The role of social league football in Namibia

Social league football or the ‘Sunday League’, also famously known as the ‘Boozers’, are all names given to non-professional football played, often by retired footballers or the ‘Madalas’ usually in their 40s or beyond.

It is also, sometimes, a place where younger footballers who could not make the cut to professional football can keep practicing and improve their skills until they can get a chance to play at the top level again.

In other social leagues, corporate companies use football as a social gathering event and team building exercise for their employees and their families.

This week, we take a look at how social leagues are reshaping football in Namibia. The league in focus is the Master Class Social League (MCSL) based in Windhoek.

The MCSL is a 14-team league made up of corporates like MTC, Profile Investments, Bank of Namibia, PwC, institution-backed teams like IUM FC, Namib Braves (police), Matrix and community-owned teams like Voltman FC, Ohangwena FC, Real Latinos, Costa Rica, Samagaga FC, Old Lady and Brothers FC. This hugely organised and successful league reflects slightly differently on the demographic of top tier football in Namibia, where there are no teams directly owned by corporate companies in the Premier League.

But there are institution-backed teams like Mighty Gunners FC (NDF) and University of Namibia FC (UNAM) that participated in the last edition of the premier league.

Ownership model

The majority of the clubs in Namibia have a community ownership model, and sometimes an individual sponsor.

Successes and failures from the MCSL have demonstrated that from a financial and stability perspective, it is more sustainable to foster strategic partnerships with corporate organisations and government institutions, which can directly support sports teams in Namibia.

Examples can be drawn from Zambia, where their league became hugely successful as institutions like Zanaco Bank and Zesco, amongst others, started backing football teams.

Besides the business role the social leagues play in shaping our football, there have been a few health benefits too.

The past two years have seen many people affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Others lost their jobs and a lot of organisations lost business too, because of the halt of people movement.

The MCSL, like other social leagues in the country, has started helping to revive the economy by providing some income to stadiums through bookings, paying trained referees for their services, and promoting the small businesses of people selling food, amongst other products, at the fields.

Health benefits

In terms of health, social league football provides a platform on which people get to exercise, lose excess weight, improve fitness and reduce the incidence of acquiring noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) like obesity, heart diseases, high blood pressure and diabetes.

These are conditions that are prevalent in the mid-40’s age group, and especially in retired footballers who often develop heart complications in the years immediately after their career.

This happens because after years of intense training at the top level, their bodies adapt and their heart grows to accommodate the higher energy demands of the sport.

Then as soon as they stop playing, their bodies struggle to immediately adjust and end up developing a phenomenon called post-athletic heart syndrome.

It is, therefore, very important that these social leagues are embraced and supported as they play a very important role in shaping our sport and building a healthy nation.

One worrying trend, however, remains.

Most of the social leagues are played with no medical personnel in sight. One rarely comes across an ambulance or even first aider on sight at these matches.

And yet, as a non-professional and unstructured league, there is a high injury risk at the field.

Lack of medical presence

In fact, as well as the lack of medical presence on the field, the players often play without adequately warming up, let alone training for the match during the week.

Some even come to the field drunk, or drink at the field.

This is very worrisome as it sometimes makes the social league a very dangerous place and health hazard when due caution is not taken.

These are the kind of issues that social league administrators need to start engaging in, in order for them to make their leagues more attractive and marketable.

By way of recommendation, and in conclusion, lawmakers must extend their regulations and make laws that place the safety responsibility in the hands of the field and stadium managers.

The Stadium Safety Act in the UK states that it is the responsibility of the stadium managers to ensure that all safety protocols are complied with.

In Namibia, the people accepting a booking for a field must ensure that the participants have made arrangements for medical personnel to be present, do not consume alcohol or are drunk whilst on the pitch, and perhaps that they are also not people identified to be at a clear risk of developing any health complications on the field.

Incidents have happened in the past when players collapsed and died on the field, like the August 2019 incident at Groot Aub where a player sustained a severe head concussion in a head-on collision at a social tournament and unfortunately, died. There are lessons to be learnt, both ‘for and from’ the social leagues in Namibia.

Munashe Chinyama is a private sports physiotherapist based in Windhoek, Namibia who has been a consultant for Namibian national football teams, including the Brave Warriors, since March 2018. He holds a BSc Hons Degree in Physiotherapy (UZ) and a Fifa diploma in football medicine, and is currently enrolled for a Masters (MSc) Degree in Sports and Exercise Physiotherapy at the University of Cape Town (UCT).