The Chairman of Enugu State Football Association (ESFA), Tony Ugwu, says his administration will focus efforts to the development of grassroots football in the state.
Ugwu said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Friday.
He said the essence of developing grassroots football was to sustain the state’s achievement in age grade football in the country.
He described grassroots football as the bedrock of the game, hence the need for the state to focus more on it.
According to him, before, we were the U-13 and U-15 champions of NFF/Zenith Bank Future Eagles tournament in the country.
“Getting to the top is not always a problem but sustaining it worths extra efforts and that is why we are going to fish out and harness talents always.
“So, we are going back to the drawingboard to resuscitate our dominance in age grade football in the country,” he said.
The ESFA chairman said the state had found it difficult to replicate such feat again and needed to start building from the scratch.
Ugwu said: “Late chairman Chidi Ofo-Okenwa was a lover of grassroots football and he ensured that the state performed well during his time.
“His legacy will not go in vain and that we must uphold.
“We are going into the hinterland, not only in Enugu metropolis, to discover and harness football talents,” he said.
He said there were laid down plan for sports development in the state before Okenwa’s death.
Ugwu further said the association was planning to meet previous sponsors of the Veteran League for the upcoming 2021 league in the state.
“We are just coming out of the state league and the state Aiteo Cup. So, we have to meet with the previous sponsors to know their stand.
“As of now, there is nothing concrete for the veteran league in the state until we meet with the sponsors and come up with a good plan for it,” Ugwu said.
(NAN)
