By SANDRA MWILA –
THE Netball Association of Zambia (NAZ) says it will not tolerate dual roles this season where some club coaches also double up as umpires.
Speaking during a Midlands Netball Association (MINA) annual general meeting held at the Napsa Sports Complex at the weekend, NAZ general secretary Pritchard Ngoma said the past trends should come to an end to avoid confusion in the game.
Ngoma said the situation that saw coaches from other teams appointed as umpires should come to an end adding that the associations were expected to have neutral umpires to have the fairness during games and competitions.
“We shall not tolerate dual roles in MINA this season. We shall not allow a coach belonging to a particular club to be appointed umpire and officiate a match against rival teams instead we shall seek neutral umpires,” he said.
Ngoma said there was need to bring back sanity into the game and expressed sadness that the trend to have coaches double up as umpires had been tolerated for a long time.
“As NAZ we have been tolerant for a long time because some of these umpires have been around for a long time and hence the need for the netball mother body to recruit new umpires from various schools. The code of conduct needs to be observed this season,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ngoma has advised MINA to come up with a better criterion of selecting nominees for the annual awards.
Ngoma said it was surprising that certain players have twice won the award of upcoming player, citing the case of the 2012 and 2013 ceremony.
He said it was not possible for one player to continue winning the accolade as an upcoming player for successive years.