Lagos – The Captain of Black Stallions, Azeez Ladipo, on Tuesday appealed to the Nigeria Rugby Football Federation (NRFF) to ensure the inclusion of rugby in future National Sports Festival (NSF).
Ladipo spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria NAN) in Lagos against the backdrop of non-recognition of the sport in NSF.
He said that featuring the sport in NSF would make it more popular in the country, stressing that states would be eager to embrace it.
“I implore the Federation to try all they can to get rugby back into the National Sports Festival. If rugby is featured at the Festival, it will rekindle the people’s interest,” he said.
NAN reports that rugby featured last at the 16th edition of the NSF tagged “2009 KADA Games“ in Kaduna while the 19th National Sports Festival is scheduled for next year.
Ladipo said that NRFF should strengthen its focus on Schools/Colts rugby and women Rugby in 2016.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
Ladipo said that the players would be active until such a time the nation becomes a force to reckon with at the international scene.
“We are definitely not where we want to be and the players will keep striving to stamp the country into its rightful place in World Rugby,” he said.
Reacting to the body’s performance at competitions during the year, Ladipo said the team showed commitment in spite of their failure to qualify for the Olympics.
“Well, I think we recorded average during the year, if I will rate ourselves, It is definitely not where we want to be, but all the boys showed commitment.
“We kept pushing hard despite the little resources available to the NRFF.
“Our international representation obviously improved from last year with our 2nd placed finish at the Africa Cup1C and 8th placed finish at the Olympic qualifiers.
“Even though we ought to have achieved greater results, we must realise that we are still progressing to stabilise our teams,” Ladipo said. (NAN)