Inter-Club Championship: Lagos Hockey Holds 6-Aside Tourney

As part of efforts to prepare for Eko 2012 National Sports Festival, the Lagos State Hockey Association held a two-day 6-Aside Inter-Club Grassroots Championship at the weekend.

The tournament, which took place at the Union Bank Sports Complex, Surulere, Lagos, featured 14 clubs (5 female and 9 male teams). The competition is one of the quarterly Inter-Club Championships facilitated by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant on Grassroots Sports Development to Governor Raji Fashola with active collaboration with the Sports Ministry and the Sports Council.

Union Bank Hockey Club defeated Young Stead 1-0 to win the male category of the tourney and a cash prize of N40, 000. Young Stead were given N30,000. Dynamic, Akoka came third and smiled home with the sum of N20,000.

Temmak won the female category with the sum of N40,000, while 90 Degree Hockey Club and Dynamic, Akoka came second and third. They were given the sum of N30,000 and N20,000 respectively.

President of Nigeria Hockey Federation, Patrick Ukah, described the idea of Inter-Club Championship, as a good intervention that will help the development of sports in Lagos.

“Hockey is a household game in Lagos and I’m glad that Governor Fashola wants the state to reclaim the lost glory of the sport. I believe with this innovation of regular tournaments, a lot of Lagos players will break into the national teams. I’m also a product of Lagos hockey,” he said.

Ayodeji Ladeinde, Technical Director of Lagos State Hockey Association, commended Governor Fashola’s effort to move the state’s hockey from improvised and traditional wooden sticks and balls to a modernised equipment.

“The Inter-Club Championship will no doubt help us to prepare for the challenges ahead. The provision of modern equipment is a big plus for us to move from the stone-age world we were living before now,” Ladeinde said.

Prince Wale Oladunjoye, the Senior Special Assistant on Grassroots Sports Development to the Governor said Fashola is committed to see that Lagos sports is transformed to the status the state was known of in the past.

—Sunday Akintoye, Ibadan