A few fans who attended the matches of the Southern Stream First Division’s (SSFD) elimination round of the prestigious Bidvest Namibia Cup expressed unhappiness after the final of the event did not take place. Namibian Sun had been informed that the final between Citizens and Bee Bob Brothers had ended on a 0-0 draw, with the latter emerging victorious after the penalty shootout ended 5-4. It turns out, though, that no such match took place with a fan informing the paper that one of the teams had apparently cited tiredness as an excuse. “The people had paid the entrance fee but there was no match,” the fan said. “There was not even talk about a possible refund,” he added. This situation left egg on the faces of the organisers, who later admitted that, after both teams agreed, no final was played. “The whole issue of playing the final was left in the hands of the two teams to decide because we understood some of the factors they cited,” explained SSFD league administrator Mervin Geiriseb. “So they both agreed that in order to avoid unnecessary injury and such, playing the final was not necessary,” he stated. Nothing untoward Geiriseb goes on to explain that since all the teams in the SSFD had already agreed to use the prize money for paying the transport fees of the different clubs to Mariental, there really was nothing to play for in the final. “This is something that was already discussed at the Namibia Football Association (NFA) secretariat level and everyone was duly informed in writing about all of this,” he said. “The only thing that was decided by the organising committee was whether to allow the final to be played or not,” Geiriseb clarified. As for the entrance fee, which was set at N$10 per person with entry for cars costing N$5, the administrator says that these were paid early in the morning for the matches that started at around 09:00. “We had one quarter-final match and two semi-final matches that took place in the morning... it is for these that fans had to pay,” he said. “In fact, by the time the final was supposed to be played we had already opened the gates and no one was being charged for entry to the field.” The preliminary round of the Bidvest Namibia Cup has been somewhat contentious in the past, as the draw for the competition’s last 32 takes place well before the teams from the lower ranks have eliminated each other. Last year, it was reported that a certain team conspired to lose their final in order to avoid being drawn against a Namibia Premier League (NPL) side.
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