Victorious Sharks presents WAFU Cup to Gov Amaechi today
GUARDIAN NEWSPAPERS
By Gowon Akpodonor, with agency report
SHARKS FC, which won the 2010 West African Football Union (WAFU) Cup competition, will today be guest of Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, who is organising a grand reception for the team. The coach John Obuh-tutored Sharks won the trophy at the weekend by beating hard-fighting CASA Sports of Senegal 1-0. The coup de grace was applied against the Senegalese side, with Super Eagles' fringe player, Victor Ezeji, scoring the only goal. The contingent arrived in Lagos at about 1:4p.m yesterday from Lome, Togo, by road and proceeded to the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, where they joined Aero Contractors to Port Harcourt. The Rivers State Commissioner for Sports, Boma Iyaye, said yesterday that today's reception would hold at Governor's House by 10.00a.m. According to him, the reception is a welcome development. He said: "This is a good start for Sharks this season and I hope that more laurels will follow this path of success in the Nigerian Premier League and other competitions." Meanwhile, captain of Sharks, Odinga Odinga, described the competition as "very tough," stating: "It was a very difficult competition, very tough but having got this far, we knew we could not afford to disappoint our fans." Odinga, who spoke with SuperSport.com, singled out their semi-final clash against Horoya of Guinea as their toughest game in the competition. It was a game that saw Sharks coming from behind twice to draw 2-2 against the Guinean side before winning on penalties. He recalled: "The duo of Gomo Unduku and Bright Ejike equalised for us in that semi-final match, which went into extra time," he said. "In the ensuing penalty shootout, we missed our first two efforts while the Guineans made no mistakes, but great goalkeeping from Okiemute Odah and cold bloodedness from the rest of the players gave us a successful night and we marched into the finals. "I am very happy we won the trophy at the end of the day. Ezeji is our hero, our inspiration, and that is why he is the most decorated footballer in the Nigerian football scene." On his part, defender Thankgod Amaefule was full of praise for his teammates, saying: "We have a complete team. Everyone fights for each other and we deserved our victory."
Victorious Sharks presents WAFU Cup to Gov Amaechi today 
By Emma Njoku Sun newspapers
Friday, September 17, 2010
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The former Rangers, Heartland and Bush Bucks of South Africa gaffer is being sought by last year's league runner-up, Kano Pillars, last year's CAF Champions League losing finalist, Heartland FC, Rangers International FC and Sunshine Stars.
According to a very reliable source, the coach is interested in most of these offers coming his way, but would gladly grab that of Rangers if his terms are met and would gladly accept to handle the Coal City outfit at a much reduced prize compared to what other club sides were offering him stressing that the vastly travelled coach would need assurance from the Enugu State Governor, Sullivan Chime, that all he needed would be provided for him to excel.
"I must tell you that the coach has had some sort of talks with such clubs as Kano Pillars, Heartland, Sunshine Stars and Rangers but from what he has been saying, his mind is in returning to Rangers to finish the good work he started some seasons back.
"From what he told me, if he secures audience with the governor of Enugu State, Sullivan Chime to discuss terms, he would gladly rejoin Rangers. Kano Pillars is another side that is after his heart, but he is considering the language barrier he would face in the event of working in the commercial city of Kano, while he is not ruling out the chances of re-joining Heartland if the terms are right," stated our source.
Where are the Lagos football clubs?
Femi Atoyebi
All around the world, the commercial capital of a country is made popular by the existence of one or more football clubs. In Spain, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid represent the capital apart from other clubs in the capital city. In England, London has Arsenal and Chelsea as its biggest representatives while in Germany, the achievement of Bayern Munich makes the city of Munich easily remembered. In Africa, the trend is the same except in Nigeria where there is no major club from its commercial city of Lagos, playing in the high profile Premier League. In the early days of football in Nigeria, Lagos was the centre of the show. All the major clubs were in Lagos so it was not a surprise that the first generation of Nigerian footballers either emerged from secondary schools in Lagos or came from other parts of the country to join clubs in the commercial capital. Indeed, football thrived and gave rise to many stars at the time. Most of the clubs were established by companies and individuals and they had permanent camps where the players stayed for most of the days of the week. The Lagos Marine won the second edition of the FA Cup in 1943, beating RAF 3-2. The cup was named War Memorial Cup then. The following season, Lagos Railway dethroned Marine, winning 2-0 in the final. Another club from Lagos, Lagos United, reached the final in 1945 and lost to Lagos Railways while in the same year, Marine returned to the top to beat Corinthians when the cup was renamed the Governor's Cup. In fact, it was Lagos clubs all the way until 1953 when a team from Kano beat Lagos Dynamos to take the cup away from Lagos. There were UAC, Federal United, Lagos ECN and Police Machine, all from Lagos. They all contributed the bulk of the players that played in the