Oba’s Cup: Clubs Decry Delay

Owners of clubs who registered for this year’s Oba’s Cup have voiced out their displeasure over the delay in playing the grassroots soccer tourney.

The last time the annual competition was played was two years ago at the Teslim Balogun stadium and it was organised by the Lagos Ministry of Youth and Sports in conjunction with state’s Football Association.

After a successful final, which was won by Larry Football Club of Alimosho, many football fans thought that the competition that brought the best out of the grassroots clubs in the state would be sustained annually, but disappointingly the tournament did not hold last year.

Early this year, many grassroots clubs rushed to their various football divisions to register for this year’s competition with the hope that the it will kick off before the recently concluded South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup. But their hope was dashed when the Lagos FA announced that the competition would be played immediately after the World Cup.

When the GSG visited the office of Lagos FA recently to confirm the date of the competition, the officials gave no response.

Reacting to this development, chairman of Oniru United, Ahmed Ajibola, expressed disappointment over the delay of the competition and threatened to withdraw his team from the tourney, if there is no concrete action to kick off the competition.

“The Lagos FA is not serious about the Oba’s Cup because by now the competition should have started at various divisions in the state. We cannot continue to wait any longer. I am thinking of withdrawing my team from the competition if there is no positive response from the organisers,” he said.

Lucky Babes Team Manager, Lookman Bakare, urged the organisers to fix a date for the competition. He said it is sad that after all the teams have completed their registrations almost two month ago, the competition is yet to kick off.

“Some of the coaches and club owners are fed up of the delay. If the competition won’t hold this year, the organisers should tell us so that we will not be waiting endlessly,” he said.