Pay pain for Ramblers players

SEVERAL Ramblers players have complained that the club did not pay them according to an agreement they had before the NFA Cup, which they won after defeating Black Africa 5-3 on penalties last month.

The players, who asked not to be named, said the club broke its promises by failing to distribute the money equally among the players, as it had agreed before the final. The Ramblers management was supposed to allocate 50 per cent of the prize money to the players, with the other half going to the club.One of the players told The Namibian Sport that the initial agreement was that all 18 players would receive an equal amount, whether they played in the final or not.Another one said the club had failed the players and some received more money than others.”We are not happy about the discrimination which was used by the management and in future we want things to be done transparently,” the second player said.The highest-paid players reportedly walked away with about N$4 500, which included their monthly salary.Ramblers is one of the few clubs in the country that compensate their players on a monthly basis.Ramblers Soccer Section chairman Mark Kutzner responded that the players who had complained were not honest.He said the management explained to the players ahead of the final match that they would get 50 per cent of the prize money, but would be paid on merit.In fact, Kutzner said the 50 per cent was distributed among all the players, although they did not all get the same amount.Ramblers pocketed over N$120 000 for winning the NFA Cup for the first time in its 30-year history.Kutzner said players were paid at the discretion of the management.”We paid the players on their performance.There were some players who had not played for some time and we could not pay them the same amount as the ones that have been doing all the work during the season,” he said.He did not want to reveal the figures, but insisted that the players who received a decent amount had been consistent throughout the season, and it was a decision by the management to compensate them as such.He said players who wanted more money could join other clubs where they would get paid better.”We are not standing in the way of players who are not happy at Ramblers.If they think we are not good to them, they can leave.There are a lot of other players who want to join the team,” said Kutzner.Kutzner said he was disappointed that the players had approached the media about the payments.He said the players knew the right channels to follow and he regarded it as “highly unprofessional”, since all of them had signed contracts that they would abide by the rules of the club.Ramblers technical director Mario Carreira said the players were “talking rubbish”.”There were no problems when we paid them.They did not complain to us and we never heard of any [complaints] up to today [yesterday].Those players are lying and I am very disappointed by these reports,” he said.Carreira vowed that the players who spoke to this reporter would be brought to book.”We know who some of these players are.If they are not happy with the way we do things, why don’t they just go to other clubs,” he said.He said according to their contracts, players were not allowed to talk to the media on payment issues.The Ramblers management was supposed to allocate 50 per cent of the prize money to the players, with the other half going to the club.One of the players told The Namibian Sport that the initial agreement was that all 18 players would receive an equal amount, whether they played in the final or not.Another one said the club had failed the players and some received more money than others.”We are not happy about the discrimination which was used by the management and in future we want things to be done transparently,” the second player said.The highest-paid players reportedly walked away with about N$4 500, which included their monthly salary.Ramblers is one of the few clubs in the country that compensate their players on a monthly basis.Ramblers Soccer Section chairman Mark Kutzner responded that the players who had complained were not honest.He said the management explained to the players ahead of the final match that they would get 50 per cent of the prize money, but would be paid on merit.In fact, Kutzner said the 50 per cent was distributed among all the players, although they did not all get the same amount.Ramblers pocketed over N$120 000 for winning the NFA Cup for the first time in its 30-year history.Kutzner said players were paid at the discretion of the management.”We paid the players on their performance.There were some players who had not played for some time and we could not pay them the same amount as the ones that have been doing all the work during the season,” he said.He did not want to reveal the figures, but insisted that the players who received a decent amount had been consistent throughout the season, and it was a decision by the management to compensate them as such.He said players who wanted more money could join other clubs where they would get paid better.”We are not standing in the way of players who are not happy at Ramblers.If they think we are not good to them, they can leave.There are a lot of other players who want to join the team,” said Kutzner.Kutzner said he was disappointed that the players had approached the media about the payments.He said the players knew the right channels to follow and he regarded it as “highly unprofessional”, since all of them had signed contracts that they would abide by the rules of the club.Ramblers technical director Mario Carreira said the players were “talking rubbish”.”There were no problems when we paid them.They did not complain to us and we never heard of any [complaints] up to today [yesterday].Those players are lying and I am very disappointed by these reports,” he said.Carreira vowed that the players who spoke to this reporter would be brought to book.”We know who some of these players are.If they are not happy with the way we do things, why don’t they just go to other clubs,” he said.He said according to their contracts, players were not allowed to talk to the media on payment issues.