The Technical Committee of Lagos State Football Association rose from its inaugural meeting held recently to deliberate on a number of issues on the development of round leather game in the state.
Led by Alhaji Liameed Olawale Gafar thanked the board of Lagos State Football Association (LSFA) headed by Alhaji Fouad Oki for its commitment to the growth and development as well as repositioning the face of football in the state within the short time of inauguration, adding that the board’s effort to come out with good football policies and the bold initiative to resuscitate football competitions such as Oba’s Cup, Lagos Street Soccer, IBILE Games, LAFA Super League, Principal Cup, and Lagos Junior League among other should be well commended.
On the annual Lagos FA Cup, the Committee resolved that it is better to begin preparation for the tournament early. To this end, it appointed Mr Sulaiman Rasheed and Coach Benson Edema to identify some good locations that would be used for the forthcoming FA Cup.
“The Committee also agreed to make the Lagos FA Cup more inclusive by taking the competition into the hinterland instead of concentrating on some particular locations as has been the case in the past. It is also resolved that venue proximity to teams should be a major factor during the FA Cup, considering the economic situation of the country at the moment,” a Communique made available after the maiden meeting reads.
The Committee at the meeting proposes a far-reaching innovation that will change the face of the school sports competition, the Principal’s Cup. According to the Committee, the Lagos FA board should divide the Principal’s Cup into two- Junior and Senior Principal’s Cup.
“It is observed that schools these days have junior and secondary schools, and stemming from popular demand, the technical committee, therefore, recommends that the competition be played separately.”
On the Lagos State League, the Committee resolved to revive the Lagos State League. “It was unanimously agreed by the members that the best two teams from each of the five divisions would qualify for the League and the two top teams would represent the state at the national playoffs.
The Communiqué reads further: “In order to prepare the Lagos-based NPFL, NNL, and NLO teams for the 2023/24 season, the committee concludes to organize a pre-season tournament from September 20 through 27, 2023 to keep the teams fit, ahead of the new season. The committee has proposed to use Onikan Stadium for the week-long event.
“During the deliberations, the Chairman of the Technical Committee, Alhaji Liameed Olawale Gafar expressed optimism that more teams from Lagos would be promoted to the NLO, NNL, and NPFL from next season owing to the strong support from the Oki-led LSFA Board.
“The committee agreed that with the various football competitions lined up by this administration, there is a need for additional sports facilities and renovation of existing ones to accommodate the busy football calendar of the LSFA. Upon further deliberations, the committee resolved that the LSFA Board should appeal to the Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu to see that the ongoing renovations taking place in Agege Stadium, Ifako-Ijaiye Sports Center, and other sports centres be expedited.
“In order to present formidable teams in the various categories that would represent the state at future national football competitions, the technical committee proposed four coaches in these age categories: U-10, 13, 15, 17, and 20 for both males and females. The committee suggests that 40 coaches should be deployed in all the categories.
“The LSFA Board should strongly consider the possibility of deploying one or two Coaches to each of the 5 Divisions in the State and saddle them with the task of identifying budding talents as it used to be many years ago.
“The technical director of the Technical Committee, Tajudeen Disu also expressed delight with the caliber of members in the committee and reminded the members of their primary assignments. While commending the members for their commitment to the committee, he remains upbeat that the Oki-led board would take football to the next level and therefore urged football stakeholders in the state to exercise patience with the new administration.”
