… as Edo South screening captures 779 players
… establish an annual award in memory of late Godwin Izilein
The screening exercises for eligible players to feature in the Under-13 and 16 Edo State Youth Football Development League have been concluded in Edo North.
The screening which took place at the popular public football field, Auchi, on Thursday, August 22, witnessed young enthusiastic players of 4 youth football clubs affiliated with the Edo State Football Association.
As an exercise for prequalifying eligible players that would feature for their various teams in the upcoming Edo State Youth Football League, being organized by the Edo State Football Association and Grassroots Youth Football Development League Association, it has been described as an applaudable novelty in line with the much-needed discipline towards the administration of age-group competitions, to avoid instances of embarrassment, occasioned by fielding over-age or unqualified participants in competitions, where age-limit is required.
Recall that in July 2024, the Edo State Football Association and Grassroots Youth Football Development League (GYFDL) embarked on a similar exercise in the Edo South, with about 23 youth football teams now lined up for the Edo State Youth League Competition, from which relevant information of about 779 players in the Under 13 and 16 categories have been captured in the database of grassrootsyouthfootball.com registration portal.
As Edo State takes a novel and giant leap into youth football administration by collaborating with a private initiative, Grassroots Youth Football Development League Association, which has exhibited keenness and capacity likened to global best practices in promoting youth football development at the grassroots, a lot of sports analysts have expressed optimism with the ongoing process that is producing a database capable of exposing the young players to the sporting world as well as encouraging the players to be of upright attitude to have a profile that speaks encouragingly about them.
While reflecting on achievements recorded so far, Alexander Ogie Amu, President, Grassroots Youth Football Development League, stated, ‘We are currently developing identify cards as passes with basic information about the players which should be ready by the coming week. It is a digitalised method of identifying players that have been granted passes to participate in any match players.”
Amu also used the opportunity to hint that the grassrootsyouthfootball.com website is robust and interactive, providing information about players, officials, commentaries, and feedback about the league game. He emphasized that public perspectives or feedback are needed for constant improvement and sustainability of high standards.
With the establishment of an annual “Late Godwin Izilien Award” for the Best Young Talent and Sportsmanship by the Grassroots Youth Football Development League, Austin Iredia, the Financial Secretary emphasized that nothing less is deserving of the late sports icon, Godwin Izilien, who before his demise was the technical adviser of the body.
Iredia stated that for a man, whose sporting prowess spanned the age group and senior football categories, bagging notable laurels at the national and international levels, GYFDL remains proud of his memories and valuable contributions to the growth of football, and considers the annual award as an effort to immortalize him.
He called on well-meaning Edo sons and daughters to support the noble ideas that the Grassroots Youth Football League Development is striving to propagate.
