Fred Newton Erhunmwunse, the Chairman of the board of Edo State Football Association (FA), has counted the blessings of his team and asked for support to do more so as to take the game to “that place we used to be where everyone come to ask ‘how do you manage to do it?'”
In an exclusive interview he granted Popular News, he said: “We first of all give God the glory for strength and sustenance. The board has been so wonderful. Since we came in session on November 17, 2023, we have been able to do what the football family wants us to do. That’s the reason they voted for us, to bring back the vibes to Edo football.
“By the grace of God we have started and we are not going to stop here. We have a lot that we need to do to end this calender year. By next year we will be able to bring out all the tournaments according to the date. I call it a crash program because we came in to do some damage control.
“Things that went wrong before we came on board. That was the first thing we did to see how we can win back the trust of all the youth clubs in Edo State. Some of them were aggrieved about what happened in the past. Thank God, today, we are beginning to win them.
“As we speak, the state league is ongoing. The state league has not been played for the past three years. We took over. We’re in the league stage now and everybody is excited. We still have other events coming up from now until December. The bigger one to crown the year will be the Edo FA Award night.
“That award night was last organised by the (Franklin) Ilaboya’s regime where I was a member eight years ago. We want to continue. That’s the only way for us to say thank you to journalists; thank you to football stakeholders; thank you to our sponsors for all they did for us during the football season. That will climax the end of the year while we go back to our drawing board to start restructuring.
“I liken us to a police station. We don’t have a closing date. We work morning and night and we work everyday in the week. We just want to ensure that we keep Edo State football in that pedestal. That place we used to be where everyone come to ask ‘how do you manage to do it?’ That’s where we want to take Edo State football back to. With the support of the media; the support of the football stakeholders and others I believe everything will be normal and by the grace of God we will get it right.”
Reminiscing on the low point of the board so far, he recalled: “we lost our Vice Chairman, Kindness Ohiwere. He represented Edo Central zone. It was a big blow for us as a board. He was an engine room to the FA. His death took us back. By the grace of God we are trying to see how we can move on as a family.
“Also Edo FA is a non governmental organization(NGO). We don’t get any subvention unless anytime the national body, which is the NFF deem it fit to support us with finances in a year for us to run football. As you know, football is the king of games. We need all the finances to enable us run the affairs of the game on a day to day basis. A lot of individuals have come to our aid to support us.
“On our own we have done our own marketing drive. These are some of the areas that have given us a little setback. Edo FA is a brand. We’re going to sell the brand to people. What we have started doing I think we will be able to convince our prospective sponsors to support us. Yes, there’s no home without a little setback. For us not to dwell on that setback the best thing for us to do is to improve and set up our standard which we have done.
“We’re also looking at the strength of the FA. We’re not complete yet. This is because we have not yet done our bye election. We have proposed July 19th for the bye election so that the membership of the board will be complete. I always look at the positive. I don’t dwell on the past. With the support of the media Edo State FA will get to where it ought to be.
“We have gotten a candidate that will fill the Edo Central space. The NFF has given us three months which has since elapsed. We’re going to fill up the space so that we can move forward together.”
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