Nigeria Content Online

Cowrie
RFC on Sunday emerged winners of the Lagos Rugby Union League and
etched their name in the record books by becoming the first side to
finish the season unbeaten.

The air was thick
with anticipation on Sunday at the main bowl of the National Stadium,
Lagos as fans of the sport waited to see how Cowrie would end the third
edition of the Lagos Rugby Union League organised by the Friends of
Rugby (FOR). This was because Cowrie went into the match at the summit
of the league table with an unbeaten run. And their opposition in their
final game was second-placed Addax RFC.

Cowrie, however,
cruised to victory, deafeating Addax 15-0 to maintain their unbeaten
streak, and successfully defending their title for the second year
consecutively. They accumulating 56 points, 21 points ahead of Addax,
who finished the season with 35 points.

In other matches
decided earlier on Sunday, Young Lions, inspired by their coach-player
Ntiense Williams, who is also the coordinator of the league, defeated
fifth-placed Gosar 12-0. The victory took their points tally to 11 but
it wasn’t enough to lift them out of the sixth position. Lagos RFC lost
8-5 to Police Machine but retained third spot on the table with 29
points, a spot above the Police team who ended the campaign with 18
points.

Something for everyone

For their efforts,
Cowrie got a cash award of N250,000, in addition to N50,000 for
emerging as the league’s most disciplined side, while second place
Addax got N100,000 and an additional N25,000 after they were adjudged
as the most improved team of the season.

The Cowrie duo of
Jojo Jafar and Azeez Ladipo respectively emerged as highest tries and
points scorer and were each given a cash prize of N25,000. Samson
Yahaya also emerged as the season’s MVP and was rewarded with a cash
prize of N30,000.

The Rugby League
final had a capacity crowd of over 2,000 spectators and players with a
full support of over 250 workers & friends of CMB Buildings &
Maintenance Investment Company Limited, which is owned by Kelechi
Mbagwu, chairman FOR.

With the National
Sports Festival scheduled to take place sometime next year, no kick off
date has been fixed for the next season.

“This is because of the National Sport Festival,” Williams said. “We
do not want our programmes to affect that of the National programme. We
are also hoping to accommodate more clubs. For now we have told the
interested club to go and register their interest and our board would
look into it.”

The
board of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF, will hold an
extra-ordinary board meeting on Thursday, October 21, from 10.00 am at
the federation Secretariat at the Park-B section of the Abuja National
Stadium.

The meeting is
expected to amongst other things discuss the issue of the age scandal
that rocked the Nigerian team to the just concluded Afro-basket
tournament in Kigali, Rwanda.

A Nigerian player,
Godfrey, Moses was sanctioned over allegations of age falsification
which in turn caused the country’s junior basket ball team, the Junior
Tigers a shot at one of the available tickets to next year’s World
Championships in Latvia.

According to a
press release from the federation’s media officer, Segun Ikuesan, the
meeting will also try to chart a new course for the game in Nigeria.

“The meeting will
discuss the state of the game in our land and proffer solutions on how
best to continue to raise the stake of the game in Nigeria,” it read.

To chair the
Extra-ordinary board meeting is the President of the Federation and 3rd
Vice-President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee, Tijjani Umar.

Going all the way

On the age scandal,
Umar said the federation will go all the way to uncover whosoever was
behind the incident and also bring such people to book.

“We are not taking
basketball as a do or die affair and we will never be involved in any
incidence of cheating, but whoever is behind this will be uncovered and
punished. The coaches would also be queried when the team return from
Rwanda.

“We are also going
to take a step to involve the National Sports Commission in the whole
thing because a time has come for everyone involved in sports to do
things the right way,” he said.

Before Thursday’s Extra-ordinary board meeting there will be a meeting of the League Board on Wednesday also in Abuja.

The League Board
will give their report of the last DStv Premier League season which was
won by Kano Pillars and will ratify that date for the commencement of
the 2010/11 season.

The League Board Meeting will be chaired by Adamu Khaleh, who is also the Head of the federation Technical Committee.

Liverpool’s
new American era began in failure on Sunday in front of their latest
owners with a 2-0 loss to Merseyside rivals Everton which sent them
second from bottom of the Premier League.

John W Henry and
Tom Werner were at Goodison Park to see Tim Cahill and Mikel Arteta
score in the 34th and 50th minutes, condemning the five times European
champions to their fourth defeat from eight games this season.

Fernando Torres
went closest for the visitors when his first-half header was turned
over the bar by Everton keeper Tim Howard but Liverpool offered little
else in another poor display.

They slipped one place in the table on goal difference,

level on six points with Wolverhampton Wanderers and bottom-placed West Ham United.

Henry’s New England
Sports Ventures, owners of the Boston Red Sox baseball team, completed
a takeover of the Premier League club on Friday after contentious legal
battles with the previous U.S. owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

The jubilant scenes
in London on Friday concluded one of the most dramatic weeks in the
118-year history of Liverpool, one of England’s most famous and
successful clubs.

Fans welcomed Henry
and NESV after becoming increasingly outraged at Hicks and Gillett’s
stewardship and fearful the club was weighed down by unsustainable debt.

