Olive branch in NPL saga

Namibia Football Association (Fifa) normalisation committee chairperson Hilda-Basson Namundjebo remains optimistic that things will change for the better between the premier league and the committee.

This is after a meeting between Namibia Premier League (NPL) clubs and the normalisation committee on Tuesday, where it was suggested that clubs relegated after the 2017/18 season should be reinstated to the league.

Young Chiefs, Chiefs Santos and Rundu Chiefs, who were all relegated after the 2017/18 season, will benefit if the move is agreed to.

However, Civics and Orlando Pirates, who were relegated after the 2018/19 season, and Young African, who were demoted, will not be happy.

It is not the first time a proposal of this nature has been mooted, but it was revived by some clubs during Tuesday's closed-door meeting.

Only Blue Waters and Young Brazilian failed to attend.

The meeting was held in order to plot the way forward for the NPL, which has been suspended from the NFA by the normalisation committee.

This followed a Fifa directive being snubbed by the NPL, The directive was that no relegations and promotions should take place ahead of the new season. “The meeting did take place, because we wanted to hear the views of the clubs and the recommendations they wanted to make.

“A suggestion came up that the clubs relegated after the 2017/18 season must actually come up, because there was no first division (last season).

“This was suggested by the floor and as the normalisation committee we did take note of it,” Basson-Namundjebo said.

“Not all members agreed to the proposition, but I actually think it was a very fruitful discussion. It is definitely not a point that has been endorsed at the moment, but we will look into it in the coming days, with more meetings to come.”

The stumbling block is that Young African, Orlando Pirates and Civics are eager to be reinstated to the NPL ahead of the new season.

NPL chairman Patrick Kauta, who was not present at the meeting, said he was in support of Young Chiefs, Chiefs Santos and Rundu Chiefs returning to the league.

Kauta strongly believes this will be the only way the league can proceed, without having to amend its constitution. The chairman said Young Chiefs, Chiefs Santos and Rundu Chiefs clubs have suffered the most because of the current football mess, given that they were relegated and did not have anywhere to play. “If we speak about sporting merit, then it is no secret that these clubs that were relegated after the 2017/18 season have to be reinstated.

“They are the clubs that suffered the most throughout all this, because they were relegated, and it was not their fault they did not play in the first division.

“There is, however, a chance for the teams relegated this season to play in the first division,” Kauta said.

The NPL is currently under suspension by the normalisation committee, whose stay in office was recently extended by Fifa to March 2020.

The suspension followed the NPL requesting the committee to send it promotion/relegation rules for the new season.

The normalisation committee refused to entertain the NPL's request and slapped it with a suspension.

The suspension ensued after a lengthy standoff between the NPL and the NC.

The league management wanted to go ahead and start the new season with only 13 clubs, despite the normalisation committee's disapproval.

The NPL relegated Orlando Pirates and Civics, while Young Africans' demotion came after they fielded a foreign player registered under a fake name.

The league's suspension will last until the upcoming NFA congress, unless the normalisation and the NPL come to some kind of agreement regarding the relegation saga.

Jesse Jackson Kauraisa