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At the outset, the Interim Management Committee (IMC) had a mission to start the 2022/23 season of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) and achieve a calendar that would have Nigeria aligning with those of Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) and Europe.
The calendar alignment was to achieve the twin purpose of having NPFL Clubs adequately prepared for CAF Club competitions and also afford the players an unencumbered opportunity to join European clubs either by direct transfer or through trials.
Securing television broadcast of live matches of the NPFL was also on the bouquet of the IMC set targets, which also included attracting sustainable funding through sponsorships. While the last two, which are marketing objectives, are long-term objectives, the cheering news is that the Committee led by Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye has, under one year of inception, made remarkable strides in accomplishing both.
This report, however, seeks to crunch the numbers in field performances of the clubs, the players and administrative decisions.The 2022/2023 season has progressed as planned in the official fixtures with the League paused at MatchDay 9 for the mid-season break.
To provide context, the IMC elected to run an abridged league season that had the 20 clubs placed in two equal groups of A and B in an open and transparent draw event held in January. The format was adopted to achieve the synchronisation of the NPFL calendar with that of CAF and Europe. It met with some measure of resistance from clubs but reason prevailed through dialogue and negotiation to pave way for the season to start on January 8 with a star fixture in Uyo between hosts, Akwa United and then newly promoted Bendel Insurance of Benin. The rest fixtures followed the next weekend and the season has rolled without hitches thenceforth.
A major bane of the league from past experiences has been poor officiating that dents the field performances of clubs and their players. This has been traced to intimidation and financial inducement of match officials. It was a malaise the IMC identified and set out to tackle through regulation, enforcement and proactive administrative steps.
However, it has not been a hundred percent success as there are still pockets of observed mediocre performances by some officials and incidents of assault on them by unruly individuals. These blips have triggered the application of rules enforcement in conjunction with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Referees Appointment Committee to deal with reported and proven cases of rules breaches.
In its bid to stamp out intimidation of match Officials through physical assaults, the IMC was very swift in dealing with a number of breaches of the Rules, handing out appropriate sanctions to culprits, including clubs and identified individuals.
A major decision underlining the weight IMC placed on ensuring security at match venues was the deduction of three points and three goals from some teams while others have had heavy fines imposed on them.
