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Why we must look beyond getting new fans for the Nigerian League (Conclusion)

15/3/2022

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So, in the first part of this piece, I started by taking us around various violent scenes in the league from time past and then the current season.
 
Before I conclude this piece, it will pertinent to take us back, down memory lane at how England cleaned up their game.
 
England may have been worse than Nigeria

According to Wikipedia, it was because of hooliganism that the English league began to build fences at football grounds.
 
In the 60s, the United Kingdom had a worldwide reputation for hooliganism in football that it was called the English Disease.


“Football hooliganism in England dates back to the 1880s, when individuals referred to as ‘roughs’ caused trouble at football matches. Local derby matches would usually have the worst trouble, but in an era when fans did not often travel, roughs would sometimes attack the referees and the visiting team's players”- Wikipedia.org
 
Names like The Herd (Arsenal), Villa Hard-core (Aston Villa), Suicide Squad (Burnley), Chelsea Head-hunters (Chelsea) and Red Army (Manchester United) amongst others were names of organised Hooligan firms that wreaked havoc on grounds in the UK.
 
History tells us that in 1974, after Manchester United were relegated to the old Second Division, the Red Army (Man United hooligans) wreaked havoc on many grounds around the UK.
 
That same year a Bolton Wanderers fans stabbed a young Blackpool fan to death at Bloomfield road in a second division match while an FA Cup quarter final match between Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest in 1974 saw hundreds of fans invade the pitch, one of them attacking a Nottingham Forrest midfielder, Dave Serella Wikipedia.org
 
Fans also fought on the pitch in 1975 in the relegation battle between Tottenham Hotspurs and Chelsea before Spurs finally relegated Chelsea in the return fixture.
 
On 8 August 1986 rival gangs of Manchester United and West Ham United hooligans were involved in violence on a Sealink ferry bound for Hook of Holland. Eight football hooligans, all either Manchester United or West Ham United supporters, received prison sentences totalling 51 years 16 months later.  Wikipedia.org
 
The point of this historical class is to show that the fans violence and hooliganism was maybe worse in the English game than in Nigeria, but how did the English clean up their game?
 
In the 80s, the UK government made concerted efforts to crack down on thugs and hooligans in stadiums. Note that it was a UK government problem, and not a football league problem. In Nigeria, the government seems to look away, making it like a football league problem.
 
But, it wasn’t just the government alone because the clubs joined in the clean-up.
 
Leeds United were the first British club to have Closed Circuit Television Cameras (CCTV) installed in their stadium, I believe in the 70s.
 
Security was increased at the grounds and then seats were numbered and tickets sold according to seats.
 
Violent people could be traced to their seats and their names and addresses retrieved. They were banned from turning up for matches. It was a concerted effort to clean up the game.
 
The English banned alcohol at their stadiums. They created early start of games that had the probability of violence.
 
The idea of moving games from 3pm to noon was to give the trouble makers less time to drink and get drunk.
 
They also banned fans from stadia (closed door bans as we call it in Nigeria) and of course introduced fan coaching to educate their supporters on the dangers of hooliganism.
 
 
How can we get rid of our hooligans?
 
My friend, Biola Kazeem has this crazy idea that the Nigerian league clubs should do away with the current set of fans and get a new one and I seem to agree with him.
 
The Nigerian league, he says, does not need most of the current fans that watch games. The ones who do not pay to get in, yet destroy the reputation of the league. They add little value to our football yet they are the first at the grounds. They sit in the VIP section looking unkempt and prevent the real VIP from getting in. The league does not need them.
 
The League needs the next generation, the generation that currently sit at home to play games on their computers and handheld devices; the generation that currently prefer to watch the European Leagues. The generation that will fill up a stadium for a social media league, yet will not watch the professional league is the group we need at our grounds. The generation that will pay N5,000 (Five thousand naira) to watch a music or comedy show. These should give more value than the current set that cannot pay N300 (Three hundred naira) to watch a Nigerian League game.
 
