By Nicholas Obisike
Enugu – The Chairman of Enugu State Football Association (ENSFA), Chidi Offor-Okenwa has described the just concluded 2017 state league competition as brilliant adding that it kept fans thoroughly entertained.
Purple Krown Academy won the league by defeating Olicon Rovers FC 6-5 after playing out a 2-2 during the regulation time on July 29.
Speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Monday, Okenwa said that the state’s league was well organised.
“Honestly speaking, the matches more especially the final match between Purple Krown and Olicon Rovers was an entertaining match.
“I can tell you that we have run into a problem where we have eight high profile clubs that are at the same level in power.
“Whenever the clubs are playing, we will be looking onto penalty shootout and they hardly end in regulation time.
“On July 29, we witnessed two penalty shootouts in the third-place match between Enugu Angels and AC United and the final match,’’ he said.
Okenwa described the champions, Purple Krown as a compact team and added that the club’s achievement four years after it was formed was no fluke.
“I can tell you that Purple Krown winning the 2015 and 2017 state league is all about consistency, and to have won the league twice in its four years of existence speaks volume of them,’’ he said.
Okenwa expressed joy at the massive turnout of the supporters that watched the closing ceremony of the league.
“I am much touched by the number of people that attended the grand finale of the state’s league.
“The crowd was much, I could not believe it, in spite of the fact that the match was staged on a Saturday, a clean-up day.
“At a point, I started asking myself if the supporters know what they came for bearing in mind that it is a state league final and not the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) match,’’ Okenwa enthused.
NAN reports that the new state Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Joseph Udedi and the new Commissioner for Information, Ogbuagu Alikwe and other dignitaries watched the final match. (NAN)