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The Nigerian
Premier League had a breakthrough yesterday when an adjudication panel
set up by the National Sports Commission, gave it the all clear to
proceed with MTN as new title sponsors.

Last week, the league organising body announced telecommunications company MTN as its new sponsors on a four-year deal.

Barely twenty four hours later, rival bidders Glo launched a protest, claiming the bidding process was not transparent.

The NFF also weighed in, berating the NPL for ‘not following established protocol’.

On Tuesday, the NSC called all the parties and then set up a committee comprising of 10 lawyers to evaluate the process.

After over 15 hours
of deliberation, the panel not only ruled that the NPL had been fair to
all parties involved in the process, but commended them for doing what
it called ‘a professional job’.

And on Wednesday, after briefing the Nigeria Football Federation
President, Aminu Maigari, the NPL was given the go ahead to do business
with the new sponsors.

Sunshine stars of
Akure continued their fine form in the Nigeria Premier League as they
defeated their opponents Warri Wolves 3-1 at the Ijebu Ode Township
stadium on Wednesday to remain top on the log with 16 points.

The match, which
was one of the week eight fixtures played across the country, gave the
Akure-based team its fifth victory of the season.

A free kick by
Olurundare Dele was headed in by Ajani Ibrahim to give Sunshine the
lead in the 5th minute. At the end of the first half, they were three
goals up.

Warri Wolves got a
consolidatory goal in 90th minute when Tochukwu converted a penalty.
Earlier in the week Sunshine Stars duo of striker Akombo Ukeyima and
coach Gbenga Ogunbote claimed the first of the NPL monthly awards.

Akombo was voted Player of the Month for November, while Ogunbote claimed the award for Coach of the Month.

The Sunshine
hegemony was broken in the Goalkeeper of the Month category, where
Warri Wolves Chigozie Agbim ensured that Henry Ayodele would not make
it a clean sweep for the Akure team.

Sunshine made a
barnstorming start to first month of the new campaign, winning three
out of four games to leap to the top of the standings.

They were unlucky
to give up two late goals in a 1-2 reverse to 3SC at Ibadan, but then
bounced back to claim wins over Enyimba at home, Plateau on the road
and then Rangers at home.

Ukeyima’s goals
were instrumental to those successes and saw him picked ahead of
Heartland’s Osas Okoro and Warri Wolves’ Ehiosu Ekigho.

His boss Ogunbote, beat Dolphins’ Stanley Eguma and Wolves’ Paul Aigbogun.

Warri Wolves went unbeaten in November, and a pivotal part of that was down to great goalkeeping by Chigozie Agbim.

Dolphins Sunday Rotimi came a close second in the glove race.

The decision of the
Nigeria Premier League (NPL) to hand sponsorship rights of its premier
league to telecommunications company, MTN Nigeria, has set the stage
for conflict with Globacom, the former sponsors who bankrolled the
league for the last five years.

The League said MTN
was willing to provide N550 million as take-off money. It added that
the amount will increase by 10 per cent annually with the total after
four years amounting to N2.6 billion. Globacom on the otherhand offered
N2 billion for four years with a start off sum of N450 million.

Last Friday in Lagos, Mohammed Jameel, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Globacom, described the action of the NPL as injustice.

“What they have
done amounts to injustice. The announcement of MTN as winner of the bid
was a big shock to us. It was a big blow. It was a surprise to us that
MTN were declared winner because we did not go into bidding with them.
It was Total Promotions that we knew were bidding against us. It was
only in the front of the press that we got to know that it was MTN that
had won. It is complete injustice. The entire process was done in a
wishy-washy way; there was no proper documentation at all,” Jameel said.

“NPL in a hurry”

Jameel said the bid
process was engineered to arrive at a particular outcome noting that
for an organisation to present a proper bid, it needs to know who it
was competing against.

“We asked the bid
committee whether Total Promotions was bidding on its own and whether
if it wins the bid, it could resell the right to another party but we
got no response,” he said.

Jameel disputed the
figure attributed to his organisation saying “On Wednesday when the
bids were formally opened, the bid committee said what we presented was
too low that we should improve on it. We asked for time to enable us
confer with management.”

