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Mark laments Eagles
woeful outing,flags off talent hunt
Newsdiaryonline Mon Oct 10,2011
Mark,Westerhorf ,others during the
flag off
President of the Senate, Senator David Mark has said that the
declining fortune of Nigeria football could be addressed if " we
return to the grass root to catch them young and build from
there". Speaking when he flagged off the "2011 David Mark talent
hunt football tournament", in Otukpo, Benue State yesterday,
Mark stated that Nigeria needs to build football teams from the
grass root and keep them together as a matter of urgent national
importance.
"What we saw on Saturday was a national embarrassment. National
pride was at stake and our boys did not put in their bests. They
did not understand the importance of the game to the nation and
they failed us", he lamented.
Senator Mark however counseled that "we put the sad experience
behind us, return to the drawing board, find out what went wrong
and put our house in order."
Part of the measures
to correct the ugly situation, he opined is his present
initiative to embark on football talent hunt at the grassroots
across the federation.
He cautioned football managers against politicizing the game
saying that selection of players must always be on merit devoid
of any sentiment or favoritism.
"One of the lessons from the Saturday's woeful outing is that we
must learn to catch them young and keep them together. We must
learn to plan ahead because any nation that does not plan, plans
to fail. We can avoid failure if we plan ahead", Mark stressed.
The President of the Senate expressed appreciation to Nigeria's
former Technical adviser, Clemence Westerhorf for leading a team
of international scouts to his country home, Otukpo for football
talent hunt. He added that the Nation's soccer got to its peak
during Westerhorf's tenure and therefore pleaded for a return to
the good old days.
In his remarks, celebrated former Nigerian Coach Clemence
Weterhorf said he is back to help rebuild the nation's football
from the grassroots, saying , "football is in the grassroots,
any nation that ignores grassroots football is unserious".
Westerhorf accompanied by other international scouts including
Harald Wilhelm advised Nigerians to forget the embarrassing
showing of the Super Eagles last Saturday and plan for better
days ahead.
Former Westerhorf's players including under 23 team coach,
Austine Eguavoen, Ben Iroha, Moses Kpakor among others were at
event held at the Jesus College football field, Otukpo.
The David Mark talent hunt football tournament according to the
special adviser to the president of the senate on sports and
youth development Dr. Peter Deshi would henceforth be an annual
event. At least 42 football teams are participating in the
tournament billed to end on October 16, 2011.
In the opening match Rival Academy of Makurdi defeated host Apa
united of Otukpo by a lone goal scored in 30th minute by Terna
Tarka.
Signed: Paul Mumeh, Chief Press Secretary to the
President of
the Senate.
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