Former players, members and supporters of Ramblers Football Club turned up in their droves to attend the club’s 70th anniversary celebrations on Saturday.
It was a day of remembrance but also of celebration and pride as members relived some of the highlights of years gone by, while messages of support from former members who could not attend were read out.
One such message by former goalkeeper Geoff Marting, who now lives in Cape Town, recalled how the club’s field came into existence.
“Ramblers was always a soccer club where all different nationalities were welcomed and that is why I joined this club in the early Seventies. During those years we all had a lot of spirit and were a winning team, but we had no club house or soccer field, so we as members decided to take the bull by the horns and build our own club and field,” he said.
Marting recalled how the players and their families went to the Gammams River to pull out roots from the wild grass that was growing there. The roots were meticulously replanted at Ramblers’ club house which was acquired in 1978 and after six months of hard work a beautiful field had taken shape.
“I carry a lot of good memories from all those wonderful years and know that Ramblers was always a successful club because we as members and players stood together,” he added.
The president of Ramblers Football Club, Harald Hecht recalled some of the club’s highlights, since it was formed in 1945.
The club won numerous trophies through the years, many of which still appear at its club house, such as the Kommando Pokal, the Georges Cup, League Cup, Stoessel Cup and the AZ Cup.
In 1981 the club house was inaugurated and later that year, Eric Muinjo and Bertus Damon became the first non-white players to join Ramblers.
Muinjo, who was also present, was a star player for Orlando Pirates before joining Ramblers.
“I came from Orlando Pirates but I really cherished my time with Ramblers and that was the best time of my soccer career,” he said.
Manny Coelho, who was chairman of the club for 18 years and president for 13 years, paid tribute to the administrators, members and volunteers who had helped build Ramblers over the years.
“Ramblers is not just a team, we are a club and we will always exist. The guys who have been running the club all these years are the true heroes. It is amateurs worldwide who lay the foundations for football,” he said.
After Namibia’s independence, Ramblers continued to excel, winning the Namibia Premier League title in 1992, while some of its players went on to excel abroad in later years.
In 2005 Henrico Botes was sold to Moroka Swallows, while Quinton Jacobs and Lazarus Kaimbi also went on to play abroad.
“Henrico is a role model and after Collin Benjamin probably the most successful Namibian footballer. He’s still playing in the PSL and sent his regards, saying that he will always be a Ramblers boykie,” Hecht said.
The Ramblers Football Academy was formed in 2008 and went on to become the most successful academy in Namibia. Last year it won 15 out of a possible 24 gold medals in five tournaments and this year it won 15 out of a possible 28 gold medals.
Uwe Wolff, who has been running the academy since its inception, said many of its players had gone on to achieve higher honours.
“We now have 11 players in the Namibian U-17 and U-19 teams as well as two players who are with the national U-23’s in Ghana at the moment,” he said.
Many of the club’s stalwart administrators and players were present such as Coelho, Karl Heinz Steinfurth, Siggi Horsthemke, Siggi Frewer, Pieter Snyman, Kenny Smith, Richard Wagner, Stanley Coetzee, Donkie Majiedt, George de Purificao, Klaus Verbucheln, Jacky Bucking, Pieter Snyman and Pieter Fourie.
