Ex-Coaches Task NPL On Sponsorship Deal

Former national coaches, Paul Hamilton and Kashimawo Laloko have urged the Nigeria Premier League Board NPL, not to allow their title sponsorship deals to hinder the growth of football in the country.

The coaches spoke to the newsmen in Lagos on the league’s title sponsorship won by MTN Nigeria which was nullified recently.

They expressed the view that the league’s governing body should be consistent in all its deals to lift the game.

The NPL had on December 16 last year after a bidding process by two of the country’s telecommunications companies, announced MTN, represented by Total Promotions Nigeria Ltd, winner of the title sponsor.

Globacom Nigeria Ltd, the sponsor between 2006 and 2010, alleged that the bid did not follow due process and subsequently took the matter to court but later withdrew the case.

The NPL Congress last week  said the involvement of a third party on behalf of a client was unacceptable to it and subsequently nullified the deal.

Hamilton, who coached the senior female and male national teams, advised that sponsorship issues should not be used to stall football development.

“The several crises in the country’s football of recent, leading to litigations and withdrawal of cases from courts is worrisome and not in the best interest of football lovers.

“I am not happy with the recent developments in our football. The NPL should do the right thing for our football to grow,” said Hamilton, a bronze winner with the U-20 team at the 1985 U-20 World Cup in Moscow.

The Director of Pepsi Football Academy, Kashimawo Laloko, called for consistency in all deals for the promotion of football.

He said that the NPL had its reasons for revoking MTN’s title sponsorship deal

but warned that something should be done to check recurrence for the league not to suffer.