Still no, says sport commission to NPL

THE Namibia Sports Commission (NSC) on Friday again rejected the application of the Namibia Premier League (NPL) for membership.

It is the second time the commission turned down the former Namibia Football Association (NFA) affiliate’s request to be admitted as a second football governing body in the country and be licensed to operate as a professional football league.

The NSC Registration and Compliance Committee decided at its meeting on Tuesday.

“In the same vein, the board, after applying their minds during a board meeting on 27 April 2021, supported the registration and compliance committee’s position as contained in their submission,” NSC chief administrator Simataa Freddy Mwiya said in his letter to the NPL.

NSC initially rejected NPL’s application to be a freestanding national sports body on 26 November last year. NPL challenged the decision at the National Sport Appeals Committee, which last month ordered NSC to revisit its position.

The appeals committee found NSC’s pronouncement “unlawful” given that “the purported decision appears not to have been taken at a properly constituted” sport commission board meeting.

Consequently, NSC was instructed to re-evaluate its position properly in compliance with the Sports Act, national constitution and common law.

It remains to be seen whether NPL will challenge the latest rejection.

NPL’s desire to rival the NFA’s status arose from the former’s expulsion as a member of the latter last year.

Only the NFA may oversee organised football in Namibia, Fifa reiterated last year.

NFA has since established a new top-tier division, the Namibia Premier Football League, which kicked off earlier this month with a transitional campaign to ease footballers back into competitive action.

The first full NPFL season will begin in August.

NPL’s defiance now hinges on the outcome of a ruling on its Court of Arbitration for Sports appeal against NFA over its suspension as an NFA member in February last year. A favourable NPL verdict in May will affect the NFA’s plans.