How I was frustrated out of coaching — Tony Urhobo News

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How I was frustrated out of coaching — Tony Urhobo

By Maduabuchi Kalu on March 5, 2017

Former Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) President and renowned coach, Tony Urhobo, has revealed how he was frustrated out of coaching by forces he described as evil in the then AFN for standing up for what is right.

He said he retired from nurturing world-class athletes for the country against his will because of the evil plot against him for refusing to cow to the desires of some of the administrators and board members of AFN.

According to him, he incurred their wrath particularly the then technical director of the AFN, the late A.K Amu by advising against the planned oversees camping exercise for Nigerian athletes as the country prepared for the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand.

Urhobo explained that as someone who has lived all his lives as an athlete and later a coach, and someone who is passionate about the sports, he only gave what he knew as sincere professional advice to then Director General of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Babayor Shehu. Urhobo explained that because of that those who planned the foreign camping exercise for selfish reasons ganged up against him and frustrated him out of the system.

“I would like to start by saying that I was frustrated out of coaching for refusing to be cowed to the whims and caprices of the evil forces at the then AFN,” Urhobo revealed.

“In the first place, it was the then Director General of NSC, the late Babayo Shehu that literally dragged me to the centre from the Mid-West to become national coach.

“It was Shehu who called me and said Tony, when I was director in Bauchi, I called you to come and work for me but you said no; because you were trained under scholarship by the Midwest. You told me then that if you were coming, it should be at the national level and Nigeria was already lobbing for you, so I want you to come and work with me.

“I said if it is so, you have to write to my state to release me and he did, and I was released deployed to the Federal to become the national coach,” Urhobo explained.

“But unfortunately for me, at that time we had A.K. Amu and co. It was a tasking job but by the grace of grace of God I was exposed. As an individual, I was excelling in sports, I was into many sports, I was a footballer, I was a cricketer, I was vault jumper, I was one of those who secured scholarship in those good old days and I was sent to the US by the Midwest government. It was the US at that time that was dominating and posting the best results in world sports. The United States of America was the place to be as far as sports was concerned then,” Urhobo said

“Now, on how I fell out or incurred the wrath of some of the administrators, in 1990 when we were preparing for the Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand, the administrators summited a three month oversees training programme to the DG of NSC, Babayor Shehu. Then the DG called me and asked me whether the programme was feasible and he said by the way are you aware of this programme? I told him I was not aware and he was surprised.

“Then he asked me to frankly advised him based on my professional experience and knowledge and I advised him in all sincerity based on my knowledge and experience of oversees training camp.

“I told him three reasons why I don’t think that embarking on the three months oversees training camp will be of any benefit to us. I said, Sir; the first problem that the athletes will encounter if we embark on oversees’ training programme is weather. I explained to him that it will not take the athletes anything less than three weeks to acclimatize to the weather condition over there and any time lost can never be regained.

“I said again sir, if we travel for the foreign camping exercise, the country will have to source for foreign currency to pay for the camp allowances of the athletes but if we camped in the country, that will not be a problem as the athletes will be paid in local currency.

“And I said finally sir, if we travel oversees for the three months camping exercise, the door will be shut on other athletes who may wish to try and see whether they will be able to displace already known athletes and we have seen such things happen in the past. I explained that going on foreign camping exercise means that the camp will be a closed camp as there will be no room for other Nigerians to try their luck whether they will be able to represent their fatherland.

“Meanwhile, at that time our athletes were beating some of the foreign-based athletes, so I don’t see the need for the planned oversee camp programme except for administrators to pocket huge sums of money in allowances in the name of estacode,” Urhobo declared

“So, after my candid advice, Babayo Shehu called A. K. Amu and others and asked them why they should draw up a camping programme without my knowledge. He asked them weather they realised that it was the national coach who was to run the programme? They told him that they have no need to carry me along as it does not concern me. Shehu told them that he was the person who is to defend this before the Supreme Military Council (SMC) and explained to them that he will not defend it because it was not feasible. That was my crime and there and then they vowed to deal with me,” Urhobo explained.

Continuing he said: “So, as we prepared for the Commonwealth Games, we were in high spirit but low and behold when the list came out, my name was nowhere to be found. They dropped me. Shehu pleaded with me that he knew how I was feeling that I should exercise patience that the matter will be resolved but nothing happened and they left for the Games in New Zealand.

“Some of my athletes won medals, some won silver, bronze. Some of them that won silver would have won gold for the country had it been I was with them and some of them that won bronze would have won silver as well.

“To tell you that the plot against me was deep rooted, as if dropping me from the Commonwealth Games was not enough, when they returned from the Auckland, New Zealand, they told the DG that they are going into grassroots and as a result, there is no need for a nationals coach. That was how I was frustrated out and I turned in my resignation after 17 years as athletics coach and instructed people around me that if anybody comes looking for me, they should tell the person I was not around because I didn’t want to see anybody that would make me change my mind,” Urhobo explained.

•Photo shows veteran athletics coach Tony Urhobo.

Source Daily Sports

Posted March 6, 2017