Ashley Nyambe
“AFTER many spontaneous visits during 2021 to the Dr Hage Geingob Rugby Stadium, I saw the deterioration of the stadium and facilities and got more and more worried about the state of Namibian rugby,” Paul Oosthuizen, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Officeconomix, said.
It is with this in mind, Oosthuizen explained, that he realised that the stadium needs to be upgraded to support rugby players in the country. He organised a meeting with the CEO of the Namibian Rugby Union (NRU), John Heynes, to offer his support and to come up with a plan to restore the stadium and the state of Namibian rugby.
Oosthuizen said that he also continued networking with relevant stakeholders and managed to gather the support of more than 30 businesses that agreed to contribute to the renovation of the stadium. These sponsors include, but are not limited to, Neo Paints, Pupkewitz Nissan and Kosmos.
Oosthuizen further emphasised that the renovation is not only required because “no event or match can be hosted with a lot of broken seats”, but it is also urgent because of the upcoming rugby match between the Welwitschia rugby team and the Blue Bulls – a match that he organised by reaching out to the Blue Bulls Rugby Union President Willem Strauss.
The match is set to take place on 4 June, and according to Oosthuizen, the stadium will be ready by then. He said the stadium gates will open at 8:00 and besides the main rugby match, there will be various other rugby games for all ages and genders during the day, including a women’s rugby game, which will be a curtain-raiser for the big match.
“I think the highlight could be the drop goal competition sponsored by FNB where ten contestants are randomly drawn from the crowd and each gets one chance to do a dropkick. The first successful effort will win a Nissan Magnite to the value of N$300 000,” he said.
He further stated that the short-term goal of this effort is to build unstoppable momentum and upgrade the infrastructure.
He believes that they will add a value of more than N$1 million to the stadium and the NRU.
“It is not about the game on the fourth of July. It is about the future of Namibian rugby,” Oosthuizen said.
