LMC Super 4: Highs And Lows

The Super 4 invitational tournament was surrounded with few controversies from some quaters, some persons didn't agree with the competition name for reasons best known to them, some tagged it Super 6, LMC Pre-season tournament, so to them Super 4 is not the best name for the football event.

POST MATCH PRESS CONFERENCE:
I stand to be corrected,  I don't  think we have had a post match conference in the history of Super 4 or Pre-season games before this present one. I think the LMC deserve some thumps up for that.

We hope they make it compulsory for the participating teams in the Nigeria Professional Football League starting from this season. It makes the work easier for some of us who reports the league.

OFFICIATING:
Officiating in the pre-season tourney for me was excellent, the likes Orowole Temitope Olayinka olajide Anietie Ferdinand Udoh and others interpreted the complicated rules of the game to the best of their knowledge.

We are looking forward to seeing such officiating from you guys when the league resumes.

RAFLE DRAW:
The LMC didn't neglect one of the effective mechanisms of bringing people to the stadium, they started the raffle draw thing the second match day, people won GOTV decorder and GLO Modem from match day two till the end of the tournament.

However, the idea seems not to be that effective enough because the number of fans we recorded on each game day was not too encouraging. Ask Alonge Akinlolu Futball Galore Fisayo Dairo Oba Adeniji Oni Guarantor Afolabi Akande Adesope Taye Hassan Adigun and others.

I believe we would have witnessed an encouraging number of turn out if the event was staged in the following cities Lagos, Akure, Abia, Port Harcourt with the raffle ticket idea.

I wish this idea can be incorporated into the league. It will go a long way in bring fans to the stadium. They will not only come to see their teams but stand a chance of going back home with a gift if counted lucky.

GOOD DISPLAY OF THE ROUND LEATHER GAME:
I don't think there's anyone who didn't like the level of football artistry he or she witnessed at the Super 4. Manu Garba Boys have shown to the everyone that they are ready to conquer Africa and the world at large but I feel they need to work more on their defence. I'm not too convinced because they played with old men and nothing was really at stake.

The real U23 teams added some spices to the invitational tournament on the Sunday,  Kano Pillars and Enyimba ended the tournament with seven points a piece,  Warri Wolves upped their games after two match days.

Dolphins FC seems not to be ready for their continental engagement with their performance but I still feel something drastic can still be done before their first match on the continent.

PUBLICITY:
I stayed in Abuja for good 10 days for the coverage of the tournament and I found out that most of the residents were not aware of  the event. The awareness was very poor.

MEDIA ACCREDITATION:
The media accreditation process was not carried out the way we expected the LMC to carry it out. We got the accreditation tags the second match day. I believe that's not the best practice. In other developing leagues in Africa, their league bodies identified the journalists who reports the league and accredited them before the beginning of the season. Hope the LMC will take a cue from them.

#multimediasportjournalist