Quo Vadis NPFL?
Afew months ago, I was labelled a tribalist, a sellout and a biased journalist – to mention but a few of the countless insults that were hurled at my persona – all because I had insisted that the Namibia Football Association (NFA) starting the envisaged breakaway Namibia Premier Football League (NPFL) will be a grave misstep.
My argument was that expelling the Namibia Premier League (NPL) and wishing it away altogether will not be the lasting solution to the many problems facing local football. I had said – and again I repeat here, that the NFA and NPL reaching a compromise will be the only solution and way forward – and I still stand by that position as far as the return of local football action is concerned.
Not even political interference or Fifa interference can get football started again as soon as we all want, without the NFA and NPL realising that the issue is bigger than both institutions. Our football problems are deep-rooted and they all have to do with our failure as a country to have the right people in the right positions, our failure to have the right systems, processes, checks and balances in place to hold administrators accountable. But that is a topic I will expand further another day.
Today, I want to speak about the envisaged NFA’s Namibia Premier Football League, which was announced as the replacement for the banished NPL. Late last year, it was reported that the NPFL will kick off in January this year but that did not happen, and it was again reported that the NPFL will start this month (February) upon conclusion of the recently-ended 2021 African Nations Championship (Chan), where Namibia also participated – but again, that did also not happen.
Just a few weeks ago, for the umpteenth time now, the NFA announced that the NPFL kick off date had now been moved to 17 April. I have, in recent days, been bombarded with information from senior sources within Football House in Katutura that the leadership of the new NPFL is at loggerheads with the various chairmen of the clubs that joined the new league from the NPL.
The NPFL’s leadership, I’m told, is currently caught between a rock and a hard place – on the one hand dancing to the tunes of the NFA executive which feels that it is logistically too premature to kick off the new league – and on the other hand, trying so hard to please the unrealistic demands of the frustrated clubs.
Truth be told, as much as we all thought and hoped the arrival of the NPFL would signal the return of domestic premiership football, what Namibians got in return is the total opposite of what we had all hoped for. In fact, after the expulsion of the NPL, what we, football-loving Namibians, got is more infights and little or rather no solutions at all.
It is my personal opinion and observation that the NPFL’s leadership appears to have no solutions nor capacity to resolve our football problems – and I’m saying this without any fear or contradiction. It also appears they (NPFL’s leadership) and its cartel, the disreputable Progressive Forces group, are more concerned about ‘taking over Football House’ and dishing out positions and international trips to each other as opposed to saving the livelihoods of hundreds of our stranded footballers.
If I’m a tribalist, a sellout and biased journalist for speaking the truth on behalf of those hundreds of stranded footballers, then so be it! But what I can comfortably say and assure all Namibians is that we were sold a raw deal by the NFA and its NPFL leadership; football is not going to start anytime soon because all those self-anointed ‘football gurus’ are busy fighting over money, positions and international trips. Until next time, sharp, sharp!!
Aproduct of Windhoek’s old location, ‘Zorro’ was a committed one-team man and completed his marathon football journey with Pirates FC, the authentic ‘Dolam Boys’.
He was part and parcel of the fearless now defunct Pirates squad alongside stalwarts Wherrick Zimmer-Goreseb, Simon Tsigeib Gariseb, Sky Kuvare, Erich Hansen, Safe Kuruseb and many others. Bro ‘Zorro’ went on to oversee several generations during the club’s transformation at the dawn of multiracial football in 1977.
A deadly old-fashioned centre forward, ‘Zorro’ was a menace to many defenders and goalkeepers alike. The Jairzinho lookalike endured himself into the hearts of many a neutral fan with his eyecatching goal-scoring prowess as he singlehandedly led the Pirates firing line with great aplomb alongside the bulky Erich Hansen and tallish Otavi-born flying winger Issascar Kuvare. Pirates were amongst the most feared teams in the late sixties and early seventies and were always amongst title contenders in the highly competitive Central Football League under the auspices of the South West Africa (SWA) Bantu Football Association.
With no proper records available about log standings and league champions, it remains a tough challenge to determine the team’s overall performances and titles won, apart from a few knockout cup tournaments. To make matters worse, most knockout cup tourneys ended prematurely in chaos because of fist fights over shoddy referees’ decisions. The serial absence of goalpost nets gave the teams carte blanche to have legitimate goals chalked off at the slightest provocation, arguing that the ball did not cross the goal line through the goalposts.
Despite all those hiccups, the game of football was enjoyable as it kept divided communities together with no other recreational activities taking place apart from chasing an inflated piece of pigskin leather.
Nonetheless, oral history reveals that Pirates won several high-profile knockout cup tournaments. In the meantime, ‘Zorro’s’ unmatched thunderbolt shots, pace and ability to pop in behind unsuspecting defenders made him a real thorn in the flesh of many opposing manmarkers in years gone by.
The likeable former Pirates number 9 had honed his football skills in the dusty streets of Windhoek’s old location. “We used to kick around with inflated plastic balls behind the Roman Catholic Mission School football field,” recalled Zorro during an exclusive interview with New Era Sport in 2010.
Some of his celebrated teammates were Pieter Plaatjies, Ouman Doeseb and Lemmy Special Narib. In no time, he joined forces with boyhood buddies Daniel Wimmert, John Eichab and Walter Hansen to form Dangerous Point FC. “We used to compete fiercely in stake games against Hot Stars and Fire Flames from Damara one and five sections respectively.”
And when Pirates were short of a player for a particular knockout cup tournament in Karibib, they turned to ‘Zorro’ for divine intervention. The young attacker announced his arrival on the big stage with a fivestar performance, netting all three allocated penalties in the final to become an overnight club hero.
The Dolam Express... ‘Zorro’ (far right - standing) with Dolam Pirates at the old Nomtsoub gravel football field in Tsumeb. Back row from left: Christian Gaseb (+d), Samuel Mungunda (+d), Petrus Owoseb, Luiperd /Haoseb, Moses /Haoseb, Jomo Xoagub, Eleazer ‘Zorro’ /Haoseb (+d – Wagga Goagoseb’s old man). Front row from left: Kamundu Horaeb (+d – Larry Horaeb’s old man), Moses ‘Moles’ Owoseb, Jonathan, Isaak Nanub, Zebulon ‘Brazello’ /Haoseb.
He found himself surrounded by established stars such as Absalom Goseb, Mandla Hanstein, Izaak ‘Whoops’ Gariseb, Willem Hans and his brother Albertus. His remarkable performance did not go unnoticed as he was rewarded with a call-up to the star-studded Central Invitational Eleven against their Northern,
Western and Southern counterparts in several exhibition matches.
Regrettably, the birth of both Orlando Pirates and Black Africa had a negative impact on the strength of Pirates as a significant chunk of their playing personnel jumped ship to join the newly established clubs. Bro ‘Zorro’ was amongst
very few footballers to have played in all their respective clubs’ official matches uninterruptedly without suffering any serious injuries in their blossoming football careers. Upon his premature retirement, ‘Zorro’ became a staunch Orlando Pirates supporter. May his soul rest in power.