Lagos FA, Lagos SWAN Partner Footie Aficionados For 2nd Femi Ajayi Memorial Lecture

FEMI AJAYI MEMORIAL LECTURE SERIES

The second edition of the Femi Ajayi Lecture series comes on up saturday the 15th of november 2014 at the Lagos Swan Secretariat, National Stadium Lagos, footie Aficionados

Lagos State SWAN in conjunction with Lagos State Football Association and Footie Aficionados have announced plans for the second edition of the “Femi Ajayi” Memorial Lecture Series. The First Edition of the Lecture and Novelty match took place on the first of October 2014, With Renowned Sports Journalist Colin Udoh delivering a Lecture tagged the “Ultimate Fan”.

This was followed by a Novelty match that saw Members of Lagos Swan play Against Team “FA”.

Lagos SWAN won that game by a lone goal scored by Silverbird’s Ladi Egbedire. against a team that had Emeka Oparah of Airtel Nigeria, Kufre Ekanem of NBL, Tolu Adesalu of Cadbury Nigeria and Gbenga Adeyinka to name a few.

This Year’s edition will have Lagos FA Board Member Dotun Coker speak on the topic “Bringing Back The Glory Of The Nigerian League.

And it promises to be insightful as well as Educative.

The Presentation Will start by 9:30am and this would be followed immediately by a Novelty match between Team Lagos (made up of Lagos SWAN and Lagos FA Board Members) VS Footie Aficionados made up of the Late Femi Ajayi’s friends, family and former colleagues.

Adequate arrangements have been made for medical coverage, security and refreshments will be served immediately after.

in continuation of the Charity work that Femi Ajayi pioneered while alive and also a continuation of Footie Aficionados charity work. Members of the group “Footie Aficionados” and board members of the Lagos FA And Lagos SWAN will then visit the Red Cross in Makoko Yaba on Saturday the 22nd of November 2014 to donate provisions and relief materials to round up the activities of the FA Memorial 2014

ABOUT THE FEMI AJAYI MEMORIAL LECTURE SERIES:

This lecture series started last year in honour of our departed Founder, friend, brother and Colleague Femi Ajayi, who when he was alive was passionate about the game of football and also about Nigeria as a whole, he was also greatly involved in a lot of charitable projects hence the plan to merge all of these together as our way of remembering him and also contributing our quota towards developing the Nigerian Game.

The inaugural speaker of the FA Memorial lecture series was Mr Colin Udoh, and we must say he did a very good job talking about the “Ultimate Fan”.

This year we have decided to shift our focus to the Nigerian League and we have selected the topic “Bringing Back The Glory Of The Nigerian League”

Courtney Dike Clears The Air On Bonus Issue

Nigeria’s U-20 Women National Team star, Courtney Dike, has explained why she rejected bonus payments at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup finals in Canada.

The Oklahoma State University student wrote in a mail: “I would like to respond to what I have been reading on the internet about rejecting bonuses.

Courtney Dike, photo credit fifa.com

“I am delighted to play for Nigeria whenever called upon. I knew before leaving for the U-20 World Cup that I would not accept any bonuses. Acceptance of prize money is against NCAA regulations (the division 1 collegiate governing body) here in the US, so that is the main reason for rejecting it.

“Knowing this beforehand, I still chose to represent the country because I believed the experience would be more valuable than the money, and I was right.”

Newfanzone BPL Team Of The Week. Game Week 11

The Lads at the Newfanzone have collectively selected this week’s Barclays Premier League team of the week (Week 11). 

We have chosen to line up in a 4-3-3 attacking formation and this are the stand out players for us.

You can tweet @Newfanzone your thoughts or better still tweet at us your own “BPL Team of the Week” remember to like our Facebook page and follow our twitter handle and we will Follow you back

NewFanZone

Formation: 4-3-3

Goal Keeper: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa)

The American Goal keeper had an excellent performance and was the major reason Aston Villa kept a clean sheet against West Ham

Right back: Daryl Janmaat (Newcastle)

The Netherlands international produced an excellent performance against West Brom, setting up both goals for Newcastle.

Left Back: Leighton Baines (Everton)

Baines produced a fantastic performance against Sunderland and scored his team’s equalizer.

Centre defender: Ron Vlaar (Aston Villa)

The Villa Captain was at his best against West Ham and was key to his team keeping a clean sheet at Upton park.

