Chief Operating Officer of the Nigeria Nationwide League One (NLO) Mr. Olushola Ogunnowo has assured that everything has been put in place to ensure there is hitch free 2022 NLO season, OwoSports.com.ng reports.
The sports administrator who was a guest on Nigeria Sports Express on Jordan FM (105.5) last Saturday rolled out plans and what to expect from the league which Kicks off on Wednesday 16 March 2022 in Lagos with Smart City FC hosting Gbagada FC at Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere, Lagos State.
“Everything is set, the match officials are ready. Like we normally do in the Nationwide League One, we bring out the best of the grassroots league in the country and at the same time following the norms of football organization. There is nothing left that we’ve not done, as I’m talking to you presently our Medical Unit are on ground in all the states of the federation performing the pre-competition medical assessment for the players in the league,” he affirmed.
“It’s shocking that many people are always asking questions, how do we carry this out, but then we have our plans mapped out that every player in the league is certified fit so that we don’t get to see any casualties or player collapsing on the field of play due to health issues or hidden injuries. By the time all these are done, we will kick start our matches on Wednesday.
“As regard security at the stadia, we are working with the Nigeria Police Force. Like you are aware the Nationwide League One is in partnership with POCACUF, that is Nigeria Police Campaign Against Cultism and Pther Social Vices. The social vices includes violence, cultism, match fixing and all other vices that can be associated with young adults.
Our men are on ground, the POCACUF team are always on ground at every conner trying to checkmate an event before it happens, so we can quickly take note when it occurs. As it is we are ready, everybody is ready the NLO is ready and the officials are ready.
Speaking on the Train The Trainer clinic that was held for the coaches in the third tier division of Nigeria football league, Mr Shola said, “As part of our empowerment, on the technical aspects of the league, we ensured that our coaches are being trained because we made an emphatic statement last two weeks that no club should be allowed to play without a certified coach handling them, because we discovered that this is where the development of Nigeria stands, because if players are being groomed at this level without a certified coach then that means the wrong training are being giving to the players which may actually ruin their career.
Most of these things will play out when these players join a club with a none certified coach they might have had a bad orientation from the grassroots so we ensured that all the coaches in the league participate in this coaching clinic.
“The essence of it, is to bring the coaches in-tune to modern football trends and the way it’s been handled most especially at the grassroots.
On the format the league will be applying this season, “the League will be a Home and Away version, we are trying to reduce the regional league to Division Two and Three, the reason we are going back to the Home and Away version is because we have discovered that the regional format is not helping football to grow in Nigeria.
“This is keeping the State Football Association which is 37 redundant since we are only using eight venues, it keeps the referees in about 29 States redundant because we will only pick referees from this state involved which is not helping the Nigeria Referee Association (NRA) to develop their referees because most of them are being used to test their ability at the grassroots level before they got the professional cadre, knowing that this happens and we actually see at the same time that the players don’t get to play enough matches and if they are, the team’s that are getting promoted to the professional level need to play tested matches, enough matches which will help their career, so the board met and decided to revert to the Home and Away format.
“The Home and Away version has come to stay and we will be playing One Thousand, Four Hundred and Forty matches”, he concluded.
