Former Chairman of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Abuja Chapter, Bunmi Haruna, has led Family Worship Chapel (FWC) to victory in the Abuja Federation Cup after they edged out EFFC 4-3 in the Men’s final, played at the Area 3 playing ground in Abuja on Saturday evening, Owosports.com.ng reports.
This triumph marked the first-ever major trophy for FWC since its establishment. An elated Bunmi Haruna, who made the transition from the studio as a journalist to the touchline as a coach, expressed his gratitude and pride in his team’s achievement.
“I want to thank God; it’s a privilege to lead this team to their first major trophy. This is the first major trophy we have since we started. First was to qualify for the National President’s cup, which we achieved by qualifying for the final. The final. We knew it was going to be very difficult. We are playing against a team that has consistently been in the final. Six straight finals. So we expected it,” Haruna said.
Despite the daunting task, Haruna’s team rose to the challenge, controlling the game and creating scoring opportunities.
“But I must give kudos to my boys for being able to control the game. We controlled the first half totally, though we didn’t convert the chances. The second half, I needed to open it up a little bit so that we can create more chances. And that gave them the chance, you know, to come in and play a lot. But in the end, we were very confident if we went to penalties that we could win. Like I said, we’ve lost on penalties on like two or so occasions, so we know better. Must give kudos to the boys. They did a good job and we are very happy for this,” Haruna added.
Haruna also praised his penalty taker despite missing from the spot early in the game.
“He was the one that took the first penalty. That’s our penalty taker. So if he loses, it’s because it can happen. But, you know, he could have probably buried the game and open it up. But football writes his script. You might think whatever you think, but eventually Football writes his script. I am glad we got the win eventually.”
Coach Bunmi dedicated the victory to his fellow sports writers, and journalists across the world.
“This is for all the journalists across the world, there is nothing you cannot achieve, you know as journalists football is what we do every day we are knowledgeable about it and you can choose to take it to the next level this is dedicated to all the Sports writers in FCT, Nigeria and across the world.”
With this win, Bunmi Haruna has proven that journalists can transit to any given field and succeed.
