NPFL goes hard on coaches’ attire, time wasting, ball boys’ holding acts

Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) clubs have been warned that they will face sanctions if their coaches, players, and ball boys engage in inappropriate behaviour during matches.
In a memo to clubs made available to newstap.com.ng titled “Regulating MatchDay Conduct of Coaches, Players, and Ball Boys,” NPFL Chief Operating Officer Davidson Owumi said that the league will invoke relevant provisions of the NPFL Framework and Rules to ensure that no individual or group “demeans the public perception of the league.”
Owumi said that some coaches are appearing for matches in inappropriate apparels that portray the entire league in a bad light.” He warned that henceforth such coaches would be charged based on relevant provisions of the rules.
“We appeal to the leadership of our clubs to take an interest in the dress codes of their coaches who sit on the bench, especially now that our games are on television,” Owumi said.
He also raised the issue of simulation of injury by players to hold up matches which he said would no longer be tolerated.
“Football has been accepted as big business with entertainment value, and these frequent disruptions rob the league games of entertainment spectacle,” he said.
Owumi urged clubs to encourage their coaches to adopt fair means of getting results.
On ball boys holding balls, the NPFL frowned at the resort to hiding match balls by ball boys of home teams to confer undue advantage through time-wasting when the ball is out of play.
“We have already mandated Match Commissioners and Independent Secret Assessors to eradicate the disappearance act of ball boys with balls to the advantage of home teams in the course of a match,” Owumi said.
He said that Match Commissioners have been issued a new practice direction to ensure that the number of
ball boys and balls remains the same as it was at the start of the match.
“Match Commissioners are henceforth at liberty to ask the referee to add every minute wasted by this disreputable conduct,” the Chief Operating Officer disclosed, adding that, the NPFL would not hesitate to impose appropriate sanctions on offending clubs.