By Victor Eyinnaya and Adeyinka Akintunde, Lagos on March 19, 2016

Former Assistant Coach of Super Falcons, Coach Joy Etim, has blamed the football administrators for all the woes that afflict women football in the country. She noted that the unfortunate experiences that have befallen the game would have been avoided if wise counsel had been adhered to.

The veteran woman coach spoke to Daily Sports online at the National Stadium, Surulere Lagos, expertly X-raying the steady decline of the game in the country. She stressed that major reasons why Nigeria has not been on the winning side in recent times cannot be far-fetched and called on the authorities to endeavour to heed to the advice of returning to the grassroots and also dish out incentives such as tax relief that would encourage corporate bodies and wealthy individuals to invest in women football at the club and national levels.

“This would be the first step towards the rediscovery of the fast lost glory of women round leather game in the land. It has to be seen as a matter of urgent national importance if we must stem the recurring slide. All levels of women football have decayed. It needs quick fixing. We must get it right from the club level and as that would enable us build stronger national teams as it were before this apathy set in,” she said.

Joy Etim alleged that coaches are not free to choose the players who should represent the country during international competitions. She said:  “Everybody wants his/her relation or person to be among the team, and this is very sad. This is unlike when I was there under Ismaila Mabo: I will bring my team list, Ismaila will bring his own list and other assistants would bring theirs, too. If one player’s name appears in the three of them, then automatically, that player gets into the team. That was how that set of Super Falcons crew led by Mabo managed the team successfully. This is not the case today.”

Coach Etim further lamented that the welfare of the players, coaches and other officials are not given the deserved attention. “Everybody fends for his/herself,” she stated.

She advocated that more attention be paid to women football as the players have their peculiar problems as women. She also said that an experienced women handler should always be among the coaching crew of women national team to serve as stabilising factor in the teams to avoid uncertainties that do arise in the camp from to time.

•Photo shows Super Falcons.

Source Daily Sports

Posted March 19, 2016

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