By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
The January 8, 2023 new kick-off date of the much-awaited Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) set by the Interim Management Committee (IMC) may not materialize after all even as the draw for the upcoming season will hold on Wednesday, December 28, 2022 in Abuja.
Prompt News had exclusively reported last week that aggrieved members of Nigeria Referees Association (NRA) had vowed to boycott the earlier kick off date of December 28 if their outstanding three years
match indemnities are not paid to the last kobo by the football authorities.
A respected member of NRA who pleaded anonymity revealed that majority of their members are determined more than ever before to take their destinies in their hands by boycotting the proposed 2022/2023 football league until their three years unpaid match indemnities are paid completely.
Prompt News report has since sparked off meeting frenzy by the officials of IMC, NRA, Club Managers aka ‘Club Owners’ and top officials of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) with some of the meetings holding outside the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to find a middle ground to enable the league to start on December 28.
However, the date has been shifted to January 8, 2023 after the referees stood their ground on the payment of the three years accumulated match indemnities arrears before they will listen to any plea on returning to the field of play with their whistles.
A FIFA-badged referee who wants to remain anonymous insists that the men in black will not have anything to do with the new kick off date until the IMC which inherited the assets and liability of the defunct League Management Company (LMC) and NFF pay the arrears of three years match indemnities owed them.
According to him: “Nigerian referees should not be taken for granted anymore. We can no longer be officiating matches on credit. It’s not done in other climes. The era of leading us by the nose is gone and forever too.
“We want to officiate matches but we want to be paid our match indemnities too. A worker is deserving of his or her wages. This is our demand, this how it done in other countries”.
Meanwhile, the IMC has fixed the draw ceremony for the 2022/23 league season for Wednesday, December 28, 2022 at Sandralia Hotel, Abuja, with 20 clubs in the box just as the kick off is slated for January 8, 2023, nearly six months after the preceeding one ended on July 17 with Rivers United lifting the title for the first time.
On Monday, the IMC promised a glamorous draw, which it said is in line with “strategic plans to add value to the NPFL and attract more followership and corporate sponsorship”.
IMC Chairman, Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye said that invitation has been extended to former internationals and NPFL players for the draw.
In a memo to the clubs, the IMC also disclosed that it has secured the approval of the NFF to hold the draw for an abridged format of the season.
The memo reads: “Recall the meeting of IMC with clubs owners on the 21st December 2022 at Sandralia Hotel, where it was decided that the IMC will inform the NFF on the decision to organise the draws for the 2022/2023 league on the 28th December 2022, and that the league will commence on 8th January 2023 on Abridged League Format.
“The purpose of this letter is to convey the approval of the NFF to organise the draws on the 28th December 2022 and the league will commence on the 8th January 2023 on an Abridged League Format”.
