NFA fails to pay winners

THE Namibia Football Association (NFA) stands accused of failing to pay prize money to both the Hardap and Karas second divisions, despite the league season ending in May.

The chairman of the Hardap Region, Gerson Boois, claims in a letter that the league winners in the region have not yet received their share of the prizes from the award ceremony, which was held in July. “We want to know from the sponsors whether our region is not part of them or are we playing in a different league,” asked Boois.He said the closing dates for registration of teams and players for the new season is September 21, but he wanted to know why this has to be done if the activities of the previous season have not been concluded yet.He said the official handing over of prize monies for winning teams normally signals the end of the season, but this has not happened in Hardap.The second division league winners in the Hardap Region are Aranos FC, while the runners-up were Hellenic FC from Rehoboth.In third were Flamingos FC, also from Rehoboth.None of the teams have received their prize money to date.The winners were to receive N$21 000, runners-up N$10 000 and the third-placed finishers were in line for N$6 000.Boois added that other winners who need to be compensated for their efforts include the Top Goalscorer, Coach of the Year and the Team of the Year.He said they have been asking his office when payments would be made, since the other regions in the country all received theirs at the end of the season.Boois said every time they asked for their money, the NFA insisted that there was no money.”The clubs are unhappy.After struggling for the whole year in the leagues, now they have to beg for their money,” he said.Another member of the Hardap Region, Ricky Brinkman, said he had heard that the prize money that was destined for Karas and Hardap has apparently been used for other expenses incurred by Soccer House.”We heard that our monies were used for something else.Now, we were just wondering if these monies were not budgeted for us.How is it possible that it did not come our way since the sponsors are the ones responsible for paying the various league winners,” asked Brinkman.Brinkman said the entire executive committee of the Karas Region was currently in shambles and they too had not received any payment from the NFA.He said Young Beauties, who were the league winners in Karas, had not yet received their prize money.NFA acting Secretary General Barry Rukoro said the main reason why there were no payments for the two regions, was the unavailability of signatories.He said the people who had to sign the cheques for the two regions were out of town.But when asked why the cheques of other regions were signed, Rukoro simply repeated: “There was no one to sign those cheques”.He said the money for the Hardap and Karas regions would be ready by this morning.”The cheques have been signed now and the money for the two regions will be ready,” said Rukoro.Rukoro denied that they ever said there was no money for the two regions, or that the association used money meant for the league winners in those regions for other purposes.”We don’t do that.We will compensate the two regions accordingly and that will happen soon,” he said.”We want to know from the sponsors whether our region is not part of them or are we playing in a different league,” asked Boois.He said the closing dates for registration of teams and players for the new season is September 21, but he wanted to know why this has to be done if the activities of the previous season have not been concluded yet.He said the official handing over of prize monies for winning teams normally signals the end of the season, but this has not happened in Hardap.The second division league winners in the Hardap Region are Aranos FC, while the runners-up were Hellenic FC from Rehoboth.In third were Flamingos FC, also from Rehoboth.None of the teams have received their prize money to date.The winners were to receive N$21 000, runners-up N$10 000 and the third-placed finishers were in line for N$6 000.Boois added that other winners who need to be compensated for their efforts include the Top Goalscorer, Coach of the Year and the Team of the Year.He said they have been asking his office when payments would be made, since the other regions in the country all received theirs at the end of the season.Boois said every time they asked for their money, the NFA insisted that there was no money.”The clubs are unhappy.After struggling for the whole year in the leagues, now they have to beg for their money,” he said.Another member of the Hardap Region, Ricky Brinkman, said he had heard that the prize money that was destined for Karas and Hardap has apparently been used for other expenses incurred by Soccer House.”We heard that our monies were used for something else.Now, we were just wondering if these monies were not budgeted for us.How is it possible that it did not come our way since the sponsors are the ones responsible for paying the various league winners,” asked Brinkman.Brinkman said the entire executive committee of the Karas Region was currently in shambles and they too had not received any payment from the NFA.He said Young Beauties, who were the league winners in Karas, had not yet received their prize money.NFA acting Secretary General Barry Rukoro said the main reason why there were no payments for the two regions, was the unavailability of signatories.He said the people who had to sign the cheques for the two regions were out of town.But when asked why the cheques of other regions were signed, Rukoro simply repeated: “There was no one to sign those cheques”.He said the money for the Hardap and Karas regions would be ready by this morning.”The cheques have been signed now and the money for the two regions will be ready,” said Rukoro.Rukoro denied that they ever said there was no money for the two regions, or that the association used money meant for the league winners in those regions for other purposes.”We don’t do that.We will compensate the two regions accordingly and that will happen soon,” he said.