He said officials
of his organisation were shocked when on Thursday after they had put
their new offer, which he said stood at three billion naira, the NPL
officials rather than hold discussions with them, went ahead and called
a press conference around 2:30 pm where they announced that MTN had won
the bid. He stated that what emerged from the action of the NPL
officials was that they were in a hurry to close the matter.

“We did not offer
N2 billion. Our final offer was N3 billion. We submitted the bid at
their office by ten minutes past four in the afternoon and it was duly
received and acknowledged by an official of the organisation. We do not
have any other bid with the NPL. I challenge the NPL to produce any
document where we offered two billion naira,” Jameel said.

The Globacom,
officer said the last has not been heard of the matter disclosing that
his organisation will petition the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF)
and the National Sports Commission (NSC) to get NPL to do the right
thing.

No wrongdoing

When confronted the
league with Jameel’s allegations, Shehu Gusau, the NPL official who
chaired the bid committee, said he and his colleagues had been above
board in their dealings.

“We gave both
parties equal opportunity and the party with the best bid won. We did
not set out to favour one party to the detriment of the other.” On
Glo’s N3 billion bid, he said it was received well after the entire
process had ended.

“We received that
bid nearly two hours after the announcement had been made. They took
the bid to our office and the official they met called me to inform me
about it. I asked him to receive it and record the time it was
submitted. If you look at the time on the document, it says we received
it at 4:10 pm, which was after we had announced a winner.” He
explained. As both parties trade blames, the NFF has come out to
describe the bid exercise as less than satisfactory. At the weekend,
Demola Olajire, its head of media, described the decision to award
sponsorship rights to MTN as “unacceptable”, expressing displeasure
that the NPL did not carry it along during the exercise.

The NFF wondered
why the NPL, which is yet to sort out its leadership issues, should
enter into a long term relationship with a corporate organisation.

I found Honest
Man’s online comment on last week’s column interesting and encouraging.
Readers of this column know that I don’t usually respond to comments,
but I found this particular comment instructive, hence the need for us
to ride on its wave today. I thank you all for your comments.

The title may seem
repulsive, but that is one of the best ways to describe some of the
so-called sports administrators in this country today. But before I am
totally misunderstood, prostitution is not all about sex, it is also
about human beings degrading talents and potentials for money.

It can also be
correctly described as the use of skills or ability, in a way that is
considered unworthy, meaningless, fruitless and stupid, usually for
financial gain. This is what is going on in Nigerian sports today. Only
a few genuine and committed administrators are sincere about developing
sports.

Last week, we said inter-alia and I quote:

“A critical
assessment of football, table tennis, tennis and boxing, may offer us a
vivid picture of the unfortunate situation the country has been
shamefully situated. Football like most other sports in Nigeria is all
about noise and negative motions. Football management in Nigeria has
been so compromised that it will take the divine intervention of God
Almighty for the beautiful game to be rescued from the grip of the
cabal who seem to be in charge presently – albeit, illegitimately.

Whereas billions of
tax payers’ monies are being INTENTIONALLY wasted on football
promotion, the foundation on which the PYRAMID of football development
is built, has been stupidly and ignorantly ignored. This has been
responsible for the spate of age falsification at the age-grade
level… no developmental structure put in place, that can encourage
our children who have been naturally and divinely endowed with massive
potentials, not only to pursue football playing as a career, but also
aspire to become future leaders of this Country, using the values of
football as a platform.” The words intentionally and pyramid were
highlighted in this write up for several reasons, permit me to explain.
The truth of the matter is that it is not as if those in charge of
sports administration in Nigeria are absolutely ignorant of what to do,
especially at the grassroots level. Exactly four years ago, the
erstwhile President of the Nigerian Schools Sports Federation (NSSF),
was invited to attend a training programme organized by the
International Confederation of Futebol de Salao (ICFDS), for coaches
and franchisees of the Brazilian Soccer Schools. I facilitated his
attendance, so that he would have a first-hand experience of the
methodologies put in place in Europe, Asia, North and South America,
for early identification of talents, supported by relevant/functional
training, aimed primarily at grooming the identified talents, from 6
MONTHS old children to those of 17 YEARS. Yes, 6 MONTHS old children,
it was no mistake. The programme for them is called SOCATOTS.