Centre Defender: Fabricio Coloccini (Newcastle)

Since Coloccini got back into the Newcatle team,their performances has improved. The Argentine’s organisational skills at the back against West Brom was immense

Midfielder: Gylfi Sigurdsson (Swansea)

Sigurdsson had a nice game against Arsenal and capped it off with a top-class free kick to score Swansea City’s first goal

Midfielder: Emre Can (Liverpool)

The young German midfielder had a good game against Chelsea and scored a lovely goal in the early minutes of the match

Midfielder: Jefferson Montero (Swansea)

The Ecuadorian winger was a torn in the flesh of Calum Chambers all evening and eventually made an assist for Bafetembi Gomis to score Swansea City’s winning goal against Arsenal

Forward: Charlie Austin (QPR)

The Queen Park Rangers’ striker has been in blistering form of late and scored two lovely goals against Premier League Champions on Saturday.

Forward: Shane Long (Southampton)

Long was a second half substitute against Leicester City and still had enough time to score two well-taken goals to give Ronald Koeman’s team victory.

Forward: Sergio Aguero (Man City)

The Argentine Striker continued his goal-scoring form against QPR. He scored two lovely goals to ensure his team got a point at Loftus Road.

Newfanzone BPL Team OF the Week (week 11)

World’s Boxing Leaders Unite Around New Pro Competition

Boxing leaders from all around the world are set to pass a unanimous motion in support of the launch of the AIBA Pro Boxing Competition (APB).

The new competition, launched by the International Boxing Association (AIBA), features 80 of the world’s best boxers competing in an unprecedented top-class individual ranking-based format of Pro Boxing.

APB was launched in October 2014 as the top tier of all AIBA competition programs, following AIBA Open Boxing (AOB) and the World Series of Boxing (WSB).

APB aims to bring boxing back into a mainstream position in the world of sports by taking into account the needs of fans and providing a top quality, highly entertaining and easily understood kind of Pro Boxing. APB’s structure aims to provide fans with regular fight-cards in multiple markets.

APB has a merit-based and comprehensive ranking system, with transparent and fair professional judging, and it epitomizes boxing performance at its best with a full long-term Athlete Development approach – from grassroots to pro – to help identify the world’s true boxing champions.

The heads of AIBA’s 196 National Boxing Federations will also pass a unanimous resolution in support of the removal of headguards for Men competing in elite competition.

The Congress is meeting in advance of the 2014 Women’s World Championships, also taking place in Jeju, starting this weekend.

Nigerian Sports Award Set to Honour KAB Olowu, George Ogan, Awoture Elayae

In recognition of their giant strides and contribution to sports development in Nigeria, the Nigerian Sports Award is set to honour three Nigerian sports legends with the life time achievement award at the 2014 edition of the Award scheduled to hold on Thursday 13^th of November 2014 at the Muson center Onikan, Lagos.

The three legends to be honored at the Nigerian Sports Award are Pa Karim Ayinla Babalola Olowu fondly called KAB, Dr George Ogan and Dr Awoture Elayae.

KAB Olowu was a member of the first official Nigerian team to participate in the Commonwealth Games, (then called British Empire Games), 1950, Auckland, New Zealand. He featured for Nigeria at the Helsinki 1952 Olympic Games where he participated in the long jump event and the 4×100 yards relay.

He was also at the 1954 Commonwealth Games in Canada where he won two silver medals in long jump and 400 by 110 yards relay to become the first Nigerian athlete to win two medals at the Commonwealth Games.

KAB who was born on June 7, 1924 is Nigeria’s and probably Africa’s oldest Olympian at the age of 90. An Olympian of note was a touch bearer at Barcelona in the 1992 Olympic Games.

 

Nigerian Sports Awards

 

Another sports legend that will receive the lifetime achievement award in sports, Dr. George Ogan was born July 20, 1938. He participated in long jump and triple jump at the National level before representing Nigeria at the 1994 Olympic in Tokyo.

At the 1966 Commonwealth Games in in Kingston, Jamaica, Ogan won the silver medal in triple jump event coming behind was a follow Nigerian Sam Igun who set a new game record to win the gold medal.

