NamibiaSport

Geoffrey Roman

The president of Oshikandela Ramblers Football Club, Manny Coelho, has warned that they could take drastic action following the dismissal of their appeal against Orlando Pirates on Friday evening. Coelho accused the NFA of discriminating against Ramblers and said that he had had enough. He said that they would hold a meeting with their lawyers, sponsors and shareholders to discuss the way forward for the club.

“We will have to take some serious decisions about our future and will discuss the issue with our lawyers and our sponsors. The NFA is clearly discriminating against us and we have to take a serious look at where we should go with our club. At this stage I don’t know what we will do. It could be a radical breakaway, or even a merger, I don’t know, but at this stage we have just had enough,” Coelho said.

Coelho said this was just the latest in a string of cases where Ramblers had been discriminated against.

“This is just too much. Two years ago we informed the NFA about a bribery case when Chief Santos asked us to throw our match but the NFA did nothing. Then last season we protested after our match against Blue Waters was stopped 12 minutes before full time. At that stage the teams were level at 1-1 and Blue Waters was fighting to survive in the Premier League. In the end Blue Waters didn’t survive the relegation axe, but it affected us financially because had we won that match we would have finished third and not fourth,” he said.

Ramblers lodged an appeal against Orlando Pirates for fielding a red carded player, Mohammed Ouseb, in their Cell One NFA Cup semifinal match on May 30. Ouseb had a major influence on the match, scoring a goal and creating another as Pirates came from behind to beat Ramblers 3-2.

On May 16, Ouseb was ordered off Pirates’ bench during their quarterfinal victory against African Stars and asked to leave the technical area. According to the referee’s report, Ouseb swore at the referee and delayed play by not returning a ball that had gone out of play.

According to Ramblers’ chairman Harald Hecht, they had to pay N$10 000 to lodge an appeal but the appeal was delayed twice as the Appeals Board was not properly constituted and had to be postponed. The appeal was finally heard on Friday evening, less than 24 hours before the Cell One NFA Cup final, but it was dismissed.

Coelho however accused the NFA of incompetence and said that Ramblers would make a statement within two to three weeks about their future.

“They threw our case out. The NFA is being run by incompetent officials who think they are bigger than the game. I support the recent statement by Black Africa coach Ali Akan who said that there is corruption in Namibian football,” Coelho said.

“We will hold a meeting with Ramblers’ shareholders and sponsors and we will make a decision within the next two to three weeks about the club’s future,” he said.