No manager of a bank in Nigeria would go to the stadium, jump the barricades and physically assault a referee; no doctor would go for a league game and beat up a referee, neither would an engineer who just returned from a three week job offshore. They will also buy tickets to watch games, and not beg for free tickets. I also doubt if students at our private schools that go on a school bus trip to watch a League game would eventually jump the fence to assault referees. Shouldn't these be the group we woo to watch our games and adopt our clubs are theirs?
 
What have these hooligans done to make the League better? But from the foregoing, especially, the first part of my piece, it has become evident that the violence problem in the Nigerian League is not just about the fans. These days even club officials are part of it. The situation this season with Abia Warriors, Dakkada FC and Niger Tornadoes are testament to this.
 
The next generation
 
In April 2018, while preparing for the celebration of my 1000th football game watched at a stadium, I visited three secondary schools (two private and one public) and the idea was to chat with the kids about a couple of things, one of them being to follow Nigerian sports and football.
 
In fact, the administrator of one of the schools I was at held discussions with me regarding taking their students to a League game as a group. We were still working out modalities when the news of a stadium fight broke out in one of our League games.
 
That is the generation we should target. The 10- 16 year olds. They should be top priority as new set of fans for our league, but how do we do away with the old?
 
Would the clubs agree?
 
Therein lies the problem of the League and why the violence may not go away so soon.
 
The commentary is always about the League increasing the punishment for erring clubs but what is the guarantee that it will change anything?
 
The penalty for examinations malpractice in our higher institutions is rustication (to suspend or expel temporarily from school) but has this in any way stopped or reduced malpractice? In Nigeria, the penalty for armed robbery is death, but has it stopped armed robbery? As long as the hooligans are hired and paid by the clubs, the violence would be rife at our grounds.
 
Will the clubs do away with those that help them win games through ‘Behind the curtain’ means?
 
The Nigerian League will not improve any time soon and a lot of the blame lies with the chairmen of the League clubs who are under pressure from the state sports commissioners to win the League, qualify to play on the continent or avoid relegation. These state sports commissioners are also under pressure from their state governments because they had probably collected so much money to run the clubs and made promises that would be difficult to fulfil. So the club chairman who wants to justify the expenditure and ensure they still have a job finds a way to win that is totally different from improving the quality of playing personnel or the coaching. The day we all sincerely decide to clean up the league, then it will be clean.
 
Also, while looking at this to happen, clubs should begin to look at the kind of personnel they hire as staff. Those that slap referees and point bloodthirsty mobs against match officials are certainly not needed.
 
However, while we wait for this decision to be made, the clubs must realise that they need new sets of fans and staff as the current set of hooligans do not just destroy whatever is left of the League, but prevent the real fans from going close to the stadium. Those that add value that will fill up the grounds enjoy the games, buy replica jerseys, tweet about being at the grounds, and will not help to bring the game to disrepute. But can these club chairmen take the risk?
 
Let us start by the entrance to most Nigerian League venues. The men at the gates, selling tickets are, for lack of nicer words, are straight up thugs and cut throats. The faint of heart will not go near the gates of our stadia on match days. Can we make a real change in the way we portray our football? Eventually, the Nigerian league is the only league we have. We have dug the pit and thrown it inside already, but we should not bury it.
 
We can revive our football, but is this a risk we are ready to take? I hope so… In my lifetime.
 
 
 
 

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Why we must look beyond getting new fans for the Nigerian League

3/3/2022

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I wrote an article in 2019 on my football blog, www.NigerianFootballer.com regarding new fans for the Nigeria Professional Football League and I am forced to go back to it, with an addition.
 
That article was inspired by my many years of watching the league and being involved or present at the scenes of scores of violent clashes. I also had series of interactions, especially on twitter with Biola Kazeem, a football enthusiast, who hardly watches the league these days, but has a lot to say about it.
 
Biola would insist then the league needed new fans and I began to see reason with him.
 
