AT least 125 people died at an Indonesian football stadium when thousands of angry home fans invaded the pitch and police responded with tear gas that triggered a stampede, authorities said Sunday.
ERLING Haaland and Phil Foden scored hat-tricks as Manchester City thrashed Manchester United 6-3 to move to within a point of Premier League leaders Arsenal on Sunday.
ROBERT Lewandowski's lethal finish sent Barcelona provisionally top of La Liga with a tight 1-0 win at Real Mallorca on Saturday.
ALL roads will probably be leading to Katima Mulilo this weekend for the Yenda Summer Festival, which promises fun for the whole family.
IT'S official, 'Insomnia' singer Brendan Peyper will be coming to Namibia.
THE highly anticipated Namibia music and arts festival opened its doors today at the Sam Nujoma Stadium and runs until 2 October.
NAMIBIA has been ranked third among nations with the highest wealth per capita in Africa after Mauritius and South Africa.
THE country's economic policy can be executed more efficiently if cooperating agencies combine forces and seek synergies.
THE Bankers Association of Namibia (BAN) primarily focuses on policy issues of a non-competitive nature affecting the banking industry.
Former Namibia Football Association (NFA) first vice president Isaak Fredericks
THE reported new-found togetherness in domestic football is an illusion, and the Fifa normalisation committee's decision to overturn the ban of five officials of the expelled Namibia Premier League (NPL) is erroneous, says former Namibia Football Association (NFA) first vice president Isaak Fredericks.
THE reported new-found togetherness in domestic football is an illusion, and the Fifa normalisation committee's decision to overturn the ban of five officials of the expelled Namibia Premier League (NPL) is erroneous, says former Namibia Football Association (NFA) first vice president Isaak Fredericks.
The warring factions remain steadfast and have not reconciled, and plans are afoot by “unhappy members” to challenge the position of the normalisation committee (NC), he says.
Fredericks was tasked with overseeing the expulsion process of the NPL and its officials by the NFA executive committee, which has since been dissolved and replaced with the Fifa remedial body.
On Thursday, NC chief Bisey Uirab announced that disputes within the Namibian football fraternity have been resolved after reversing the banishments of NPL chairman Patrick Kauta, his deputy Bonifatius Paulino, Peter Nakurua, Gabriel Tjombe and Harald Fuelle from all NFA activities.
As a result of this 'unity', a sponsor had been tied down for the top tier national men's league and women's youth league, with kick-off set at early November, ending months of dormancy.
The conditions “imposed by and attached to our sponsor” are that all football fraternity disputes are resolved, and “all clubs and members work closely together to protect the image of football and that of the sponsor”.
“Therefore the reversal of the bans was done “in the spirit of reconciling various factions and normalising the game,” Uirab said in a statement.
Following “in-depth consultation”, the NC found “it is evident that there was no legal basis for the 'expulsion' of these executives, who were at the time not members of the NFA or members of a member as contemplated by Article 15”.
The decision to expel the NPL officials for bringing the association into disrepute was based on “errors of interpretation or misunderstandings”.
However, Fredericks contests that the NPL and its executives were correctly and simultaneously dismissed at the NFA's 16th extraordinary congress on 23 July 2020 in accordance with Article 15 of the NFA constitution, which empowers congress to expel a member, or a member of a member.
The NC flouted procedure “to sell a dream” of unity, Fredericks charged.
He said the NPL has accepted the expulsions and has established a rival national football body with plans to run “a professional league” that has no ties to the NFA.
“They were members of a member. They acted on behalf of the NPL. You cannot separate the two. We correctly followed due process,” Fredericks says.
He says the new NC has shown little regard for the NFA structures that overwhelmingly approved the NPL's dismissal from the national football mother body's register and impeached former NFA president Ranga Haikali before also prematurely ending his tenure via the ballot last year.
Both steps, which Fifa endorsed, were effected at congress, the highest decision-making organ of the NFA.
The NC says it has consulted extensively and are in unison with Fifa over reversing the expulsions.
“The whole process from the side of the NC is unprocedural. A congress decision can only be reversed by the very same legal platform. They say it has no legal basis, but all the facts are there,” Fredericks charged.
He further accuses the NC of being under the influence of a mystery third party.
“Since their inception, they [NC] operate under strong third party influence and concentrate or go full out for non [NFA] members. We are not going to use names but we know who they are,” Fredericks says.
“There is no reconciliation in football. That is not true at all. You can't reconcile by trying to fool people or undermine them.”
Haikali declined to be drawn into the argument of whether they had made an error. Instead, he called on all parties to rally behind the NC and to find common ground.
NPL remnant African Stars Sports Club, chaired by Kauta, welcomed the development. The NPL has yet to respond to a query on the subject.
“African Stars is elated to learn of the correct decision of the NC to unban football and invalidate the so called expulsion of the executive members of the Namibia Premier League. We are also encouraged by the steps taken by the NC to start football in a sustainable manner,” African Stars said in a statement on Friday.
It remains to be seen whether Stars and the other clubs which did not renounce their NPL status in the aftermath of the expulsion would seek NFA membership in order to benefit from the sponsorship.
The NFA-run Namibia Premier Football League is the only Fifa-recognised top tier division in the country.
“We hope this decision by the NFA NC will go a long way in restoring the dignity of the game and bring the alignment of purpose to build the football industry. Football is bigger than all of us, and in the end it will triumph,” Stars stated.
(Employed by The Namibian)
Please enter your email and password:
Please enter your details here:
Your login was unsuccessful. Please try again!
Your password has successfully been changed!
Your password has not been changed! Please try again.
Your registration was succsessful! You will receive an email from The Namibian. Please verify this registration by opening the link in this email.
The Email already exists in our database. Please continue to log in!
An error occured. Please try again!
Your profile has been updated!
Your profile has not been updated! Please try again.
Submit your email address to get a new password via email:
Your password has been reset! You will receive an email from The Namibian with your new password. You can change this password after you logged in.
Your registration validation was succsessful! Please continue to log in.
Your registration validation was not succsessful! Please try again.
Your vote has been submitted!
You already voted in this Poll!
Your vote was not submitted. Please try again!
Your comment could not be loaded. Please try again!
Your comment has been submitted!
Search for articles & photographs since 2022-09-02
42 John Meinert Street, Windhoek, Namibia,
© 2015 The Namibian All rights reserved.