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Fifa president Gianni Infantino says ‘no way’ with idea set to be scrapped

Gianni Infantino has ruled out the introduction of blue cards as part of a sin-bin trial, stating: “It is red card to the blue card.”

Football’s rule-makers are set to approve sin-bin trials, but an idea to use blue cards is likely to be ditched.

It is understood senior figures within the game were taken aback by the proposals of a blue card when it emerged last month.

“This is a topic that is non-existent for us,” Fifa president Infantino said.

Plans of a sin-bin trial are due to be discussed by the International Football Association Board (Ifab) – the game’s rule-making body – at its annual general meeting at Loch Lomond in Scotland on Saturday.

However, Infantino says the blue card plan is a non-starter.

“Fifa is completely opposed to blue cards. I was not aware of this topic, the president of Fifa – and I think Fifa has a say in Ifab. No way,” he said.

“We have to be serious. We are always open to look at ideas and proposals and everything has to be treated with respect of course.

“But once you look at it you also have to protect the essence and tradition of the game. There is no blue card.”

Caution was also expressed at which levels of the game the sin-bin trials might be applied.

Further discussion on the subject will take place at the meeting, although debate is more likely to centre around whether sin-bins should just be issued for dissent and not cynical fouls, which had been thought likely.

The Premier League has already distanced itself from any sin-bin trials with numerous managers, including Tottenham’s Ange Postecoglou, saying they were a terrible idea.

BBC Sport has been told the intention is to introduce them at much lower levels, although this will also be clarified at the Ifab meeting.

Discussion around ‘cooling off periods’ will also take place, with a press conference due to take place at around 13:00 GMT.

Infantino is expected in Scotland for the meeting, before going to watch the Scottish Premiership game between St Mirren and Aberdeen in the afternoon.

VAR is part of football’s future

VAR will also be discussed at the AGM, although that will centre around an extension of the current trial of referees confirming what decisions have been reached rather than any in-stadium access to real-time discussions in the VAR Hub.

“It will be difficult in a stadium to hear what is happening in the VAR booth,” said Infantino. “But explanation by referee is an important step in the right direction in explaining to the public and people in the stadium why he took a certain decision.

“VAR isn’t that old. It has made a lot of progress and will make more.”

Asked whether he still believed in the concept, Infantino said: “Very much so. You can’t imagine football anymore without VAR. Nobody can do that.”

Temporary concussion subs is ‘PR’

Infantino also rejected the idea of temporary concussion substitutes, which many feel would be a good way of dealing with head injuries amid concerns some players do not leave the pitch currently.

“We will not introduce temporary concussion subs because, we care about the health of the players and concussion is an important topic for us,” he said.

“We have invested a lot of money, £1.5m, in research. We have an expertise in this area now.

“And medical experts are saying it is simply impossible in a few minutes to be able to determine whether there has been a concussion and if it is serious, or not.

“That’s why, in case of a suspected concussion, the player has to be substituted. If you want to care about the health of the player, the players goes out and another player comes in. That’s the end of it.

“All the rest is not protecting the heads of players, just making some PR announcements.”

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NDDC committed to developing athletes discovered at Niger Delta Sports Festival

A new approach to grassroots sports development will see athletes discovered at the ongoing Niger Delta Sports Festival (NDSF) undergo periodical camping where scientific methods of training would be applied.

Sir Itiako Ikpokpo, the Co-Chairman of the Main Organising Committee (MOC) of the festival, dropped the hint at a media parley with journalists covering the games and said over 60 athletes have already been spotted as at Day 4.

“This festival is not about who came first or who won gold. Our scouts are looking out for hints of potential, quality that can be groomed for future success,” Ikpokpo responded to a question about objectives of the festival.

He said the scouts made up of coaches, former athletes and scouts have so far submitted 64 names and most of them were not those that came first or second.

