Sports
Disband Green Eagles
The life patron of the IICC "Shooting Stars" of Ibadan, Chief Lekan Salami, has called for the immediate disbandment of the national team, the Green Eagles, for their poor showing in Tunisia.Speaking to newsmen in Ibadan, Chief Salami said the present crop of players in the national team should be sacked adding that members of the under-17 team should be groomed to take part in the 1990 World Cup competition.
Chief Salami said the nation's chances of qualifying for the African Cup of Nations with the present national team is very remote.
He argued that modern football is a game of the youth, stressing that the majority of the members of the Green Eagles are already a spent force.
He accused both the Nigerian Press and he national coach Mr Chris Udumeze of over-publicising our players before the match.
"It's nice we lost"
Nigeria Football Association chairman, Group Captain Tony Ikazoboh, has said that the Green Eagles loss in the World Cup qualifier against Tunisia could be a blessing."It's nice that we lost," the chairman said. "With the green Eagles out of the competition one can settle down and work on some programmes for the game," Group Captain Ikazoboh said.
The chairman is thinking of long term programmes that would raise the standard of the country's football. "There is a lot of work to do," he confessed.
Group Captain Ikazoboh's stand on the loss was different from his feelings immediately after the match which the Eagles lost 2-0.
He strolled from the state box in a fast pace rebuking the team's efforts. "I hate a team that cannot fight. These boys did not fight," he said.
Nigeria protests to Ivory Coast
Nigeria has lodged a protest with the Ivorian authorities over the manhandling of players and officials of the IICC Shooting Stars Football Club, whose second-leg semi-final WAFU match with Africa Sports of Ivory Coast was abandoned at the outbreak of violence.The indication was given in Abidjan by the Nigerian Ambassador to the Ivory Coast, Dr Lawrence Ekpebu. The Nigerian ambassador told the West Africa correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria that the protest touched on specific aspects of observed police brutality reported during the match.
According to the ambassador, the protest note delivered to the Ivory Coast Foreign Ministry on Monday afternoon also touched on the molestation on Sunday night of Ivory Coast-based Nigerians, some of whose homes were ransacked and damaged shortly after the match.
Goods worth thousands of Naira were looted from the homes of the Nigerians.
Kotoko, Hearts in voluntary work
Voluntary work has started on the playing grounds of Hearts of Oak in Accra and Asante Kotoko in Kumasi.In Accra, the Executive Chairman of Hearts, Mr Marcus Hughes and Col, Evans-Lutterodt, Chairman of the National Chapter Committee, led all chapters, supporters and old players of the club in the exercise.
GTTA honours Hathiramani
Mr D G Hathiramani, an Indian businessman who has been associated with table tennis in Ghana for the past 33 years has been honoured by the Ghana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) on his retirement from active participation in sport.Mr Hathiramani, a naturalised Ghanaian has been the brain behind Ghana's success in table tennis on the continent. Almost all the past and current table tennis stars of the country have been trained by him.
He was presented with an Adinkrah cloth, a pair of native sandals and a white traditional stool.
NIS to be fully utilised
The Nigerian National Institute for Sports (NIS) has been urged to take an active part in the development of Sports in the country.The chairman of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) Group Captain Anthony Ikazoboh while making this call said that the facilities available at the NIS have not been fully utilised by the people running the place.
The NIS should be able to monitor our players' errors and see how well they could synchronise them.
The chairman is of the opinion that the Institute and the national football coaches should research into various patterns of football in the world and then fashion out a system which will be applicable throughout the country.
"Working with the NIS we should be able to come out with something in the future which would be Nigerian," Group Captain Ikazoboh said.
Coca Cola for Nigerian footballers
The Nigerian Bottling Company has donated 170 crates of its famous Coca Cola drinks to the three arms of the national football team.Public relations manager Ibikunle Armstrong presented the drinks to the teams at a press gathering, and said that the company's commitment to Nigerian teams would continue.
Receiving the presents on behalf of the Nigeria Football Association, Mr Bolaji Okubule thanked Coca Cola for the kind gesture and promised that the football association would hoist the nation's flag - and creditably.
Fashanu's date with dad
Breakfast for footballers in camp is a daily routine. But what made it so special for John Fashanu, Nigerian professional player with English second division Millwall is the fact that he had it with his father whom he had not seen for 22 years.John was in camp with the Green Eagles of Nigeria at the Rita Lovie Hotel in Ibadan when he woke in the morning to learn that his dad who saw his son for the last time as a toddler was looking for him. So to the breakfast table they went together.
"I was happy I saw him for the first time on Saturday. We were unable to talk much in Ibadan because there were too many people around. But I know he is a very respected person in town.
"At breakfast we talked about my parents in Britain, Justin and lots of other personal things including his life. He is a nice man and we got along very well," he said.
Justin, John's senior brother, said he was planning for his dad to visit him in Britain next month. He loves to come over and I would be expecting him, he said about the dad he never knew.