In that piece I wrote three years ago, I cited the incident at the Sports Complex in Maiduguri on Saturday, May 4, 2019 that shocked not just Nigerians but most people on social media space that saw the videos.
 
It was in the aftermath of the game between home side, El Kanemi Warriors FC and Go Round FC that ended 2-2. But as far as the fans of the home side were concerned, no club had the right to take a point off them at home, hence the incident.
 
The video showed football players (Go Round FC) sitting on the ground on the stadium football pitch with match referees standing close to them. There were soldiers and police, all armed, as though protecting them from present or imminent danger and there was a mob about thirty or so metres away, apparently baying for blood.
 
The one minute and thirteen seconds video, probably shot by one of those sitting on the ground had the players of Go Round discussing the game, most of them in Igbo language and suddenly there were gunshots renting the air as the players’ bodies shook with each shot.
 
The video (unless after forensic analysis) did not show if the mob shot first and then the soldiers replied leading to an exchange of gun fire, or if it was just the soldiers shooting to scare off the advancing crowd, but there was gunfire, in the stadium, in the midst of professional football players and referees, yet they were not in a war zone.
 
Let that sink in.
 
Who are these people?
 
One thing I know from the forty one years I have followed the Nigerian league is that these people are not fans of the teams. They are hired hands who know their duties at the stadium. And their duties are simply to intimidate referees and visiting teams. They do not buy replica jerseys, neither do they buy tickets to get in nor contribute to the club in any way. But, yes, they have an assignment at the grounds every day and that would be to ensure the referees and the away team players are intimidated enough to get the home team to win easily, and when it does not happen, mayhem and carnage!
 
These people exist in every stadium in Nigeria that has a club playing in the league. Every stadium has them. Some are regular salary earners at the clubs, some are on allowances, others just get paid per match day depending on how aggressively they intimidate the referees.
 
For some, they get special perks like travelling with the team for certain choice games within or outside the country as reward for hard work; hard-work done helping the club win via untoward means, thus destroying the reputation of the league.
 
Here we go again
 
Three years after I wrote the original piece, it seems that little or nothing has changed.
 
Before this season I had experienced it first hand, at least a dozen times. In Kano in 2011 (Kano Pillars v Dolphins), in Jos in 2004 (Plateau United v Dolphins) in Ilorin in 2004 (Kwara United v Dolphins), in Owerri in 2009 (Heartland v El Hadood). I was there in Nembe in 2017 (Bayelsa United v Go Round FC) when the boys suggested they were going to harm me real bad if I do not leave the stadium. They noticed I had seen what they were doing to the referees in the dressing room at half time. They had various weapons in their hands and they were telling the referees that the home side had to win or else everybody will be harmed.
 
Any Nigerian League football follower reading this knows it has been a recurring decimal in our football, local football, that is.
 
I know a lot of people want to blame the organisers of the football league, the League Management Company (LMC) and I wouldn’t begrudge them if they do that. While the LMC have tried to sanitise the league, it is a case of them either not having the will power to go all out; the forces against change are too much for them; or they just got tired of the mess and have decided to leave the clubs to their own devices. But the LMC have done their part under the circumstances.
 
So far this season, and we are just in Match Day 15, there have been a couple of incidents:
 
Gangster assistant coach
 
I will always try to imagine things like these happening in leagues we watch in Europe. Imagine after a league game, say Liverpool versus Chelsea at Anfield and it ends 1-1. Liverpool’s assistant coach, Pepijn "Pep" Lijnders walks up to the referees, slaps one and walks away. Wow!
 
But this happened in Uyo, just after a league game between Dakkada FC and Remo Stars.
 
Sunday Efefia, walked up to the referees and slapped Sani Baba, one of them.
 
The LMC fined Dakkada FC, the sum of more than Three million naira (N3, 000, 000.00), and announced the immediate expulsion of Sunday Etefia. They also banished the club to play their next three home games at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin, a city at least eight hours from their home ground.
 