Yet the euphoria of the takeover battle did not carry over to the pitch.

Hodgson under pressure

Everton supporters
taunted their counterparts with chants of “Going down”, and the defeat
will focus attention on the future of Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson
under a new regime.

The home side
pressed from the kickoff and went close twice in almost identical
fashion in the first quarter of an hour. Defender Phil Jagielka fired a
left-foot shot over the bar after 12 minutes and two minutes later his
defensive partner Sylvain Distin missed the target from a similar
position inside the area.

Liverpool came to
life after 23 minutes when Joe Cole turned inside and delivered a cross
for Torres, but the Spaniard had his back to goal and his flick-header
was turned over by Tim Howard in Everton’s goal.

The breakthrough came from a determined run down the right by Everton’s right-back, Seamus Coleman.

The Irishman surged
into the area, committing defenders, and after his cross took a slight
deflection off Paul Konchesky, the ball sat up for an onrushing Cahill,
and the Australian drilled his finish high into Jose Reina’s net.

Within five minutes of the start of the second half, Everton doubled their lead.

Liverpool failed to deal adequately with a set piece,

Sotiros Kyrgiakos’s
clearance falling to an unmarked Arteta, whose right-foot shot from the
edge of the area swerved viciously and left Reina clutching at air.

Liverpool raised themselves late on, but it was more in hope than expectation.

Steven Gerrard
delivered an inviting cross for Torres at the back post, but it was
nicked away by a defender at the last moment, and four minutes later
Howard was alert to deny Torres’s right-foot shot inside the area.

Everton, who began the day fourth from bottom, moved up six places to 11th.

Samuel
Eto’o scored another cracking goal to give Inter Milan a 1-0 win at
Cagliari on Sunday and hit back at the racist chanters who had earlier
held up the game.

The victory sent
champions Inter level on points at the top with AC Milan, who beat
Chievo on Saturday, but Lazio can claim first place outright with a win
at Bari later (1845 GMT).

Cameroon forward
Eto’o took his Serie A tally to six goals from seven games this term
and like most of his recent efforts, the 39th minute goal was a
marvellous strike.

Wesley Sneijder
hooked on and Eto’o twisted and turned like Inter’s serpent symbol on
their new away kit before planting a left-foot shot in the corner from
the edge of the box.

The absence of the
injured Diego Milito meant Eto’o could take centre stage in attack and
he looks a different player to the workhorse who toiled during last
term’s treble triumph.

His strike was the
perfect riposte to the Cagliari fans whose racist chants towards him
caused the referee to suspend the game after three minutes of play.

A public
announcement was made asking fans to stop the chants, which they did
for the rest of the match. The game restarted after around three
minutes.

Zanetti returns

The Italian soccer
federation, which has long struggled with racist fans, gave referees
the right to suspend games in case of such chanting after Mario
Balotelli was constantly abused in Inter’s match at Juventus two
seasons ago.

The game had
already caused controversy after becoming the first high-profile match
to be selected for this term’s new 1230 local time kick off, which is
aimed at catching Asian audiences but has angered Italian fans who
believe the start is too early.

The previous 1230
games have been lacklustre, partly because of the heat, but cooling
temperatures in Sardinia and two committed sides led to an engaging
encounter.

Eto’o had another
decent effort and Maicon headed wide on the stroke of halftime but the
hosts also went close when they hit the bar and Julio Cesar was forced
into a good double save.

Cagliari also had two penalty appeals for handball rejected.

As well as Milito,
Inter were without injury victims Goran Pandev and Esteban Cambiasso
with youngsters Coutinho and Jonathan Biabiany again forced to start on
the wings.

Substitute Thiago
Motta made his first appearance this term after knee surgery but looked
uncomfortable and may be doubtful for Wednesday’s Champions League
match with Tottenham Hotspur.

Javier Zanetti also returned after three weeks out.

“I’m happy, I was keen to return,” captain Zanetti told Sky.
“Cagliari put us under pressure but we deserved the lead. Eto’o is
enjoying a great moment and we hope he continues like this.”

There
will be no additional locations to serve as Champions Planet viewing
centres, the Marketing Director of Nigerian Breweries Plc, Jacco Van
der Linden has said.

Van der Linden was responding to questions about the fate of consumers, who were itching to have a feel of the Heineken house.

With UEFA Champions
League matches resuming on Tuesday, Linden explained that the existing
Champions Planet, in Victoria Island, Lagos remains the only one
designed to serve the nation.

Recently, there had
been clamour for the Heineken brand to activate the same concept in
other locations in Lagos and other cities in the country.

However, Linden
said that the concept of the project is synonymous with the planetary
world with all the galaxies having a role to play.

“There can only be
one planet and to narrow it down to the UEFA Champions League, the only
planet that exists in Nigeria is the ‘Heineken Planet House’ which is
unique among all other viewing centres. The only change every season is
the number because we started from Planet one but this season we are in
the fifth edition.

“We quite
appreciate our avowed consumers nationwide who want to have a feel of
the project but the concept of a planet must be in one location and
this is the only reason why we cannot have more than one centre,” he
said.

