Lies and Deceit

THE explanations and excuses given by the football bosses regarding the participation of our junior team at the recent Under-17 youth tournament that Namibia won in Germany, are all invalid. The reason for that conclu¬sion is simple. UNDER-17 YOUTH FOOTBALL TOURNA¬MENT. That says it all. Can’t they read? I entirely dismiss ALL the excuses given by the Namibia Football Association’s Barry Rukoro and his technical di¬rector Klaus Starke as well as those of Dr Vetumbuavi Veii, Namibia’s Sports Director and his deputy, Bernard Kaanjuka.

The officials are desperately trying to cover up a blatantly obvious issue that even a kin¬dergarten child can figure out. Well, it cannot be defended and the fact is that the offi¬cials messed up or have been doing that every time they sent the youngsters to that end of the world. Veii admitted to this and finds it normal, but that is cheating and disregarding the courtesy of your German football friends. These cover-ups are obvi¬ously meant to stay clear from embarrassment after degrad¬ing the country’s reputation. At the same time, officials knowingly, or through their ignorance, wrecked the bilat¬eral relations Namibia has with Germany.

Trust has been broken. Why send over-aged players if the competition caters for players who are 17 (seven¬teen) years and younger? Imagine Frank Fredericks competing in the 100 metre sprint with a bunch of junior athletes and still feeling proud of himself for doing brilliantly by winning the race. It was deceiving of the selec¬tors to engage in such a move and they must surely all take the blame and admit to it. They must also pledge that it will never happen again.

That is if Namibia is invited to com¬pete in that event again. But, even worse, it defeats the purpose of the Fifa Fair Play motto which Namibia as¬cribes to in the game. This is cheating and robbery in broad daylight. Not only did Namibia cheat the opposition by winning the competition in the end, but Namibia cheated itself by denying the players with the correct ages to be part of the tournament. Imagine how many young players aspire to be part of the event or any other interna¬tional tournament.

They dream and talk about it endlessly. For years Namibian football officials have been denying those deserving youngsters an opportunity to go out there and make a mark for themselves in their right age-groups. Lies by officials depicts Namibia as a country in a bad light and the poor players are being looked down on by their peers as cheats, while they are not. The officials are.

click to enlarge Corry Ihuhua