Dr Awoture Elayae got a place in the life time achievement award for his great love for sports as an athlete, coach, teacher, lecturer and sports administrator. Dr Elayae who hails from Isoko, Delta State was the coach of the Nigerian team to the 1990 Commonwealth Games. Dr Eleyae was appointed Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Sports in Africa, Africa’s highest sports authority, from 1992 till 2005. He holds the Nigerian National Award of the Officer of the Order of Niger (OON) also the Supreme Council for Sports in Africa Medal of Honour.

Speaking on the Lifetime achievement award, the General Manager, Unmissable Incentive Limited, Mr. Kayode Idowu stated that the recipients of the award deserves the honour bestowed on them by the award panel because they committed their lives to the development and growth of sports in Nigeria.

Idowu added that Nigerians Sports Award will continue to recognize our sports heroes and heroines that have dedicated their lives to sports to sports development and brought honour to the nation.

Full House As Eagles Gear Up For Congo Clash…,Keshi Happy With Players Fitness

Skipper Vincent Enyeama of Lille Metropole of France and Villareal of Spain Ikechukwu Uche were the last players to hit the Super Eagles Bolton White Apartment abode ahead of the crucial Nations Cup qualifier against Congo next Saturday in Point Noire.

The two players effectively missed out in the day’s evening and only training session but should be available for Wednesday’s session that will again be conducted by Head Coach, Stephen Okechukwu Keshi. Before then all invited players like Elderson Echejile, Efe Ambrose, Ahmed Musa, Emmanuel Emenike, Juwon Oshaniwa, Kenneth Omeruo, John Mikel Obi, Austin Ejide, Raheem Lawal, Godfrey Oboabona, Hope Akpan, Omatsone Aluko, Sunday Emmanuel and Aaron Samuel and Ogenyi Onazi all had lunch with the technical crew before the team set out for the Goal Project site of the National Stadium for the day’s business.

Super Eagles second training session on Tuesday at the Abuja National Stadium, photo credit Ben Alaiya

The training proper lasted from 4-6pm with Keshi taking charge of affairs. Home based stars, Chigozie Agbim, Azubuike Egwuekwe, Christian Osuaguna Ighodalo, Friday Edjidegborie, Solomon Kwambe, Kingsley Sokari, Emem Eduok and Gbolahan Salami were all in full flight during the session.

After some tactical sessions, Keshi chose to play the probables against the possibles to the delight of a sizeable number of fans at the arena. Aaron Samuel was the star of the possibles as he scored a classic goal against Agbim in goal for the probables but goals from Emmanuel ‘Ogbunigwe’ Emenike and Mikel Obi eclipsed his efforts before Keshi called a close to the session. Preparations for the game against Congo continues Wednesday in Abuja with Keshi saying he was totally satisfied with the fitness level of his players and hope it continues like that till match day.

Twelve Athletics Legends Inducted Into IAAF Hall Of Fame

The IAAF is delighted to announce the names of the 12 athletes who will compose this year’s induction into the IAAF Hall of Fame.

Inaugurated in 2012 as part of the IAAF’s centenary celebrations, the IAAF Hall of Fame welcomed 24 athletes in its first year, followed by 12 more athletes in 2013.

For the first 24 inductees, there was a set of strict minimum criteria of at least two Olympic or world titles plus at least one world record. This criteria was altered for 2013 and beyond to allow athletes whose achievements had an ‘extraordinary impact on our sport’ to be considered as well. All members must have been retired from the sport for a minimum of 10 years.

To keep the process as independent and as transparent as possible, the athletes considered for each induction are proposed by the IAAF Hall of Fame selection panel which consists of five athletics historians, all long-standing members of the Association of Track and Field Statisticians (ATFS) including its president. The panel is chaired by IAAF senior vice president Bob Hersh, who has himself been a member of the ATFS for more than 35 years.

The athletes joining the IAAF Hall of Fame this year will be inducted live on stage during the 2014 World Athletics Gala in Monaco on Friday 21 November.

The inductees are:

Valeriy Brumel

Glenn Davis

Heike Drechsler

Hicham El Guerrouj

Marita Koch

Robert Korzeniowski

Janis Lusis

Bob Mathias

Wilma Rudolph

Shirley Strickland de la Hunty

Lasse Viren

Cornelius Warmerdam

The biographies for the 12 Hall of Fame members ‘class of 2014’ are now available in the IAAF Hall of Fame section of the IAAF website.