A fragile pyramid
We were together in Leeds for the one-week programme. I assumed that on
arrival back home, the next thing was to look into how we would
actualize the reasons for which we invited the NSSF President to the
training programme. I was wrong. What followed was a Schools’ Sports
Festival, sponsored by Babatunde Raji Fashola. Would the reader say he
did not know what to do, or that he did not have access to funds?

Whereas we can
refer to a very fragile and sick PYRAMID in place for football, there
is alarmingly, nothing like that for so many other sports. Not even
Basketball or Table Tennis, or even Wrestling – that is the cheapest of
all the sports in Nigeria. Cheapest, because it does not require big
budget for equipment and kits. Even the space needed for the game is
available naturally.

Is it any surprise
that boxing is no longer a source of pride and glory to Nigeria? It
should not at all. There is absolutely nothing at the grassroots –
apart from the individual efforts of a few committed individuals like
Coach Joe Mensah, to develop Boxing in Nigeria.

Whereas in nations
like Cuba, Brazil, the U.S.A., Asia and some European nations, children
are introduced to this combat sport from the age-grade level, there is
nothing like that here. There is no mention of combat sports in our
schools sports, so it is not possible for us to catch them young.
Meanwhile, boxing like wrestling, is another natural game we play in
this part of the world.

Parents with male children within the 2-7 age bracket will attest to this.

Watch those
children settle scores amongst themselves, it is either via boxing or
wrestling and it is the younger ones who will always throw the first
punch or grab the neck or leg of the older ones.

Please visit our National Stadiums – either in Lagos or Abuja, and check what we refer to as the boxing gym.

You will either
laugh or cry, depending on your emotional strength and your passion for
the game. Is there any state-of-the-art boxing gymnasium anywhere in
this great nation? How many boxing trainers and coaches, recognised by
any of the world boxing bodies, can we boast of in Nigeria?

Permit us to end
this write-up on a very positive note. I observe that it is only when
we find ourselves in a “box” or very tight corner that we remember to
bring God into the matter. No one seems to remember Him now, especially
as the year is fast running to an end. But when there is the need for
Nigeria to qualify for a Continental or Global competition, we call on
Him to help us. We even fast and hold vigils.

Those of us in Save
Nigerian Sports Initiative (SANSI), do not believe it should be so.
Please join us as we thank Him for all He has done for Nigerian Sports
this year. Then pray that God should continue to uproot all the plants
He has planted in Nigerian Sports, so that the year 2011 will mark the
beginning of a decade of genuine, sincere, transparent, effective and
functional sports development in this great nation.

2011 will also
usher in God-fearing sports administrators/managers, who will effect
the changes sports loving Nigerians are clamouring for. Please say Amen.

Thank you.

Ernie Els has won more than 60 individual trophies around the world including three major championships but his victory at the 100th South African Open ranks among the most memorable of his glittering career.

The 41-year-old thwarted a strong finish from good friend and fellow South African Retief Goosen to secure a one-shot triumph in the European Tour event at the Durban Country Club on Sunday.

Els claimed his fifth victory in the tournament thanks to a closing 66 and Goosen stayed hot on his heels until the end with a matching six-under-par effort in the final round.

“It was one of the most incredible days I’ve ever had in my 20 years as a professional golfer,” the world number 12 told his official website (www.ernieels.com) on Monday.

“In the morning round we shot a better-ball score of something like 58 and the lead changed hands quite a few times. This win really means a lot to me.

“Sunday was (always) going to be a long day but I was looking forward to another battle with my old friend Retief. He’s a great player and I knew he would come at me hard.”

Heavy rain meant organisers reduced the competition to 70 holes after the weather rendered the par-three fourth unplayable.

The decision meant Sunday’s final two rounds were contested on a par-69 course instead of par-72.

“I’ve been playing at Durban Country Club for a lot of years now,” said Els after adding to his South African Open victories of 1992, 1996, 1998 and 2006. “It is a great layout and a great place to play golf.

“The home fans really encourage me. I feel a special bond with them, they always keep me going whenever I need support.

