By Chigozie Chukwuleta
The most important league in Nigeria (NNL) has witnessed tremendous improvements in the last one year. But the organisers are still working hard to add to its label. In this interview with the Chairman, Mr George Aluo, he said the league this season will wear a new and better look.
Excerpts…..
Q. One year down the line, what would you say of the Nigeria National League?
A. We thank God that we had a successful season last year which Nigerians acknowledged and applauded. After that successful season we are now planning for our second season in charge of the league and just like last season to the glory of God we have started implementing our plans first of which is the 3-day capacity building seminar that has just taken place in Ikene Remo. That was exactly what we did last year. When we came onboard we felt we had to take the coaches to the classroom and we brought them to the facility in Ikene Remo which is a wonderful facility and to the glory of God the sponsor of that event the proprietor of Value Jet Hon. Kola Soname helped us realise the dream. We sold the idea to him saying if in all we do we do not incorporate the media we will not be making a lot of progress because the media has a major role to play in the league. So we wanted the media to be equally part of this capacity building seminar and he obliged us. We are happy that the coaches and media officers came to Ikene and had a three day retreat with very capable resource persons. We’re happy that all our plans from last year till now are all falling into place. It can only get better so far so good.
Q. Within this period, and as you’re preparing for the next season what would you describe as the high points of your administration?
A. Some of the achievements are this, before now since over the years in the NNL, referees indemnities have always been a problem. As a journalist I followed the NNL, NPFL and all the other leagues and I know that NNL has never paid referees indemnities and that affected the kind of officiating you have in the league. So, for us when we came on board the first thing was to face that challenge and sort it out. Throughout last season right from the get go till the super 8 in Enugu we did not owe the referees a dime and after week 4 last year we increased referee indemnities and we paid it till the end of the season. So that is one achievement. What that meant is that we were able to hold the referees accountable and they did their job very well. The few that didn’t do their job well we showed them the exit gate. There was an improvement in officiating, the league was violence free, referees indemnities were paid. We got an insurance company to insure the clubs and pay the winners of the league price money unlike the previous seasons when NNL winners did not have anything to show for their efforts financially. We were able to give out 5 million as prize money to the winners of the league. We have tried to rebrand the league. We put it on television that is another achievement, the super 8 in Enugu was live on SLtv. People who had SLtv bouquet could watch it on Super sports. So people from different locations watched the NNL live. We also had the clubs live stream their games. We may not be on regular television but through our social media platforms, Nigerians were able to see the game, those at home and those in the diaspora.
Q. Are there decisions you took that you would want changed or do differently in retrospect?
A. No doubt no man is perfect. You’ll make some decisions and looking back you’ll say if I had the opportunity I’ll do it this other way. It is a learning curve especially when you’re trying to rebrand the league, there are some decisions you’ll take and you know you can do it better. We’re trying to make even better decisions than we made last season.
Q. This year that we’re going into a new season, what are the innovations that we’re going to see?
A. Talking about innovations, we are adding new things to the league. We’ve gotten a company that is our kitting partner. They provided balls to all the clubs in NNL, ten balls which is the official match ball. So any NNL game now will have an official ball in use and we’re going to have special bibs for NNL teams. There will also be a monthly award for the best player, best coach, best referee and the best goalkeeper. These are all innovations and we’re equally discussing with an online company based in Croatia, Sofascores to take our match results as they come so that globally people can follow NNL online as the goals are scored and matches are being played. We will ensure that all the matches are played in TV friendly stadium.
Q. During the workshop held in Ikenne, you talked about live streaming, that home teams are mandated to allow the away teams stream ……
A.(Cuts in)… Yeah all the home teams must allow the visiting teams to stream no compromise about that and if you don’t allow your opponents who are in your home to stream it means you have something to hide. I want sit down in my office in Abuja or anywhere I am to see the games live, if I am on the road I want to see the games live. If there are any shortcomings on the part of thee3 refereeAa.e we’ll tell the opponent who complained to provide us details with clips, it is these clips that we will forward to the referee committee to take a decision that is why we are advising the clubs not to use just one camera because if you use one camera you might not see all the angles that you need to make an informed decision but if a club is training and has up to 2-4 cameras, there will be different angles to what the club may consider a bad call and that will help the referees committee to be able to take a decision. We don’t take decisions when it comes to referee issues, we take the evidence before the referee committee and insist that they take proper action so if there are shortcomings we’ll sanction the official because we want to see teams win on the road.
Q. As we go into the 2024/2025 season of the NNL, what is your word to club officials, club management, players and referees going forward?
A. Fair play, that is the word. That is the only way we can make the league better, that is the only way we can attract sponsors to the league. I don’t want a situation where the league will be riddled with violence. Thank God last year we did not have cases of violence except for just one match which was Sokoto Utd Vs Malumfashi FC and we showed Malumfashi FC the exit door. That was how they left the league. We did not compromise on that, we banished them from their base and they protested and we told them to take the protest to NFF. At the end of the day NFF did not listen to them because the president of NFF is solidly behind this board and he has always insisted that we do the right thing. He is not interested in anyone bringing the game to disrepute, that has emboldened me as chairman and the entire board to always do the right thing and I want to thank him for his support and encouragement.
