23rd November, 2012
The football team of THENEWS/P.M.NEWS, have been drawn to play in Group D of the 2012 Lagos Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, SWAN Cup billed to kick off 12 December at the Legacy Pitch of the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos.
At the draws held Wednesday at the SWAN Secretariat, THENEWS, who were seeded because they came fourth in the last edition, were drawn in the same group with Vanguard Newspapers; Nigeria Television Authority, NTA; SportsVille; Top Radio and Champion Newspapers.
Speaking on the draws, team captain and coach of THENEWS, Tunde Oyedele said they are not afraid of their opponents, urging his teammates to train hard for the tournament.
“We have seen the draws, and I won’t call a favourable one because every team would want to win. But that does not mean we would play as underdogs, we are favourites in that group and I hope we surpass our previous fourth position this year.”.
In Group A, defending champions, SportsDay Newspaper would slug it out with ThisDay Newspapers; Radio Lagos; Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, FRCN; Veterans and The Nation.
Master Sports; Brila FM; Raypower; Newstar; SuperSports and Sports would do battle in Group B.
The third placed team at the last edition of the football tourney, Cool FM, Correspondents; Compass Newspaper; The Sun Newspapers; Lagos Television, LTV and Guardian Newspapers are in Group C.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Sports Committee of SWAN, Godwin Enakhena has warned participating teams against fielding of mercenaries.
“This edition of SWAN Cup will not give room for teams to register mercenaries, names that we are not familiar with won’t be allowed to play”.