“We seek to set up camps for the identified athletes with a view to putting them through scientific research-based training supervised by certified coaches,” added Ikpokpo who is the lead consultant for the project.

“The real work is not this festival, it is to design and implement the plan to nurture the talents discovered here to go on and replace those who have been representing Nigeria,” he added.

Sponsored by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) as part of its mandate to improve living conditions of people of the nine mandate states, the NDSF had about 3,000 athletes and 500 officials competing in 17 sports.

It began on April 1 and will end on April 8 in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

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Niger Delta Sports Festival holds Golf Kitty as Cultural Expo fever spreads in Uyo

Managing Consultant of the Niger Delta Sports Festival, Sir Itiako Ikpokpo, teed off the Golf Kitty organised in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

This is even as the organisers rev up preparations for the Cultural Expo with the stage being rigged and rehearsals commenced.

Held at the Ibom Golf and Country Club on Saturday (April 5) morning, on the sidelines of the sports competitions, the event is part of the community engagement activities of the festival to foster social networking.

Over 130 golfers were in the kitty with members of the Main and Local Organising Committees of the Niger Delta Sports Festival in attendance.

“The NDSF project sponsored by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was designed to achieve multipurpose objectives of discovering and nurturing athletes, foster regional integration and engaging our host community.

“We have also provided opportunity for games demonstration towards bringing them in when the next edition holds. Cricket and Rugby are such games and we will keep redesigning the festival concept to accommodate more sports”, Ikpokpo told journalists at the event.

The festival also incorporated a Cultural Expo that will hold on April 7 and a number of upcoming entertainers from the nine mandate states will be on parade for comedy, music and masters of ceremony.

Edi Lawani, the country’s leading entertainment impresario said the Cultural Expo is a community engagement platform to provide the people of Akwa Ibom State, the festival community and tourists a time to wind down.

“Over 40 artistes will be on parade as we provide music, comedy, dance and food court for everyone in Uyo to feel the sports festival atmosphere outside the competition venues and make new social and business friends”, the thickly Lawani said donning his trademark shorts and backpack.

“Just as the NDSF is poised to discover new talents in sports, the cultural expo of the NDSF is equally designed to give a boost to and uplift young upcoming talents in the creative industry”, Lawani further stated.

Established talents like Comedian Destalker and singer Humblesmith are billed to perform to give inspiration and mentorship to the assembled young talents.

He said emphasis has also been placed on gender inclusiveness as there are female artistes, female Disc Jockeys and a female red-carpet host who are set take their place of pride at the event.

The Expo night which holds at the popular Unity Park also known as the Christmas Village, will enjoy the full complement of exotic show lighting display and large screen format projection.

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Govt Should Give Annual Grants To Nigerian Clubsides – Sanmi Doherty

Stakeholders of Nigerian football opined that governments at all levels should completely hands off sponsorship or ownership of football clubs in Nigeria.

According to some aficionados, the state-owned clubs have not thrived or perform better than privately owned clubs in recent times.

And yet, another strong voice in the fortunes of Nigerian football has joined the fray, albeit from a fresher angle.

Speaking in a recent interview, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ikorodu City Football club, Sanmi Doherty, admonished the federal government to establish a football trust fund that would empower the clubs to operate in line with the global best practices in world football. He added that Nigerian clubs would be able to compete favourably with their counterparts on the continent.

“I think government should only provide the facilities the enabling environment for the clubs. I think we can also have a trust fund fir Nigerian clubs. Tell me, why can’t the federal government earmark certain amounts of money as annual grants to help the clubs playing in the league?

“You know we’re not only promoting football, we’re also empowering the youths and using football to curb restiveness amongst the youths.

” Football is big business and capital intensive. For instance, if I know that I’m going to receive maybe N3billion from the government as my annual allocation, I can conveniently go for the best players, pay them very well, and ensure they get the conducive environment to ply their trades professionally and of course, the desired results will come,” the youthful club owner enthused confidently.