Namibia Correctional Service gained promotion to the Debmarine Namibia Premiership for the first time after winning the Southern Stream First Division title over the weekend.
KK Palace are also back in the premiership for the first time since 2011 after winning the North West First Division, while Cuca Tops are the favourites to be promoted from the North East First Division that must still be concluded.
The big talking point following the SSFD’s final matches over the weekend, however, was Black Africa’s high scoring victories in Mariental to avoid relegation to the second division.
On Saturday they beat Dates Eleven 6-2, but it was their 9-7 victory against Mariental the next day that raised the eyebrows, with lots of comments on social media questioning whether any manipulation had taken place.
Mariental Sport Club’s marketing manager, Rhuuksie Engelbrecht, who normally provides livestreams of their home matches, was not at the match and later on Facebook distanced himself from the outcome.
“I distance myself from what happened in Mariental today. I was not present for the last three matches. I believe in fair play, always and I will not do anything to bring football into disrepute. I stand for what is right. For your information I am still a part of MSC till you hear otherwise from me,” he said.
Shaun Gariseb of the defeated Black Africa faction said “it was sad the bad state of the SSFD ended like it started, tainted with corruption”, and called on the chairperson of the SSFD Murs Markus to investigate the ‘shady characters” involved in the situation.
Markus, in fact, sent a letter out to all SSFD clubs before the weekend’s matches in which he warned against match manipuation.
“We are writing to formally warn all SSFD member clubs about the serious issue of match manipulation, which undermines the integrity of our sport and is strictly prohibited… Any club found guilty of participating in match manipulation will face severe disciplinary actions, which may include fines, suspensions, expulsion from the league, and potential legal proceedings,” he said.
When approached for comment yesterday, Markus, however said that his email to the clubs was standard procedure and that he did not have any reason to suspect manipulation.
“That is normal practise at the end of the season and if you looked at this season’s log, any of the teams from seventh to 12th positions could have been relegated, so it was a cautionary noter to all the clubs to abide by the rules,” he said.
Markus said they were waiting for the report of the general coordinator before making a finaldecision on the outcome of the match.
“We already received match reports from the referees and officials and there was nothing sinister in them. Now we are just waiting for the general coordinator’s report,” he said.
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