More club officials go rogue
 
After their home game against Rivers United, two officials of Niger Tornadoes physically assaulted the match referee. That game ended 0-0. The rogue officials were Bello Mohammed, a goalkeeper trainer and Umar Farouk, the coach.
 
The LMC slammed the erring club with a fine of five million five hundred thousand naira (N5.5m) and banished them to Abuja for their next three home games. Abuja is about three hours from the home base of Niger Tornadoes.
 
All-out war between Remo Stars and Shooting Stars
 
There were reports of physical combat between fans of Remo Stars and Shooting Stars. Though there were no incidents during the game and in the stadium, reports have it that fans of both sides went at each other outside the facility and some had machete cuts.
 
It was just a football match and not a medieval battle between warriors from three hundred years ago. The LMC shut down the grounds of both teams from fans and then called both parties for a peace meeting in Abuja.
 
Other ‘gbege’ that have happened already
 
The LMC ruled last week that Lobi Stars and Gombe United will play their next home fixtures without fans.
 
This may not be unconnected with what happened after Gombe United forced Plateau United to a draw at home. We saw videos of a vandalized Plateau United team bus and blood streaming from the body of a club official, said to be the team doctor.
 
Abia Warriors and its General Coordinator, John Kalu were also sanctioned for security related breaches in their match against Rivers United.
 
Kalu, the Abia Warriors Coordinator was said to have championed the harassment of match officials in that game.

The club was fined a total of two million five hundred thousand naira (₦2.5m) for failure to provide adequate security, failure to ensure restriction of access to unauthorised persons to restricted area, encroachment on the field of play and harassment of Match Officials.
 
Gombe United in addition to playing their next home game without fans, was fined a total of two million naira (₦2m) for failure to provide adequate security cover for the visiting team at the end of the match to ensure they departed the city without obstruction and safely.
 
For Lobi Stars, in addition to closure of Aper Aku Stadium to fans for their next home game, Lobi Stars was fined a total of one million five hundred thousand naira (₦1.5m) and ordered to provide before their next home game, adequate lighting within the precincts of the stadium, particularly, the tunnel leading to the dressing rooms. The club was also ordered to reinforce security arrangements for its remaining home fixtures to avoid stiffer sanctions.
 
To be continued. You don’t want to miss this
 


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​Nigeria’s Sports Festival opens in Benin

6/4/2021

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PictureNigeria's vice president, Yemi Osinbajo
Sanipe Damiete
 
All is set for the opening ceremony of the National Sports Festival (NSF) as Nigeria’s Vice President, Yemi Osibanjo will declare the event open on behalf of the President, Mohammadu Buhari in Benin on Tuesday.
 
Osibanjo is billed to pay a courtesy call on the Oba of Benin before proceeding to the Samuel Ogbemudia stadium for the biggest sporting event in Nigeria.
 
The minister of sports, Sunday Dare will address the athletes while the Edo state governor, Godwin Obaseki will formally receive the contingents.
 
Some events have kicked off in earnest with Team Delta the early pacesetters with 12 gold medals in swimming, cycling, judo and Taekwando.
 
Team Rivers is participating in 29 events with a solid contingents of  434 athletes in this edition and hope to climb up the table when hostilities commence on Wednesday in the area comparative advantage like Basketball and chess.

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Team Rivers show readiness for Sports festival

4/4/2021

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The Rivers State Commissioner, Boma Iyaye said Team Rivers will contend favourably in this year's National Sports Festival (NSF) tagged Edo 2020 based on their past performance and massive preparation by the team.

He dropped this hint while addressing the press in Port Harcourt on the preparedness and strategy of Team Rivers stating that the state have Ben participating in the festival since inception in 1973 with very good performances and even gone ahead to host on two occasions winning the 2011 edition. 

He posited that the state will not be going on a jamboree or just completing the number but to make a mark by winning medals. 

"We have all our athletes camped. We intend to participate in 29 events because we want to engage in our areas of strength; our area of comparative advantage which we believe will give us medals to enable us come out first in the overall table".

