Blaauw vows to develop football at grassroots level


KEETMANSHOOP: Newly elected ||Kharas football second division league executive committee (exco) chairperson Emrico has vowed to ensure that all teams in the league register a young team or adopt a school team to develop the sport at the grassroots level.

This, he said, will allow an exchange of expertise in the game of football as well as develop a working relationship with schools in the region.

In an interview with Nampa on Wednesday Blaauw said during his five-year tenure he will also make women’s football a priority, with at least one ||Kharas women’s team in the Elite Women Super League.

‘Teams from the second division are faced with the challenge of transportation of players and officials to attend away games as it is costly and there is a need to source funding from the public and private sector,’ he said.

The chairperson further said the new exco is busy fostering a working relationship with South Africa’s Football Association in the Northern Cape, to build relations and cooperation in the area of
football between the ||Kharas Region and the Northern Cape.

‘Since our players from the south find it very difficult to penetrate through the Windhoek route, we can make use of the twinning agreement between the ||Kharas Region and the Northern Cape, to ensure our players and teams play there. We know we have talent in the south and we can sell our players that side. We believe if we sell our players, the small teams from the first and second division from our region will make more money and this will also allow our players to be scouted in South Africa,’ he said.

Other exco members include Renaldo De Klerk as vice-chairperson, Zayne Beukes as secretary and Luken Shivela as treasurer, while Fanny Boois, Vyvion Kheibemab and Lesley Boois are additional members.

Blaauw emerged victorious during an election that took place here over the weekend, where 11 out of the 17 member teams voted in favour of Blaauw.

He competed against Mesag Natanael, who received only six votes.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency