Ramblers committed to football

RAMBLERS Football Club has pledged to help Namibian football to move into the right direction, while they also intend to rally support behind Seth Boois, who was recently appointed as the new technical director.

Ramblers Club chairman Harald Hecht said football administrators should become serious and show commitment to the development of the game. “We need to work together and improve Namibian football,” he said at the prize-giving ceremony of the football section of the club at the weekend.”We also offered to assist the technical director in his mission for bringing Namibian football to much higher standards,” he said.He said although there are many stumbling blocks in football, of which many can be ascribed to the lack of finances, he believes that the future looks bright for the game in general.He said the Namibia Football Consortium (NFC) was doing well in sponsoring football, but urged the administrators to ensure that the teams get their money in time.He said the clubs also have financial obligations and the sooner they received their money, the sooner they would be able to honour their bills.Hecht said Ramblers, which is one of only two clubs (the other one is Civics) in the country that pay salaries to their players, does not want to leave other clubs behind and urged them to study their objectives in order to follow in their footsteps.”Ramblers is not only a team, but a club with four sections and has been successful over the years on all those fronts,” he said.The Ramblers Soccer Section consists of men’s, women’s, reserves’ and old boys’ categories.Hecht said during the 2004/5 football season, the club has spent 220 000 on salaries, rent and boots for players, about N$58 000 was spent on transport, while about 51 000 was used for camping fees and accommodation for players.”Here at Ramblers we don’t hide anything and we hope that will be the spirit football administrators will emulate in their dealings with public money,” he said.Hecht announced that the partnership between the club and its sponsor, Windhoek Optics, was coming to an end soon, but the club was in talks with other potential sponsors.For the past season, the club named midfielder Michael Pienaar as the Player of the Season, goalkeeper Esau Tjiuoro received the Best Comeback of the Year award, while striker Tommy Kaimbi received the Best Junior Player award.The hard-tackling Erastus Ndjavera walked away with the Most Dedicated Player award.Top Namibian striker Henrico Botes scored twice on the evening as he received the Chairman’s award and the Top Goalscorer award for the club.* Ramblers are currently in talks with Portuguese football giants Benfica Lisbon for a possible coaching courses and the general development of the game among the two clubs.Manuel Vilarinho, ex-president of Benfica Lisbon and in that capacity a member of the Advisory Board to the Portuguese champions and the biggest Portuguese soccer club in Portugal, visited Namibia at the weekend for discussions.A second round of talks will be held in Lisbon in October.”We need to work together and improve Namibian football,” he said at the prize-giving ceremony of the football section of the club at the weekend.”We also offered to assist the technical director in his mission for bringing Namibian football to much higher standards,” he said.He said although there are many stumbling blocks in football, of which many can be ascribed to the lack of finances, he believes that the future looks bright for the game in general.He said the Namibia Football Consortium (NFC) was doing well in sponsoring football, but urged the administrators to ensure that the teams get their money in time.He said the clubs also have financial obligations and the sooner they received their money, the sooner they would be able to honour their bills.Hecht said Ramblers, which is one of only two clubs (the other one is Civics) in the country that pay salaries to their players, does not want to leave other clubs behind and urged them to study their objectives in order to follow in their footsteps.”Ramblers is not only a team, but a club with four sections and has been successful over the years on all those fronts,” he said.The Ramblers Soccer Section consists of men’s, women’s, reserves’ and old boys’ categories.Hecht said during the 2004/5 football season, the club has spent 220 000 on salaries, rent and boots for players, about N$58 000 was spent on transport, while about 51 000 was used for camping fees and accommodation for players.”Here at Ramblers we don’t hide anything and we hope that will be the spirit football administrators will emulate in their dealings with public money,” he said.Hecht announced that the partnership between the club and its sponsor, Windhoek Optics, was coming to an end soon, but the club was in talks with other potential sponsors.For the past season, the club named midfielder Michael Pienaar as the Player of the Season, goalkeeper Esau Tjiuoro received the Best Comeback of the Year award, while striker Tommy Kaimbi received the Best Junior Player award.The hard-tackling Erastus Ndjavera walked away with the Most Dedicated Player award.Top Namibian striker Henrico Botes scored twice on the evening as he received the Chairman’s award and the Top Goalscorer award for the club.* Ramblers are currently in talks with Portuguese football giants Benfica Lisbon for a possible coaching courses and the general development of the game among the two clubs.Manuel Vilarinho, ex-president of Benfica Lisbon and in that capacity a member of the Advisory Board to the Portuguese champions and the biggest Portuguese soccer club in Portugal, visited Namibia at the weekend for discussions.A second round of talks will be held in Lisbon in October.