By Solomon Odeniyi
REACTIONS have continued to trail the unveiling of the Osun United jersey for the 2020/2021 Nigeria National League season at the Krisdera Hotel Stadium, Omoku, Rivers State
Osun United Media Officer, Tajudeen Amodu had uploaded pictures of the unveiled home and away jersey on his Facebook page few minutes to the team’s away match against Go Round FC.
Social media was awash for days as sports enthusiasts in the state beared their minds on the matter.
A sports presenter in the state, Joseph Ateweh described the development as strange, saying he was yet to hear where a professional club unveiled its jersey at an opponent’s stadium.
Ateweh added that the excuse that the jersey arrived late was an indictment on the team’s management.
He said: “The pride comes with what you do on your home ground. Have you ever heard that a football club, a professional club for that matter unveiled their jersey away from home? These are cheap excuses that the jerseys arrived late. As a responsible club, all the necessary things should have been done before the season kick-started. Admit that something is wrong with the club and needs urgent attention.”
Another sports enthusiast, Emmanuel Shaibu said the Omoluabi Giant got it all wrong by unveiling the team’s Jersey away from home, adding that there was nothing that could justify the action.
He said: “Osun United FC is just like a public defendant trying to defend a well-known criminal. Unveiling the jersey at opponent’s stadium was just too wrong
“Yes, Nigeria might have unveiled their jerseys in London but not at Wembley or any other stadium in London. If late arrival of the Jersey was the problem, then, why not unveil it at the team’s hotel or even on social media.
“Can we all just imagine Man Utd unveiling their jersey at the hawthorns or at the Kings power stadium…it is wrong from all fronts, just trying hard to defend the indefensible. “
Reacting, Amodu, the media officer of Osun united, said there was no law or tradition against unveiling the jersey away from home.
He added that if the jerseys had been supplied earlier or the first match was at home, the unveiling could have been done in Osogbo.
Amodu also blamed the bureaucracy in accessing the fund for the club as one of the reasons for the delay in the arrival of the jersey which was why it was unveiled in River state.
He said: “By law, is there any designated place to unveil? No! By tradition, is there any particular place to unveil? No! If there is anything wrong about that, the Nigeria Football Federation should not have unveiled Super Eagles jersey in London.
“Why was the jerseys not unveiled in Osogbo? The supplier of the jerseys sent the consignment on the day we set out for the journey to Omoku. What led to the late production was that there was an existing contract between the maker of the jersey and the management of Osun United which needed to be sorted out before another contractual agreement was entered into. This took time to be sorted out, hence late production.
“Whatever is required to be backed up with fund from the government is not always gotten quickly. Some of them take months before the bureaucratic bottleneck is sorted out. This is one of the factors that cause the delay.
