The chairman of the Delta State Sports Council for the Delta-based football club, the Warri Wolves, Amaju Pinnick declares satisfaction on the recent choice of his team, the Warri wolves for the Confederation ticket by the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF). “It is an act of God,” he was heard telling reporters when asked about his general opinion.
It has however been gathered that the rival team, Sharks Football club of Port Harcourt, is not pleased with the choice. According to them, the choice was purely political, as they believe that their Deltan rivals were not supposed to be given the ticket; they claim they were the rightful choice. They have even gone a step further to say that the Warri Wolves are not playing fair and are bribing top NFF officials for the prestiged ticket.
Amaju Pinnick vehemently denied these allegations, stating that it was absurd and facetious. He declared that neither the Warri Wolves not the Delta state Sports Commission has had any dealings with any top official regarding manipulation of the team’s placement. He said it would be a dirty deal, as well as political football. He also declared that such statements against the Warri wolves were a stab in the back of the football fanatics and general football lovers of Delta State.
He said that the NFF was governed by various laws, and they have not stepped out side the fringes of the law.
He also went further to state that the Sharks of Port Harcourt were a good team, having the essentials to bag a Confederation ticket of their own, but the Warri Wolves were also magnificent. It was therefore left to the NFF to make a choice between two good and engaging teams, and Warri Wolves FC was it. He considered a lack of professionalism and sportsmanship on the part of the Sharks of Port Harcourt if they could not accept defeat gallantly, but instead resorted to name-calling and bullshitting. He said it was essentially tantamount to throwing stones in a market place: generally hurting people indiscriminately.
The NFF is not quite over this, however it may seem. Various meoves are right now being made to clear up the mess and establish tangible reason for the choices so that these squabbles do not degenerate into a fist fight where mud will be slung on the whole picture of Nigerian football. In the spirit of Professionalism and sportsmanship, I think this is a welcome move.
Personally, If I were to give my opinion on this, I would rather go with the choice of the NFF as the Warri Wolves have played a really refreshing game this period. I am not saying the Sharks of Port Harcourt haven’t, but the fact remains that in a race, there would always be one who come first, and in this case, well, the Warri Wolves have clinched it. The NFF has been a really efficient governing body of Nigerian football: I doubt they were irrational in their selection.
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