THE Namibia Sport Commission (NSC) will now have the mandate to decide on the prolonged arbitration case involving Life Fighters and the Namibia Premier League (NPL), a top official confirmed yesterday.
NSC chief administrative officer Rusten Mogane told The Namibian Sport that the case, for which no solution has been found since the end of the football season in May, will now be tackled by the commission. He said the Namibia Football Association (NFA) had asked the commission to handle the case, which has delayed the start of the domestic season, the staging of a lucrative tournament and the signing of a sponsorship deal for Namibian football with a consortium of companies.NFA spokesperson Beau Kauta confirmed that the case had been referred to the commission “in order to find a speedy and amicable solution”.Mogane said the commission would hold a board meeting today to discuss the matter and would decide on an arbitrator to handle the case.Life Fighters argue that points were taken away from them unfairly after a match between them and Tigers was called off because of a shortage of security guards at the stadium.Life Fighters, who have been relegated, are hoping to fight their way back into the promotion playoffs, which still have to take place.If the arbitrator orders a replay of the match against Tigers, Life Fighters stand a chance to stay in top-flight football, provided they beat Tigers or pull a draw, which would automatically relegate Benfica, which only has one point more than the Otjiwarongo side.He said the Namibia Football Association (NFA) had asked the commission to handle the case, which has delayed the start of the domestic season, the staging of a lucrative tournament and the signing of a sponsorship deal for Namibian football with a consortium of companies.NFA spokesperson Beau Kauta confirmed that the case had been referred to the commission “in order to find a speedy and amicable solution”.Mogane said the commission would hold a board meeting today to discuss the matter and would decide on an arbitrator to handle the case.Life Fighters argue that points were taken away from them unfairly after a match between them and Tigers was called off because of a shortage of security guards at the stadium.Life Fighters, who have been relegated, are hoping to fight their way back into the promotion playoffs, which still have to take place.If the arbitrator orders a replay of the match against Tigers, Life Fighters stand a chance to stay in top-flight football, provided they beat Tigers or pull a draw, which would automatically relegate Benfica, which only has one point more than the Otjiwarongo side.
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