The Nigeria Football Federation has been called to probe
what has “become a great embarrassment to the game in Nigeria, one that has
been reoccurring and must be arrested even as at Monday, the Nigerians were
still stranded in Tunisia.
FIFA Match Commissioner and CAF General Coordinator Paul
Bassey in a release issued in Cairo yesterday said “…it is a shame that in
2015, a professional football club in Nigeria, one that is not alien to
continental qualification, can fail to honour her match in situations that are
very amateurish and murky, to say the least:
“Dolphins knew more than two weeks ago that they were going
to play in Tunisia, they were communicated the venue and time of the match. How
they were still found in Nigeria on the eve of the match, even without visas in
a country that has an Embassy in Nigeria, needs to be investigated, if not it
will happen again”
The CAF Instructor on Club Licensing recounted the ordeal of
the Nigerian contingent now in Cairo for the Seminar”… who have had to hear the
“Dolphins case” mentioned again and again”
“When the CAF Secretary General delivered his Opening
Address to the seminar, he drew the attention of participants to the Dolphins
case and since then the issue has come up again and again as people wonder the
circumstances of their been walked over and eventual elimination from the
competition”
According to Paul Bassey, this is not the first time it has
happened “ …The history of Nigeria football is replete with instances where
clubs who qualify for Africa don’t perfect their travel arrangements, don’t
care to find out about the strength of the opposition, weather, food, playing
surface and other details that will help in facilitating their encounter.”
Dolphins Football Club of Port Harcourt was billed to face
Club Africain of Tunisia and could not fly out early enough for the match.
Frantic efforts to contact CAF led to the Tunisian Football Federation
insisting that “ ….we spent over a week trying to get to them for information
on their arrival and strength of their delegation to no avail and reported to
CAF accordingly.
The time and venue of this match was fixed by CAF. The
venue, Radez is booked for Sunday. All logistics have been completed, tickets
sold, hotels booked, everything. This is unacceptable…..”
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