By Ifeanyi Eduzor
Board member of the Nigeria National League (NNL), Mallam Yakubu Sarma has urged coaches in the country to invest in training and retraining themselves to be abreast of the latest knowledge of the game of football.
Sarma who is also the chairman of Gombe State FA gave the charge while speaking to journalists in Abuja recently.
According to him, the coaches should develop themselves and improve their knowledge of the game if they embark on self development and training.
” As part of the programmes of the NNL, we looked at the regulations in terms of the league and we wanted to insist on CAF B certificate before a coach would be allowed to be on the touch line but we discovered that it has been about seven to eight years we last have such programme organised by the NFF. So, we felt if we insist on that , many coaches will not be on the touch line and so we’ll most likely use the NIS certificate as a requirement for a coach to be on the touch line.
”But as a league, we’re also having a proposal that two weeks before the commencement of the league, we will organise a refresher course for all the coaches of the NNL”, he said
The Gombe FA chairman further explained that the board of the second tier league will not allow coaches without coaching license to be on the bench when playing their league matches.
” I discovered that one of the banes of football in this country is that we have coaches who don’t want to develop themselves and I always tell them that they don’t need to wait for NFF to develop themselves because it’s just like somebody wants to go to school and acquire more knowledge and he keep saying he want to get a sponsor before going to school and I think it doesn’t work like that.
” This is a career you have chosen for yourself and you must develop yourself because it’s you that will benefit at the end of the day.
“If the NFF is not able to do it because of some constricts at least as an individual you can actually do it because of it’s benefits”, he concluded.
