Ifeanyi Eduzor
The Legacy Pitch of the National Stadium Surulere Lagos came alive Friday, July, 28, 2023 following the storming of the venue by many ex- internationals and former national team players who came to be part of the maiden ‘Above 50’ football championship.
Speaking before performing the official kick off, sponsor/ organizer of the tournament. Ambassador Dr. Edward Olutoke reminded the players that the tournament is not about winning by all means but to network, share ideas and reconnect with old friends.
” I welcome all of you to this important tournament which will be used to show the youths that they are not the only ones that can play football”, began Olutoke who doubles as the President of Ikeja Chamber of Commerce Industry and Agriculture.
” We also want to use this tournament to share business ideas, network and make our senior citizens come out of boredom and that’s why it’s necessary that we must avoid rough play or hard tackles”, he stressed
In his own remarks, Chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the tournament Dr. Rafiu Ladipo was full of praises to the sponsor for coming up with the noble initiative which he described as the first of it’s kind in the World.
He was optimistic that in the nearest future, the Above 50 football competition will be a global tournament just as he announced that countries like Brazil and Mexico have already expressed their willingness to play Nigeria in the above 50 game.
Meanwhile in some of the preliminary matches decided, Surulere Above 50 defeated their Ikeja counterparts by 2-0 while Redemption City beat Abeokuta 3-1 with the match between Ajegunle and Badagry ending 1-1.
Action continues by 2pm Saturday, July 29, 2023 at the same venue
