TRACKING >>Against expectation of the public that government and people of Anambra must also be considering the option of owning their own state football club, Tony Oli, Chairman of Anambra Sports Development Commission (ASDC), has dropped bombshell that football was not the business of government.
Oli made the declaration while speaking at the closing Anambra Independent Football League (AIFL) Season 3 in Adazi, Anaocha Local Government Area.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Anambra is one of the few states that do not own a club in the country, while the only about four clubs that participated in the 2018/2019 Nigeria Premier Football League were not state-owned.
“Football was not the business of government but the provision of conducive environment for private sector-driven football industry to thrive,” he said.
Oli said those calling for it lacked understanding of how football was run.
He said the questions have been coming to him that even the governor of the state, Willie Obiano confronted him with the need to have a team but he explained that it was not the business of government to run a football club.
According him, that is why FIFA, the world football governing body, frowns at government interference in football issues, the moment FIFA discovers that a government is meddling in football matters, the body bans it.
“Even His Excellency has asked my why Anambra should not own a club and I explained to him that, as a government, our duty is to create enabling environment for private sector-owned football clubs to run smoothly,” he said.
Oli announced N1 million to Anambra Independent Football League as support to enhance the prize money to the winning teams of the league next season.
Udala FC were winners of the 2018/2019 league season which was the third in its series. They got N300,000 prize.
