Cheating: Club Official Seeks Better League Coverage

The Manager of Dolphins FC of Port Harcourt, Ahmed Abdulrahman, has said that better coverage of the Nigeria Premier League (NPL) could stem match fixing.

Abdulrahman stated in Lagos that he expected that matches would be played as scheduled, with valid postponements to avoid problems.

“One of the recurring problems experienced last season was postponement of matches that forced the league to last longer than expected. It did not go down well.

“And we need live coverage and publicity for the league matches, so as to eliminate cheating experienced during the last season,” the manager said.

He said teams participating in the league would appreciate it if officiating could be improved upon and the pitches standardised.

“I expect that this season will witness better quality officiating to avoid confusion in the field of play, experienced in past seasons.

“There is need for improvement in pitches as the poor state of playing turfs had not helped the quality of the competition,’’ he said.

Abdulrahman said that he hoped the 2011/2012 season would have better sponsorships, pointing out that some clubs had problems picking their bills and catering for their players.

“ I expect there will be more aggressiveness in marketing the league,’’ Abdulrahman said.

The new league season started on January 7 across the country.