He also pointed out that modalities have been put in place to provide its athletes with their own ambulance with a team of medical personnel, food and luxury buses for the safety and comfort of their athletes traveling to Benin. 

Team Rivers commenced close camping from 23rd March and intend to hit Benin on the 2nd of April with 434 athletes and 144 officials with the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Sports as head of the contingents.

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Golf: Vincent Torgah wins 2019 Nigeria Masters for 3rd record straight win

4/12/2019

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PictureVincent Torgah
Walking off the 18th green as the Nigeria Masters Champion, Vincent Torgah kept on looking fixedly at all the greats on the most sort after trophy on the African Tour.
 
On the Masters trophy, his name is etched twice right above Andrew Odoh who won the maiden edition of the Nigeria Masters. In the record book, he is the first player to win the title three times and that he did three years in a row. Alhaji Indimi representatives, Dr. Shehu Sule and Ambassador Sam handed over the trophy and the white jacket to Torgah at the prize giving ceremony.
 
Over four days at the IBB International Golf Course, he had no equal. But he had to work a little harder than he wanted for this one. Staked to a four-shot lead going into the final round, Vincent turned back every challenge. He made two key birdies around the turn, and delivered a majestic drive at just the right moment to close with a four-under 68 and complete his wire-to-wire victory.
 
Torgah , who finished at 9-under 279, with a nine stroke victory wasn't the only big winner Saturday.
 
Starting off on the 10th tee in the penultimate group in the final round was four times winner on the Tour Sunday Olapade & Zimbabwean Visitor Mapwanya who won the 2019 B&E tournament last month, both players were tied on the second spot on the leaderboard with three hole's to go. But a bogey on the 7th saw Olapade drop to solo third on the leaderboard after the round with both players grossing Level par and two-over par respectively.
 
Patrick Paul who was second heading into the deciding day, dropped to fourth place after carding a disappointing final round six-over 78  to close the shop at 5-over par. The same was the fate of Kano State professional Kabiru Haruna who also dropped from third to joint 6th after carding a final round six-over par 78. As the curtains fall on the 2019 Nigeria Masters.


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NIGERIAN MASTERS DAY 3: Torgah sputters to 76 after hot start

30/11/2019

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PictureVincent Torgah
After a solid performance in the first two rounds, Vincent Torgah made three bogeys and a double bogey on the opening nine and went ahead to shoot 4-over 76, leaving the African Tour foremost player see his seven stroke lead diminish to four after the third round on Friday.
 
Torgah’s round fell apart after his bogey at No. 10 that followed a par at No. 9, as he shot 39 in his back nine in glorious conditions at the IBB International Golf Course in Abuja.
 
Two over for his round arriving at the 1st tee, he sent his drive right into a water hazard and wound up making a double-bogey 6 and followed it with an early birdie on the second hole. And finished the first nine with a one over par.  Another wayward drive led to a bogey at the 10th and 13th before finding the rough on the 18th and ended up for a bogey too.
 
Patrick Paul didn't drop a shot in his front nine for a brilliant two-under par 34, but a bogey on the 10th and two other consecutive bogey's on the 13th and 14th holes saw the Nigerian finish his round at one-over par and now four shots off the pace at one-under par heading into the final round.
,
Though Torgah remains the man to beat at this years Nigeria Masters two other players are still in contention including 2019 B&E champion, Zimbabwe's Visitor Mapwanya and Nigeria's Kabiru Haruna who at both tied for the third spot on the leaderboard at two-over par after 54 holes of play. While Sunday Olapade sits solo fifth on the leaderboard.
 
Despite a 72 and 80 in the first two rounds Southeast Shootout champion Francis Epe shot the lowest round on day 3 with after returning a one-under 71 to surge up the leaderboard by five spots from twelfth to seventh and now seven-over par heading


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Golf: Defending champ Vincent Torgah has back-to-back-to-back Nigeria Masters wins in sights

28/11/2019

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PictureVincent Torgah
Only sixteen players will advance to the final two rounds of the Nigeria Masters on a day that failed to follow the script.
 
