Mid-Season Performance Of NPFL Excites NFA

A board member of the Ni
geria Football Association (NFA), Shehu Adamu, has applauded Management Company (LMC) and match officials for the successful conclusion of the first round of 2013/2014 league season.
Adamu, in an interview with the newsmen last Tuesday in Abuja said that the success was a sign of better things to come in the Nigeria Professional League (NPFL).
“This season is better than last year by what I am seeing. For example, you can go and have an away win, come back home and lose a match and then you can go and get a draw.
“This is to show that the system is beginning to be sanitised to make sure we get it right and that’s exactly what sports loving Nigerians are yearning for.
“I have no doubt that in the next few years I think we should be able to get it right.
“You have the right to go and win an away match out rightly and you can come back and lose at home out rightly.’’
He urged the LMC to ensure that the achievement recorded in the first stanza of the league was consolidated upon in the second round.
Meanwhile, proprietor of Nembe City FC of Bayelsa, Victor Baribote, has said that the NPFL could be ranked among the best leagues in the world if all hands were on deck.
He said NPFL major stakeholders were to be blamed or commended if thing went wrong or right in the league.
“The match officials, league administrator and club managers will share in the blame or commendation that comes out of the elite league.
“ I don’t want to blame anybody for some of the lapses and errors noticed in the league.
“I know there are some errors that are human but there are some that are deliberate.
“So, the only thing I know is that officiating must be balanced if our league must grow beyond this,’’ Baribote said.
19 matches were played in the first round of the NPFL season.
Similarly, the rescheduled week eight encounter between Kano Pillars and Bayelsa United will also hold on June 11.
Also another rescheduled encounter between Bayelsa United and Giwa FC of Jos will hold in Bayelsa on June 15.
The LMC had declared a one month break for the current NPFL season to enable Nigerians to focus on the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
The break is also to enable stakeholders involved in the elite league who are attending the World Cup to work out logistics for their trip.