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Debby Football Club of Ogbomoso eliminated and fined N50,000.

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Details have emerged as to the specific punishments meted to Debby Football Club of Ogbomoso, an erstwhile strong contender for the 2017 Oyo State Speaker’s Football Cup competition.                                                                              Monitors of the competition will recall that at the end of the semifinal match held between Debby FC of Ogbomoso and Itesiwaju FC of Otu held at Lekan Salami Stadium, Ibadan, Nigeria, a protest was lodged to Oyo State Football Association by Itesiwaju Rangers FC of Otu against Debby FC of Ogbomoso. Earlier, Debby Football Club had defeated Itesiwaju Rangers of Otu by 6 goals to 3 of penalty shootout after a 1- 1 score recorded at regulation time.                  In the protest, Debby Football Club was alleged to have fielded two ineligible Players. One of whom is Oyetunji Mayowa who was alleged to have played for Atiba Utd Football Club of Oyo in 2013 Nigeria Nationwide League Season and the other player was Adekunle Habeeb who was alleged to have played for Vela Football Club of Oyo in 2012 Nigeria Nationwide League season.

Itesiwaju Rangers Football Club of Otu also contended that the alleged action of Debby FC of Ogbomoso was contrary to the 1st Rule of the 2017 Oyo State Speaker’s Football Cup Competition which says that the competition is open to all players who had not played in any of the Nigerian Football Federation Leagues (Federation Cup Excluded).

In an investigation by the PublicTimes  at the State Football Association Office, the Secretary of Oyo State Football Association, Mr. Kehinde Ojelowo revealed that the Association has checked their archive and the names of the alleged ineligible players were found among the players that have already played during the Nationwide League as protested by the Itesiwaju Rangers of Otu. Ojelowo further revealed that even if they did not find those names in the State players’ data base, they will surely probe further to search into archive of the League Management Company (LMC) or Nigeria Professional Football League Management (NPFL) data base in order to ensure that truth is ascertained.

And by the finding and confirmation of the names of the players in the State archive of previous players as protested, the Football Association which is the regulating body for the competition upholds the complaint of Itesiwaju FC and awards the semi-final match to Itesiwaju Rangers Football Club of Otu.                                                       The Secretary of the State Football Association further added that the wrong doing of Debby Football Club Of Ogbomosho has given Golden Lion Football Club of Kisi automatic placement for the 3rd position in the 2017 Oyo State Speaker’s Football   Cup Competition. Besides, Ojelowo said, the consequence of the Debby Football Club of Ogbomosho act is club’s total elimination from this year’s competition and a fine of N50,000 should be paid to the Association purse by the Debby Football Club. He further said that they are still waiting for the speaker to fix a date for the final match and ceremony, in order to know the winner of the 2017 episode of the competition.

 

 

By Ademola Oladele

PublicTimes http://publictimes.com.ng ISSN 2250-9259

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