Attractions

Aside the football
matches, Linden said other activities for guests at the new look Planet
House include table soccer, swimming, golf and chess while all the
games are aired on all the screens available in the Champions Planet.

For the past four
seasons, hundreds of Nigerian football fans have been opportuned to
watch and experience the UEFA Champions league at the Planet.

Top matches
available this Tuesday include the clash between English Premiership
champions, Chelsea and Sparta Moskva at the Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow.
Also, Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid will take on AC at the Santiago
Bernabeu; while Arsenal will host Shakhtar Donetsk at the Emirates
stadium.

The following day, defending champions Inter Milan will host
Tottenham Hotspurs at the San Siro Stadium while Camp Nou will stage
the FC Barcelona FC versus Kobenhavn tie. Manchester United will host
Turkish entrants, Bursaspor at Old Trafford to conclude the schedule
for day 3 of the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League.

With
only 10 editions gone, sports flight, a new sports programme aired on
City FM 105.1, is making waves in Lagos among sports enthusiasts for
its breezy style of delivery.

The programme has
seen the return of one of the best radio sports voices in Nigeria,
Ralph Chidozie George, after a five year absence when he sojourned to
the South East to be manager sports, Cosmo FM in Enugu.

Sports Flight is a
15 minute programme which has four segments namely, the Home-front,
Africa scene, Elsewhere in the world and a sports song.

The innovation of a selected sports song daily to round off the show is fast catching on with listeners around the city.

It has also been an
educative platform and in the few editions, they have had the voices of
football players that include Hoffenheim striker, Chinedu Obasi,
Denmark-based Peter Utaka, Bury’s Efetobore Sodje,

Vincent Enyeama,
Djurgarden’s Ikpe Ekong, Apam Onyekachi – who plays for Rennes in
France, and Babajide Ogunbiyi – who plays for Viborg in Denmark. They
have also had a boxing world title hopeful, Segun Ajose, a former
wrestling tag team champion, Barbarian, and a host of others on the
programme.

The programme is
also not lacking in reports, as Sammy Wejinya reports from Port
Harcourt and the Commonwealth Games reports were on daily until it
concluded last week. The sports programmes is produced by Diamond
Trophy International, a production outfit based in Lagos and Enugu.

“I had to return to
Lagos after being away in Enugu for six years working for COSMO FM and
presenting the flagship sports programme, Sportstrack,” George said.

“Sports Flight is
an innovative programme away from the ordinary sports programmes on the
air waves; it serves more exclusive local content and celebrates the
Nigeria Premier League while not forgetting to serve action from the
foreign scene.

“We have a repertoire of sports songs from football to wrestling,
boxing, basketball and even workout songs and daily we choose one to
end the show” he said. Sports Flight is aired from Monday to Friday at
8am on City FM, 105.1.

With
just five weeks to the much anticipated sixth edition of the Obudu
International Mountain Race and the second African mountain running
championships for both men and women, more top athletes around the
world have confirmed their readiness to be at the big athletics event.

The growing list of athletes already confirmed for the event includes reigning world champion, Andrea Mayr of Austria.

Mayr, who has
remained unbeaten in the World Mountain Running Association grand prix
series and won the world title last month, will be staging a comeback
to reclaim the title she was unable to defend last year due to a
bicycle accident few weeks before the event.

Others who have
also stated their readiness to stake a claim for the $50,000
(N7,500,000) top prize for men and women race winners respectively
include Turkey’s Ahmet Arslan, the reigning European mountain running
champion , the Kenyan trio of Emily Chepkemoi Samoei ,Pamela Chepkemoi
Pertom and Irene Cherop Loritareng who have all been impressive in the
2010 season. Also in for the International Mountain race is women’s
former champion, Rehima Kedir of Ethiopia.

Unprecedented entries

Patrick Ugbe, the
media chief for the race told the journalists over the weekend that
this year’s race has witnessed an unprecedented number of athletes who
want to come down to Nigeria to participate.

“This is very
pleasing to us because of the many negative reports in the
international media about how unsafe Nigeria is. We have been able to
consistently let the whole world know how safe Nigeria is with the
perfect organisation of the race,” Ugbe said.

“This will be the
sixth edition of the race and we have not received any negative report
about it. Instead we have had more Europeans, Asians and South
Americans making enquiries about the race than ever. Even the president
of the world mountain running association, Bruno Gozzelino has revealed
that the Obudu Ranch Resort, venue for the annual race can conveniently
host the world championships.”

Ugbe said the
executive Governor of Cross River, Liyel Imoke, has been the driving
force behind the good image the race is giving Nigeria as a country and
Cross River as a state.

The Obudu Mountain
Resort is one of the finest tourist destinations in the world. Deep in
the tropical rain forest of Cross River.

The resort which is located on the Obudu Plateau at an altitude of
1,576 metres above Sea level is equipped with modern facilities like an
International Hotel, and airstrip, a Golf Course, nature reserve,
Waterpark and is equipped with a Cable Car and a Canopy Walkway.