Two internationals and three Nigerians failed to advance past the cut line. Ghanaian Vincent Torgah and number one player on the African Tour Order of Merit did not fail to send signal to all and sundry that he remains the king of golf in the West Africa region.
 
Vincent Torgah has an effortless power that is the foundation of his game, along with the confidence that comes with being the defending champion at the Nigeria Masters tournament. Those traits helped Torgah recover from a bogey on the second hole with a birdie on the third enroute to a seven-under 65 and a 7-shots lead after 36-holes at nine-under par, on a windy thursday at Abuja.
 
He’s joined at the top of the leader board, by Patrick Paul who also cruised to a second round three-under par 69 which left him seven shot off the pace.
 
The 2019 B&E Matchplay champion Visitor Mapwanya finished third on the leaderboard with a one-under par 71 on the IBB golf course on day two and now one-over par giving him a one-shot cushion over Kabiru Haruna who also finished two-over after 36 holes.
 
Emos Korblah, Kingsley Oparaku and Sunday Olapade who are all past winners on the African Tour are joint 5th on the leader board at three-over par and twelve shots adrift heading into the moving day.
 
Torgah, who is starting his fourth year on the African Tour, has won himself the Number-1 status on the Tour since 2017 till date and has retained that position for 152 weeks consecutively. The Ghanaian also known as 'MR CONSISTENCY' has also been the only player to have won the Nigeria Masters title back-to-back so this could be a big weekend for him in the 2019 season runoffs. 
 
Visit the www.Theafricantour.com website or download our App on Google Play Store to find more details on this event.


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Independence Day Golf: Vincent Torgah leads the way after a sparkling 63 in Round 1

30/9/2019

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PictureVincent Torgah
​The heat was raised to its peak as the various players who have come from different parts of Africa in celebration of the Nigeria's Independence, revealed their strength in the game.

The Ghanaian player leads the Championship after carding a record-setting score of 7-under 63 in the opening round of the 1st October Championship to take a three shots lead. Torgah began his game with a birdie in the first hole. He subsequently made an Eagle on hole 3 par 5. However he stumbled upon a boogie on hole 9 par 4, but that did not leave him short, as he proceeded to sink birdies on holes 10, and 3 straight birdies on holes 14, 15 and 16. He closed the game with a total of 1 Eagle, 6 birdies and 1 boogie. The 35 years old player is back to defend his title and take over the cup.

Chasing relatively closed was Visitor Mapwanya who posted halves of 34 and 32 on the front and back nine respectively, to finish the day with a blemish free 4-under 66. The Zimbabwean who took a break from the Tour earlier this year, was back to being 100 % focused on his golf since the “Shagamu Cup” last month. Visitor carded 4 birdies, on holes 1, 7, 14 and 15. He kept a clean card over the Port Harcourt golf course and grabbed just enough birdies to keep him in second place after round 1.

Gift Willy also made i a run! as he chases closely in third place. To start the tournament, the Port Harcourt based player rolled a birdie putt at the home hole to card a 3-under 67, leaving him 4 shots off the lead. The Nigerian is one of (if not the most) accomplished player never to have won a title on the Tour since joining in 2017. With 4 birdies and 1 boogie, he finished the round 1 stroke behind Mapwanya, maintaining his chances to win the tournament.

There was a long tie in the fourth place as 5 players struggled for the spot. Chukwudi Okoro, Solomon Ideriah, Christopher Francis, E.K Owusu and one time winner, Francis Epe kept the spot with level par 70.

Two other players carded 1-over par 71. The duo included two time winner on the Tour, Kingsley Oparaku and Atako Morgan of Port Harcourt golf club.

