29 April 2008
Windhoek — The Namibia Premier League (NPL) held discussions with members of the South African Professional Soccer League (PSL) over the weekend to exchange ideas on how to professionalise Namibian soccer.
Professor Ronnie Schloss, the chief operating officer of the PSL, and Peter Mancer, head of PSL marketing, visited Namibia on the invitation of the NPL and exchanged ideas about the formation of a professional soccer league with Namibian soccer administrators over the weekend.
Mabos Vries of the NPL said that the visit was aimed at exploring ways to strengthen cooperation between the PSL and the NPL. "The PSL is the richest league on the continent with considerable resources in terms of human capital, facilities, systems and finance, which could be of benefit to the NPL and football in Namibia in general," Mabos Vries of the NPL said. "The NPL has ambitious plans to introduce professional football, improve marketing and communications, enhance the technical quality of football, develop suitable infrastructure, and build the brand. We believe that this process can be accelerated through strategic partnerships with local and international institutions such as the PSL," he added. Turning the PSL around Professor Schloss said that they had managed to turn the PSL around from a loss-making company into a thriving business over the past five years.
"We were R50 million in the red, but turned the business around through a strong marketing team and the enthusiasm of our people. Five years ago rugby and cricket were the top sport brands in South Africa, but now soccer is way ahead of them," he said. The PSL is now the leading sport in South Africa by far, with an average of five million television viewers a year. Schloss said that the role of marketing and changing the image of the PSL had played a major role in the reversal of its fortunes.
"We managed to change the image of soccer and regained the confidence of our sponsors. If they see there is a product that is respected, they will join in, but they will be wary to become a part of it if they see an organisation that is involved in conflict," he said. "We improved the administration of the PSL, while the behaviour of the clubs and the spectators also improved. There have been no major incidents of crowd trouble over the past three years and now soccer is an attractive pastime for families and children as well. If you can achieve that, then you are on the right track," he added. The president of Civics Football Club, Helmuth Scharnowski, who attended the course, said that it was clear that the NPL would have to market itself as an independent body from the Namibia Football Association (NFA).
"It is clear that the NPL must be an independent body to market itself properly. In their opinion it was important that the responsible people who are running the league must market it as well because they will benefit from this. On the one hand they must be independent and able to market itself, but on the other hand they must also pay a portion to the NFA in the form of license fees," he said.
Scharnowski said the importance of the media had also been discussed. "Without the media, no advertising is possible, but then again the television equipment of the NBC needs to be upgraded to provide a better product, so the NPL would have to negotiate with the government on this aspect," he said. Scharnowski added that the current agreement between the NFA and the Namibia Football Consortium would have to be looked at. "A deal is a deal, and you can only change it if both parties agree to it.
But we will have to negotiate and try and come to another conclusion, for the sake of the clubs," he said.
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