Sports
Gambia Considers Quitting WAFU
The Gambia Football Federation (GFF) is considering its position within the West African Football Union (WAFU).
The comments are coming after refereeing controversies at the last two regional tournaments.
The GFF has submitted complaints to the regional body and the Confederation of African Football over a penalty awarded at the ongoing WAFU Cup of Nations in Ghana.
“We’re considering our position in WAFU because with all the resources invested in it to go out in such manner is not fair,” the GFF President Lamin Kabba Bajo told Tidesports source.
“We will probably discuss the issue in a month’s time during our next executive committee meeting.”
The Gambia was knocked out of the tournament when hosts Ghana scored from the spot after Burkina Faso’s Boukari Ouedraogo adjudged a Gambian player had handled the ball.
This is the second consecutive WAFU Cup of Nations tournament in which The Gambia feels they have been treated unfairly.
Two years ago Senegal was crowned regional champions when The Gambia refused to play extra-time following a goalless draw.
They pointed to the fact that the match officials had said the match would go straight to penalties before ultimately reviewing the rules that stipulated extra-time should be played first.
The GFF’s protest also pointed to two other matches that it feels were poorly officiated recently.
One was an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in September 2016 when the Scorpions lost 2-0 in Cameroon, when the recently banned Ghanaian referee Joseph Lamptey was in charge.
The other involved controversial offside decisions during an Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in July 2016 as The Gambia lost 2-1 on aggregate to Guinea.
Meanwhile, in Nigeria, the League Management Company (LMC) has rescinded its decision to relegate Shooting Stars from the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).
On Saturday, the LMC announced 3SC as one of the four teams (alongside Remo, Gombe and ABS) relegated to the Nigeria National League (NNL).
The Ibadan club lost 2-0 away to Niger Tornadoes in Lokoja on the final day of the season.
Their relegation was confirmed, after it was reported that another team fighting relegation, Wikki Tourists, pipped Gombe United 1-0 in Gombe. But reports later surfaced, that the game was abandoned due to crowd trouble.
Following the development, LMC has now come out to state that until the match report of the game between Gombe United and Wikki Tourists is available, the fourth team that will join Remo, ABS and Gombe (Wikki and 3SC) in the lower division is yet to be decided.
A well-known football pundit in the State, Chief Christopher Okonkwo has lauded the efforts and vision of the Super Eagles Coach Eric Chelle for going from one venue of the Nigeria Domestic Nigeria Professional Football League match to the other in monitoring Nigerian players, with a view to invite some exceptional good one discovered into the main stream of the Super Eagles team.
Okonkwo, who made the commendation in an interview at the Port Harcourt Club recently, described the positive move by Coach Chelle as a good step in the right direction, noting that the practice was how its been done in the past among any contracted coach assigned to tinker the Super Eagles team.
“Truly, it has been an old tradition in the country seeing any newly engaged Coach to lead the National team, visiting some our Nigeria League venues during the league matches to spot light some good talents that could be used to beef up some grey areas in the department of Eagles team”
He, however, frowned at the current situation where our coaches had continously been over depending on the use of foreign based players during invitation of players to the National camp, thereby, relegating the domestic home based league players to the background as if they have nothing much to offer to the team.
“I can vividly recall that the likes of great players in the mode of Finidi George, Taribo West, Kanu Nwankwo, Austin Okocha, Richard Owobokiri, Emmanuel Osuigwe among others started from Nigeria football league before they graduated to play in Europe through which they later invited to Super Eagles camp to represent Nigeria”
“Besides, I’m also of the view that going to secondary school football competitive games could equally serves as a a good platform to discover budding talents that could be nurtured to become great stars in near future”, Okonkwo frankly added.
Okonkwo, therefore, prayed that any football coach to be engaged by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to tinker the Super Eagles should be told not to confine himself in staying in big hotel alone but to be visiting some of our local league match venues, with a view to discover some good players that can be drafted into the Super Eagles team.
“Indeed, I stand to be challenged that there some young good players in the Nigeria Professional League. If spotted and exposed, could give the some of the invited foreign based players a stiff competitive fight in securing a postion in the team”, Okonkwo emphatically stated.
Ezechukwu, one of the youngest members of the Nigerian contingent at the championship in Ghana, said her ambition was to win the 100m title in style and cap it with a new personal record.
The fresh secondary school graduate explained that she is fully focused on contributing to Team Nigeria’s medal hopes and is determined to deliver strong performances across her events.
“My main objective in Ghana is to clinch the 100m title and the 4×100m,” Ezechukwu told Tidesports source.
“Nigeria can be assured of my very best and my commitment to the Team. I would love to set a new personal best in Ghana, but anything that comes, I will take it. The spirit in the team is high, and I think we are ready to go,” she said.
Ezechukwu, who was part of Nigeria’s women’s 4x100m relay squad at the World Relays in Botswana, said the experience gained from that competition has strengthened her mindset heading into the continental championships.
She admitted that she learned valuable lessons from her previous outing, including a difficult moment during the relay where an early error affected the team’s rhythm, but said she has used the experience to improve her discipline and composure.
“The secret is just being disciplined, training hard and trusting my coach and believing in God, and the result will show,” she added.
The teenager is part of a 41-member Nigerian team comprising 24 female and 17 male athletes competing at the championships, which begin today at the University of Ghana, Legon.
Nigeria are expected to compete across multiple track and field events as they aim for a strong finish against the continent’s elite athletes.
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