UK Tourist Team, which played in England with bare feet in 1949. In 1958, Stationery Stores were founded by the late Israel Adebajo, who was head of the Nigeria office of Stationery Stores Supply Company. The time of its birth coincided with the period which can be described as the second generation of Nigerian football. The club became a dominant force in Lagos and Nigerian football, giving Ibadan Lions (now Shooting Stars Sports Club), Bendel Insurance and Enugu Rangers a fierce competition. In 1967, the club beat Mighty Jets 3-1 to lift the Challenge Cup and repeated the achievement in 1968 after beating Warri team 3-1. Among the great players that the club produced at the time were Peter Fregene, Haruna Ilerika, Sam Opone and Muda Lawal. But the club went through difficulties as a result of tussle for its control by family members of the founder after his demise. After the club's relegation to the lower division in 1993, the Nigeria Football Association was compelled to cancel all outstanding Pro League Second Division games involving the Lagos darling team following an order issued by a Lagos High Court restraining the club from playing any Pro League games pending the resolution of a lawsuit filed before the court to determine the ownership and control of the club. This action was the culmination of a long-festering ownership dispute involving two of the Adebajo siblings, Gloria Adebajo-Fraser and Adetilewa Adebajo. The crises that the club faced eventually led to its extinction in 2004, but not before players like Peter Rufai, Arthur Moses, Felix Ademola, Dotun Alatishe, Ibrahim Babangida, Ajibade Babalade, Teslim Fatusi, Benji Nzeakor, Abiodun Obafemi, Ike Shorunmu and Abdul Sule had passed through the ranks. Apart from Stores, Lagos had other clubs who played top level football and even represented Nigeria in CAF competitions. Julius Berger were established by the construction giant, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc in 1975 and became a rival club to Stores. The club's emergence added to the city's reputation in Nigerian football as the club went on to win the league title in 1991 and 2000 and the FA Cup in 1996 and 2002. They also reached the final of the then Africa Winners Cup in 1995 and 2003. Among the notable players who played for the club are Mutiu Adepoju, Muisi Ajao, Jonathan Akpoborire, Uche Akubuike, Emmanuel Amunike, Amir Angwe, Dosu Joseph, Ambrose Duru, goalkeeper Chijioke Ejiogu, Endurance Idahor, Peter Ijeh, Garba Lawal, Peter Nieketien, Obinna Nwaneri, Gabriel Okolosi and Ndibuisi Egbo. There were other clubs from Lagos, who have played at the top level of football like ACB, First Bank and Union Bank, but today there is no club representing Lagos in the Premier League. This is also coming at a time when some states have two clubs in the league. Oyo State has Shooting Stars and Crown, Kwara has Kwara Uniited and Bukola Babes, Plateau has JUTH and Plateau United, while Rivers has Dolphins and Sharks. Before the relegation of Bayelsa United last season, Bayelsa State had two teams with Ocean Boys being the only club now in the Premier League. Both have won the league and represented Nigeria in CAF competitions. Painfully, however, the Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola, is a sport man who plays football with the All Stars and his contribution to the development of sport in Nigeria is huge. He has been applauded by many sports administrators because of his commitment to sports development. A source close to the state Ministry of Sports says the governor has no interest in running a football club that will play in the Premier League. "The league is not properly run and the governor is being cautious about involving the state finance in such a venture. Instead, he has established the Lagos Junior League, which will benefit youngsters that are selected to represent each local government in the state. There are so many other competitions that Fashola has sponsored or supported in one way or the other so we cannot say that he does not want to help footballers achieve their dreams, after all, he is a footballer too," he says. Perhaps the state ownership of clubs is one of the reasons clubs who are owned by companies and individuals are finding it difficult to survive. There are 20 Premier League clubs and they all belong to states governments. Each of them is run through the sports ministry or directly from the governor's office with help of a board, whose criteria for being a member have nothing to do with football knowledge. Some have also attributed the lack of big clubs in Lagos to the location of Onikan Stadium and the presence of thugs at the National Stadium on match days. The completion of Teslim Balogun Stadium, just opposite the National Stadium, has offered a breath of life to many sporting events. It has hosted the FIFA U-17 World Cup and the FA Cup finals, but without a regular visit by fans every weekend, which the existence of Premier League teams can guarantee, it remains under-utilised. There is an unconfirmed move by ex-players of Stores to convince Fashola to give the club another chance and consider sponsoring the club's return to limelight. But Lagos' loss is Ogun State's gain. Although the state-owned Gateway Football Club of Abeokuta got relegated at the end of last season, four Premier League clubs now play at the various stadiums built by Governor Gbenga Daniel. They are Shooting Stars of Ibadan, who will now play in Abeokuta, Sunshine Stars International, who moved from their Akure base to Ijebu-Ode, Crown of Ogbomoso, who play their home matches in Ilaro, and Kwara United, who recently moved to Sagamu.
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