AGC Tournament: Dortmund in a Blazing Start
By Abidemi Williams
All roads led to the Omituntun sports and community field where thousands gathered to witness a new edition of the Alimosho Grassroots Championship orchestrated by Bacayada Media Entertainment, the competition comprises of 8 clubs in which youngsters showcased their skills with the round leather game.
One of the most important aspects of the competition is that the chairman of the Alimosho Local Government, Honourable Jelili Sulaimon is one of the co-sponsors in the ongoing event.
The competition which kicked off with Man United vs Arsenal match saw both clubs netting each other 1-1,
Followed by Barca vs Liverpool which ended 0-1, Chelsea vs Dortmund that also ended 3-4, Juventus won and real Madrid work over because they did not show up.
Nigeria with a blossoming population that is already heading to over 200m people needs to properly engaged the youths with something productive to deter and discourage them from taking to criminal activities like cultism, robbery and other social vices that are detrimental to the wellbeing of the community and the society at large, hence the need for the competition to engage the youths of the community for inclusive development and growth of the society.
Mr Raji Yakub who duly represented the Chairman of Alimosho Local Government, Honourable Jelili Sulaimon, said that it is not that the government looks at other sectors of human development and neglects sports within the local government. He also reiterated that the Chairman is keen to create world champions from the youths from the community and Lagos state at large.
Some people have been advocating that youth should be included in governance, finance and sports. That is the dream of the chairman because he loves youths and their activities. You can even see that he is also a young man, so he knows what the youths want and he’s ready to make provision for their welfare as it concerns investment in human capital, that is why you can see what’s going on here today,” Raji said.
Furthermore, “The organizer of this competition, Segun was always with us at the LGA secretariat and was tenacious about the involvement of the LGA in this competition. We really appreciate that.
Gathering youths of all shades and characters is not an easy task and I say on behalf of Honorable Jelili, that he has done something worthy of appraisal and also by channeling efforts, resources and time into something of this nature, we give kudos to him.
One of the attendees, Barrister Oyewole Olurin said that the competition would foster unity among people of the community especially as the nation is being fragmented by political ideologies of violence, hatred, tribalism and ethnic division. With something of this nature, we enjoy good football, in a great environment, what else do we ask for but peace to grow and develop he said. We have a lot of Amokachis, Mikel Obis, Kanu Nwankwo’s and even Messi and Ronaldo’s here.
We should just give them that opportunities…Nigeria would be the beneficiary of all these,” Olurin stated.
Idowu Ismail, the Community Development Authority Secretary of the Omituntun Community said that even before the COVID-19 pandemic, there has never been a major tournament like what was witnessed but he also said that the tourney has been on for years with development at every stage.
Meanwhile to him, this year’s edition, despite the whole crisis of the pandemic and other issues such as the #EndSARS has been a huge success because it is one in which youths have taken the lead to do something while citing the involvement of Honourable Jelili and Segun
Olufisayo, Bacayada Media Entertainment boss to bring something great to the community after the lockdown when sporting activities were banned until the recent relaxation of sporting events.
Also talking on the event, he said that the organisers were so much cautious of the social distancing orders of the Federal Government by not allowing crowds into the playing ground other than the players and some fans.
Alimosho community is a place where there are many youths whose productivity is glaring. They have produced different peoples in many walks of life and this is evident in the sports sector of the community too.
Many of the youngsters who have played in the competition have shown appreciation to the local authorities for the support especially as it applies to the prize money and the chance to compete and become somebody through sports.
One of the participants, Henry Okon who hails from Agbor in Delta State said, “I am from Agbor, Delta state in Nigeria. I am very happy that something of this nature is taking place again, I have played in such competition in the past two years. It is wonderful. The Covid-19 issue is what we thought would not make this competition hold but thanks to the organisers, we are here again. This is one of the ways that youths like us get to become great sports persons without going into criminal activities. I really thank the organisers and the community people for their provision for the opportunities to stage something of this nature,” Henry said.
Olagoke Ibrahim told CREEKVIBES that such competition has been taking place for over 30 years:
“You see, this competition has been on for over 30 years and we who grew up here have always been a part of it. Talk of Alimosho Local Government, we have produced many stars that have the capabilities to represent Lagos State at the National Sports Festival. Omituntun Cup was our own community competiton and we treasured it because it has been one of the things that bind us together. Aside from this football competition, we have volleyball, Basketball and even table tennis and boxing competitions too. Those of them who are good enough, we encourage them to take to the sports and become professionals.
The Secretary of the Omituntun Community CDA, Mr Idowu Ismail told CREEKVIBES that he has been witnessing and seeing sporting activities at the Pako sports field but this year’s edition, despite the COVID-19 pandemic is something else. As the secretary of the CDA, he said that one thing that the local government is trying to do with the tournament is to discourage youths from becoming criminals hence the projection and encouragement of the competition. He also said that whenever it comes to sports and sporting activities, the Executive Chairman of the Alimosho Local Government, Hon Jelili is ever ready to support it financially and in other ramifications.
The competition is an annual event in which sporting football clubs named after the major EPL teams compete against each other and the prize for each team, especially those who come first, second and third ranges between hundreds of thousands with other add-ons for the team.