“It was a great championship for South African golf,” added Els in a reference to the third and fourth place finishes of British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel.

“Of course all wins are special but this means more than most as it is our national championship.”

Els, winner of the U.S. Open in 1994 and 1997 and the British Open in 2002, ended a two-year victory drought by lifting the WGC-CA Championship in Miami in March.

He triumphed again at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando at the end of March but had to wait until the PGA Grand Slam of Golf in Bermuda in October for his next win.

“It was in many ways a season of two different halves for me,” said Els. “I came out of the blocks pretty fast and won twice in March during the Florida swing but after the U.S. Open (in June) my game went off the boil for most of the summer.

“I must admit it was a struggle to get things back on track but during the last five or six weeks of the season there were signs the hard work I’d been putting in was starting to pay off.”

REUTERS

Organisers of The Swing Man Camp held over the weekend in Rowe, Park Lagos have said that it will help address the dearth of shooters in basketball in the country.

Taye Adeniyi and Shola Ogunade, both former mem-bers of the national female team, D’Tigress explained that the camp was meant to teach aspiring basketball players the basics at becoming good shooters.

“We have taken time to study the factors militating against the performances of our basket-ball teams and one of such is the dearth of sharp shooters, so we decided to put up this camp so as to help change the situation” said Adeniyi who is currently an assistant coach with Dolphins female basketball team.Over 100 participants and ten coaches took part in the 3- day exercise, which saw some of the outstanding campers rewarded for their efforts.

Outstanding players

Ogusewe Olakunle was voted the Most Valuable Player (male) while Ijeoma Onwuek-we emerged the female MVP.

Others who received awards include the duo of Adeniji Timileyin and Yusuf Obatilewa who were dubbed the Best Aspiring Shooters in the camp.Pleased with the success of the programme, Adeniyi said she hopes to make the camp a regular one where more players will be taught the needed lessons to improve on their game.”I am very happy that we put something good together in our first year. One thing you need to be a good shooter of the ball is confidence, and I’m very happy that the coaches have been able to work on the children’s confidence. With regular practice which is another key factor, I am sure they will all do well.” She said.

Adeniyi and Ogunade also called on those willing to uplift the game of basketball to come on board to support the noble course.

The Nigerian Rugby Football Federation (NRFF) will be holding its end of the year Rugby festival.The festival tagged ‘Hemingway’s Safaris Africa 7’s Tournament’, which will hold between 21st and 22nd of December at the Lagos Polo Club, has a number of activities lined up for the pleasure of rugby lovers and enthusiasts.

“We are delighted to inform you of our year end rugby festival. The venue is opened to anyone who has the interest of rugby at heart,” said Folu Majekodunmi, the NRFF’s media and publicity officer in a statement.Mr Majekodunmi said the festival would commence on day one with a school’s rugby 10-a-side tournament played by secondary school pupils. There would also be a women 7’s exhibition tournament.

For those interested in learning fundamentals of rugby, he stated that there would be a coaching clinic. He added that there would be selective age group tag tournament for children aged between seven and sixteen.

The festival, sponsored by Promasidor Nigeria, makers of Cowbell milk; TVG Club and Hemingway Safaris Africa, will be crowned off on day two with a match by the 7’s tournament played by the national 7’s team.

The President of
the Nigeria Hockey Federation (NHF), Patrick Ukah, has commended
Heartland Female Hockey team for emerging champions in the just
concluded Africa Cup of Club Championship held in Accra, Ghana.

Heartland put up a
disciplined challenge to win their fifth title as they defeated
Extinguishers of Ghana 3-2 on the final day of competition to reclaim
the crown they had lost last year.

“It is a good way
to round off the year” he said, “you would agree that the year 2010 was
a good one for hockey, we had the NEI National League, which was a huge
success and our teams have also given a good account of themselves
amongst their peers in the continent,” he said.

Playing in front of
a home crowd, Extinguishers started the ladies final clash on a
confident note and surged into the lead through the incredible stick
work of leading scorer, Rachael Bamfo in the 19th minute.

Heartland equalised in the 38th minute from a well converted penalty corner by Justina Onyadum.

