a problem: The NRU’s municipal bill shot up by nearly N$100 000 in the previous year, and last year came to N$238 587.Travel and accommodation remain the union’s biggest expense at N$634 625, followed by salaries of N$379 750, according to their 2004-2005 financial statements.Contacted for comment, Conradie balked at releasing the NRU’s audited financial statements to this reporter.”What do you want it for?” he demanded before insisting that these documents be obtained from NRU members who had attended the last AGM instead.* John Grobler is a freelance journalist; 081 240 1587Ferreira said that he “shaved” sections of the national rugby stadium’s turf for resale to other customers as a way of settling the NRU’s outstanding account of “about N$20 000 to N$25 000”.The NRU had already received N$50 000 in advance, based on Ferreira’s estimated cost for repairing the turf, from the organisers of the International Motocross (IMX) Championships the previous year.Two ten-metre-high sand ramps were built on the turf for the IMX Championships held at the stadium on December 4 last year.The lawn was “pretty battered” but more or less intact after all the sand was removed, Ferreira said.”We tried to fix it as cheaply as possible, only replaced the parts that had to be, and did a lot of after-care.Their lawn was 50 per cent better than it was before,” he said. The exact amount the NRU received for the event is not clear.Apart from the turf repair and rental fees, the NRU rented out the lowest row of 14 lodges at the Hage Geingob stadium (which included double lodges with the best view) for their own account for the December 4 event, IMX organiser Fritz Kaufmann said.Rental of lodges on the two higher levels ranged from N$3 000 to N$10 000, while tickets to the event cost N$250 per person. But even at a reduced bill amounting to half of the N$50 000 they received from the IMX organisers, the NRU still could not settle the bill for the turf repairs, Ferreira said.He eventually offered the suggestion to the NRU to sell the turf back to him in “an amicable agreement”.”To be honest, I much rather would have liked to have my money – as it is, I am losing on the deal,” Ferreira said.”But I have to do something to recoup my losses here, so it was a compromise deal (with NRU president Conradie),” he said.The NRU, which owes creditors N$4 037 199, last year received two International Rugby Board (IRB) development grants totalling N$969 091, according to their latest financial statements.It also received an additional N$627 652 in revenue from other sources, but its operating costs (N$2 517 437) still exceeded income by N$934 403 for the year ended March 42, 2005. The organisers of the IMX event, Horst Schnelle and Fritz Kaufman, said they had to bring in their own generators to be sure that the power would not be cut off during the event, which included a rock show afterwards.”When we got started (in setting up), there was no power or water …we understand that some of the money we paid them was used to settle their outstanding municipal bills,” Schnelle said.Power and water management appears to be a problem: The NRU’s municipal bill shot up by nearly N$100 000 in the previous year, and last year came to N$238 587.Travel and accommodation remain the union’s biggest expense at N$634 625, followed by salaries of N$379 750, according to their 2004-2005 financial statements.Contacted for comment, Conradie balked at releasing the NRU’s audited financial statements to this reporter.”What do you want it for?” he demanded before insisting that these documents be obtained from NRU members who had attended the last AGM instead.* John Grobler is a freelance journalist; 081 240 1587