The layout at the Port Harcourt Golf Course has been prestigious as ever. The course which is hosting the African Tour for the second time this season, has been beautifully presented this week, and is delivering a firm but fair test of golf tournament,





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Good Times On The Green: Your guide to the 1st October Golf Championship

24/9/2019

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​The Portharcourt Club, Golf section will be looking a little greener next weekend as it welcomes the fourth edition of the African Tour's annual event that is usually staged to mark the Nigerian Independence.


This Annual independence tournament has become the best-attended event on the Tour.


Last year, a record number of spectators enjoyed the fun at the The Port harcourt Club Golf section as Ghana's Vincent TORGAH claimed the tittle.


The fun really begins on Friday with “TRAIN THE PLAYERS BY THE PROS”, all amateur players interested in building their game are welcomed to take part in this program.


The event will kick off by 12 noon - 2 pm .The program extends to Saturday, Sunday and Monday consecutively, from 4 pm - 5 pm.


Training time on Friday will be from 7 am - 10 am, as the course will be closed by 10 am.


All players on the course are expected to have dismissed their practice before 12 noon for the event to kick off.


On the first day of the training, the top 3 players on the O.O.M will teach, followed by the next three players on the O.O.M in the subsequent days and so on.


There will also be a “Beat The Pro Contest” among young players ages 6-18. Where any player who beats a pro by having his or her ball closer to the pin than the pros’ will win $100 Gift Voucher, everyday from Saturday to Tuesday on Hole 12 par 3.


The tournament officially begins on Saturday 28 September to Tuesday 1st of October 2019 for the pros, and 30th September to 1st of October for the amateurs (IF Monday is public Holiday).


Please bring your children for free training and give them the opportunity to experience the beauty of golf!

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Manchester City's quest for a 3rd straight League title

10/8/2019

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PictureManchester City's new boy, Rodrigo
​By Mac-Noble Adile


The citizens are preparing for another brutal campaign, where they will once again stand toe-to-toe with Liverpool and slug it out for the premier league title.


City recorded a mind-blowing total 198 points in their past two seasons to win back-to-back Premier League trophies, but many are speculating they will need to go beyond the 100 mark to win it again.


They will become only the fifth team in English football history to achieve the feat of three consecutive top-flight titles, after Huddersfield ,Arsenal , Liverpool and Manchester United (twice).


Manchester United did it from 1998-2001 and 2006-09, the only side to do it in the Premier League era. Before them, it was Liverpool (1981-84), Arsenal (1932-35), and Huddersfield (1923-26).


That’s it, so Manchester City is aiming to join pretty exclusive company when it tries to defend a trophy Liverpool as found as elusive company.


Last season finished tight. City’s incredible follow-up to an unprecedented season was again enough for first place. That was just one point more than the flashy Reds of Anfield, who threw away a big time Christmas lead about as quick as a kid tosses away the wrapping paper.


City has questions at left back between Benjamin Mendy , Oleksandr Zinchenko, and Angelino .


Oddly enough, Angelino may be the answer for City. The 22-year-old was bought back from PSV Eindhoven last season after a 1-goal, 9-assist league season and impressive-enough job in the club’s UCL run.


Liverpool, again, will be City’s main foe domestically and in Europe. As is now custom under the Txiki Begiristain-Ferran Soriano sporting director-chief executive axis, City have moved slickly in the market to give them the best chance of holding off Klopp’s men. The defensive midfielder Rodri joined from Atlético Madrid in the first week of July , City paying his €70m (£62.8m) release clause, so the addition of a central defender, following Vincent Kompany’s departure for Anderlecht, is the only real issue remaining.


Here’s the good news for City fans who believe Liverpool is right on its tail: They aren’t. The expected goals table says City should’ve finished with 90 points last season, not 98, but that Liverpool’s 97 were an even bigger over performance. The Reds expected finish was 83 points.
City has the ball more than everyone else, passes more and better than everyone else, shoots more than everyone else, and scores more than everyone else.


Incredibly, those totals are the same home and away. That was true in Guardiola’s first PL title campaign, too, with the exception of finishing fourth in shots per game while away from home.  

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