Expensive away games: Poverty, profit, performance hobble demand for local league
With return tickets for players and officials to venues of 15 away matches costing over N2 billion in a season, the prohibitive cost of air travel has forced football clubs in the country to stick to gruelling and hazardous road trips, which compromises not only players’ health but also their performance on the pitch, and attendant quality of the game. Unfortunately, huge government financing has watered down agitation for an abridged cum regional league format, just as team managers are also making a fortune keeping their players on the road for days – at the expense of football development, CHRISTIAN OKPARA reports.
