Nigerian Grassroot Football promoter, Charles Emordi has lamented about the poor state of fundings and sponsors being put in place for Grassroot football and how it almost broke his marriage, due to his eagerness to earn his players a lucrative move.
In an exclusive interview with Sports247, Emordi was so emotional when he expressed his feelings on how spending all he had on his football academy, almost divided his home, which was all due to lack of fundings and sponsors on our football Grassroot level.
“I ran a Grassroot Academy for 18 years, yet no sponsors and I have been running my money on it for a very long time. My son was age 5 when he came into the academy and I watched him grow up, up till 18 years, yet he didn’t move or any of the players, which made me very worried, because there were no sponsors and scouts in the country, unlike before”.
“So I had to take it to myself, got a scout, an agent and spent close to #3million just to transfer him to Europe, which wasn’t easy. That’s why you see most talented players here while away most of the time, due to the lack of scouts, sponsors, and poor fundings”.
“I even went into crisis and troubles with my wife because of Grassroots Football. I had to tamper with our family’s money, to keep the academy alive, you know what that means, it’s not easy”.
“How can a Coach for 18 years in the Grassroot gain nothing. Nothing is coming in for 18 years now”, it’s very very bad and pathetic”.
“My Wife scolded me a lot for spending much money just for a transfer, she even looked at me like a fool, someone that doesn’t know what he is doing and this almost broke my home.
“But I thank God now, that everything is settled and everyone is happy again”, he stated.
