As thousands of football stakeholders are still waiting for the government to reopen sports centres across the country, a Lagos based coach, Muritala Tijani has revealed that he still bittered, angry and frustrated with the way government continued to shut sports centres despite the fact that countries in the world gradually ease their lockdown in the sports sector.
Tijani who established Murich Football Academy of Orile Iganmu, Lagos in 2006 told our correspondent that life has not been easy for him and his players in the last five months of lockdown noted that many of his players are beginning to lose interest in the round leather game. Tijani who doubles as club owner said he could not imagine staying at home for five months without training his players and called on both state and federal government to consider the sector before stakeholders begin to lose their patience.
“Enough is enough because sporting activities cannot remain lockdown forever. Thank God that government has lifted the ban on non-contact sports recently but let the sports centres be opened too and let the football activities return and we stakeholders are ready to follow the public health protocols and guidelines,” he said.
Tijani who has more than 64 players in his academy revealed that his academy is one of the best in Lagos boasted that he has won many laurels and involved in many both state and national football competitions in the past.
He said despite the lockdown on the sports sector, he still finds his time to tutor his players online. He said some of his players who sent their personal training to him are in good shape while some are fastly losing interest in the game.
“I have tried my best to keep my players and check them on a regular basis unfortunately some of them are doing something else which is a temporary setback for the academy. Presently I am sad and bittered with the continued closure of sports centres by government, he concluded.
Tijani said his academy still need more players within the age of 9 and 17 years to join the academy noted that only good players would be accommodated to the academy and use them for series of friendly matches before they can be fully registered for the academy.