Extinguishers were
to recover their lead in the 57th minute when Ramatu Abass scored from
a penalty stroke but it was not for long. Heartland’s equaliser came
two minutes later through a field goal by Chinyere Nnanna. The next
nine minutes produced an uncompromising duel between the sides until
Christiana Bulus struck home the match winner from a penalty corner in
the sixty-eighth minute.

Double defeat

Hoping to
compensate their teeming fans with the bronze medal, another Ghana
side, Reformers broke Ghanaian hearts in the battle for bronze. They
lost to another Nigerian side, Yobe Queens.

The two sides had
earlier drawn a blank in seventy laborious minutes, during which very
few chances were created. An extra fifteen minutes of play still failed
to break the deadlock as both teams remained sluggish in attack.

In the end, it came
down to a ‘sudden death’ situation leading to the seventh round of
penalty strokes. No amount of wishing away by fans of Reformers could
deny Yobe Queens a win. Conscientiously, Ahmed Asabe pushed home Yobe’s
last stroke and they broke into wild cheers with the bronze medal
firmly in their grip.

In the male event,
Nigeria’s representatives, Niger Flickers and Yobe Flickers were
however nowhere to be found as Egyptian giants Sharkia beat Ghana’s
Trustees 4-1 to lift the trophy for an unprecedented 19th time.

Niger and Yobe finished at the bottom of table the following disappointing losses.

Bonny Obieze over
the weekend emerged the winner of the end-of-year kitty tournament of
the golf section of the Ikoyi Club 1938, Lagos.

The annual
tournament is an in-house event and participation is limited to club
members who have featured in at least six weekly kitty events during
the year.

Obieze did not
however secure victory on a platter of gold as he was pushed to the
limit by Jacob Irabor winning only by virtue of the count-back system
as both players settled for 69 over 18 holes.

“I was lucky to
play in a group with good players and that is why in the end, all of us
in the group won something,” said a delighted Obieze. “Because they
played very well I was pushed to the limit and had to push my game
harder. But I must say that I am very happy to win this special
tournament. It is one trophy that all members fall over themselves to
win and I am so glad that I have joined that exclusive list of
winners.” With his victory, Obieze succeeds Tim Ayomike, who emerged
winner of the 2009 edition and who subsequently became a member of the
2010 tournament organising committee.

Other winners on
the day were Remi Olukoya, who won the gross prize, shooting a
tremendous 78, as well as Carol Majorol, who took home three prizes.

Contributions

Speaking at the end
of the tournament, the event’s coordinator, Sanya Akindele explained
that the tournament was made possible by the contribution of club
members.

“This tournament
was made possible by members who have contributed in cash and kind for
us to be able to organise one of the best end of the year kitty in
recent times,” he said.

He added that the
section would continue to support and organise the kitty while
announcing that the 2010 event winner, Obieze is automatically a member
of organising committee.

Cameroon and Inter Milan striker Samuel Eto’o set a new landmark for individual success in African football on Monday after being named the continent’s Footballer of the Year for a record fourth time.

The 2010 award came five years after his last triumph and capped a year of unprecedented club success in which he also extended his scoring record at the African Nations Cup finals.

The Cameroon captain finished ahead of Ivory Coast’s Didier Drogba and Asamoah Gyan of Ghana in the polling for Africa’s top individual prize, awarded at the Confederation of African Football’s awards gala in Cairo.

“It is a pleasure to be a winner again, to take it for the fourth time against such top opposition,” Eto’o told a news conference after the ceremony.

“It is true now that Africa has so many good players and there is lots of talent coming up, so this might be a last chance for me.”

Eto’o was African Footballer of the Year from 2003-05 and his fourth award surpasses the three titles won by Abedi Pele in the early 1990s.

Eto’o’s goal-scoring form helped Inter Milan to a triple of titles last season, including the UEFA Champions League in which the 29-year-old took a winner’s medal for a second successive year.

He scored on Saturday as the Italians beat African champions TP Mazembe Englebert in the Club World Cup final in Abu Dhabi.

Eto’o scored twice at the Nations Cup in Angola in January to stretch his tournament record tally of goals to 18. He also netted at the World Cup finals but later described Cameroon’s poor performance in South Africa as the biggest disappointment of his career.

REUTERS