Uirab rubbishes Sundowner Cup claims
Bethuel Uirab, One of the main organisers of the now defunct Namport-sponsored annual Sundowner Knockout Cup, has dismissed suggestions that the tournament died a natural death because the organising committee failed to table audited financial reports to the sponsor.
New Era regular columnist Carlos Kambaekua, in his weekly column Shooting from the Hip, wrote that the popular annual tourney’s premature grounding was the result of unaccountability. Uirab is having none of that and insists that the tournament served its purpose with limited resources.
“It should be noted all three sport fields in the village town of Uis are gravely substandard with no fencing, as a result we are unable to charge entrance fees. On the other hand, participating teams were only coughing up minimal entry fees of N$800 per team,” explained Uirab.
Uirab said money went straight into subsidising prizes for the winning teams and other administrative costs such as the purchase of playing balls, nets, match officials and other supplies.
From the N$80 000 sponsorship, the winning team then walked away with N$30 000 while the runner-up received N$15 000 and the two losing semifinalists received N$7 500. A total amount of N$5 000 was set aside for the netball section with only a handful of entrants.
“That sums up our expenses which essentially suffocated our entire income, if one has to make comparisons. We also diverted some funds into community projects and managed to built a shack for a homeless old woman in the settlement.”
Uirab is adamant the tourney did not come to a premature halt because of mismanagement but rather as a result of the tough worldwide economic meltdown. “They [sponsors] informed us that they won’t be able to continue funding the tournament and we parted ways in good spirits.”
In conclusion, Uirab says his team is hopeful to revive the popular national knockout cup tourney should a suitable funder come on board.