September 2; How We Arrived Here

I'm really sorry I have being away, I promise not to repeat this again.. Not said hello in more almost a month..

NPFL is resuming by September 2nd and I decided to do a short interview with some of my Ogas at the top as I am a rookie in NPFL matter... On this one, I feature my mentor Godwin Enakhena, my media father Andrew Randa, and my newest fam China Acheru the writer (looking forward to that book so much)

I asked few questions from three of them, let us see what they had to say about the NPFL.

Godwin Enekhena 

MO: Why do you think NPFL didn't resume at the time it should have which was immediately after the World Cup and was it even necessary for it to have gone on break

GE: For a country like Nigeria where the league management company is working towards having fans at the stadia, yes, it was a good decision to put the league on hold during the World Cup.

If the ongoing imbroglio didn’t happen, the league would’ve resumed and run according to schedule. This unfortunate issue should be blamed on politics and not the World Cup.

MO: How do you think the players would fare.. considering the wear and tear due to the short time available to complete the season

GE: If we take into consideration the players health, then the league shouldn’t continue. Two games per weekly between September 2 and October 30 is unthinkable. This includes the FA Cup that has not started at the national level. 

Yes, we can incur a fine by submitting names of our two representatives to CAF after the October 15 deadline but are there no options? Stop the league and send the names of Lobi Stars and Akwa United who are first and second on the table to CAF. Let there be no demotion from the NPFL and promotion from the NNL.

Merit is that it gives us enough time to start the new season and align our calendar with that of CAF.

MO: How can this be prevented in the future

GE: Let’s stop politicising our sports. What’s happening now is as a result of our failure to domesticate FIFA’s rules and passing of the NFF act that has been at the National Assembly for years. Let’s set up a court of arbitration for sports (CAS) in Nigeria immediately. The paper work has since been completed. This affords aggrieved people an opportunity to be heard. Doing the above will stop people from taking football matters to court.

China Acheru

MO: Why do you think re-starting the League is not so exciting

CA: After a ten week break that was initially supposed to be four, the restart of the Nigeria Professional Football League should bring joy, but this may not be the case as the NPFL is set to resume on the weekend of September 2. With the League initially supposed to resume on Sunday, July 22, the leadership crisis that rocked the Nigeria Football Federation as soon as the World Cup ended for Nigeria ensured that football, except at National Team level grind to a halt. But why aren't there chants of joy that the league is set to resume on September, 2? Really, there are, but not from the players and the clubs they represent. Some fans are excited, some football writers too are excited and maybe staff of the League Management Company, LMC who run the League, but that may be about where the excitement ends.

MO: Why should the players be worried

CA: Footballers are so called because they play football. Not golf, not basketball, but football. A person who does not play football regularly cannot call himself a footballer so no doubt these players should be excited that they can resume their professions on a regular basis. However, a League schedule that trended in the media is enough to discourage these players from taking part in the actual football.

From the schedule, the league will resume on September 2 and end on October 28, a total of 14 match days on 8 weeks. In 2 months, there will be games twice a week. Remember that some trips take team the length of the country and Nigerian Football clubs travel mostly by road. There is no way a lot of these players will not break down by the third week of this arrangement while others may begin to feign injuries.

MO: How did we get to this?

CA: We got to this because two people fought over the soul of Nigerian football. We also got to this because other people who should not have, used the league to play politics to form alliances.

There was no reason to suspend the league because the crisis should not have in any way affected it. Well, to put it differently, it is difficult to put up a convincing argument on why the leaue was suspended. Just like the Flying Eagles and Falconets played games during the crisis because the NFF had secretariat staff to take charge so the League should have been played regardless because the LMC had secretariat staff. But we are here and must face the consequences of ending the league, having in mind that Nigerian clubs must register on time with the Confederation of African Football, CAF ahead of the Champions League and Confederation Cup next season.

Some have suggested that the LMC just declare the league over as it is now so the clubs can begin to prepare for the next season but the best response to that suggestion would be that we should all say no to drugs. Right now the players must suffer, the clubs must suffer, the league must suffer, but as we say, Na we game and we must continue to support Nigerian football. The crisis took away ten weeks of the season and since time cannot be turned back, the league must be finished, regardless.

But moving forward, we must begin to shield our football from the dirty politicking that has been a part of us as Nigerians for a long time now.

Next year is an election year in Nigeria and the league will be stopped again for at least two months. Let us let this sink in!

ANDREW RANDA

MO: Why do you think NPFL didn't resume at the time it should have which was immediately after the World up and was it even necessary for it to have gone on break

AR: The reasons are quite obvious when the league went on break at the start of World Cup it was expected to resume immediately after the end of work.

Unfortunately that didn't happen. Everyone knows that Giwa Vs Pinnick issue necessitated the stoppage of the league because no one was sure where the funds would come from as there was no idea of who was in charge of the account.

Chris Giwa been who he is had the support of the sports minister Solomon Dalung which was extremely crucial. He had people that would always beckon to his call, therefore this issue was a crucial one. The league could have gone ahead if the minister been who is wouldn't have taken some unimaginable steps. Imagine if game commissioners were chosen and the sports minister sends a memo that no one should attend. People needed to show that they were united for a common cause .

Also, I think we shouldn't have gone on a break in the first place because the NPFL was not affected by the World Cup. Ikechukwu Ezenwa was the only NPFL player who made the Super Eagles list for Russia 2018. At that point I believed it was totally unnecessary to put the league on hold. If the league wasn't put on hold probably we would have covered another 10 match days and have maybe 4 or 8 to go but we have no choice but to deal with this. 

MO: How do you think the players would fare.. considering the wear and tear due to the short time available to complete the season

AR: It is going to be very hard on players, a very tough road as they will be playing 3 games in 7 days (Sunday, Wednesday, Sunday) so, we are in a very unique situation and everyone has to brace up and work hard. We need to sort things because CAF already gave a deadline of October 15th to submit clubs that would represent the country for the next CAF champions league fixtures. Therefore, we need to get down with that as soon as we can. It is going to be really tough for players, administrators and even journalists that will be covering the games also. 

MO: How can this be prevented in the future

AR: The lessons have been learnt, I have always said this issue of NFF election during world cup has to stop. I think the election should be moved to a non world cup year, and the FIFA statue needs to be domesticated in a proper way so people wouldn't use the loopholes as excuses to go to court. Dealing with human beings could be extremely difficult but we have to make things work. At this point people need to know and understand that there are ways we can handle this, they need to start obeying rules and regulations. If you sign up for something you should be able to go along with it and not use loopholes to make things happen in your favour.

NPFL TABLE 

MO: Your pick for first four and relegation

AR: Akwa United, Lobi Stars, Plateau United and Eyinmba for my top four, for relegation, Go Round FC (apologies to my man China Acheru), Sunshine Stars, Yobe Stars, and Heartland FC.


In summary, there is little or nothing I can say here. you have read it all from the gurus there... I personally wish the league had not gone on break and I really feel bad for these players who have no choice and for some teams who do not have a team B.. e go hard oo..

Thanks for reading, I love you all so much. Remember without you there is not Moladetoki's blog. Don't forget to drop your comments and please subscribe to my blog. Thank you fam. I love you y'all.