Assistant coach of the Flying Eagles, Fatai Amoo, has hailed the commitment of Honourable Shina Peller representing Iseyin/Itesiwaju/Kajola/ Iwajowa Federal Constituency towards sports development in Oyo State especially in the Oke-Ogun axis.
Amoo watched the semi-final and final matches played at the NYSC Orientation Camp in Iseyin last Saturday, where Iseyin United defeated Iseyin City 1-0 in the final.
Peller Unity Cup was aimed to engage the youth meaningfully and unearth football talents from the grassroots meant for all the 10 local government areas in the Oke-Ogun axis of Oyo State.
The former international, Amoo, lauded Peller for engaging youngsters through the football competition.
“This is a sports enthusiast who is spending his money to encourage young players to hit the limelight.
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“I’m honoured to be part of this final because this is my major concern in terms of scouting for good players who can represent the state at the national level and possibly pursue their career in any of the big clubs in Europe.
“I saw some gifted players during the third place match, final and of course, we will recommend them to the U17 team and those who will fit in the U20 team and possibly the U23 national teams and you can never tell those can play in our league as some of the NPFL managers are also present.
“Other private individuals and well-meaning Nigerians need to emulate what Shina Peller is doing here in order to discover talents from the grassroots and nurture them to stardom,” said Amoo, a former coach of Shooting Stars Sports Club.
Also, Golden Eaglets assistant coach, Usman Haruna Ilerika, who also watched the finals commended the sponsor, Peller, as well as the organisers for creating a platform to discover talents for Oyo State and Nigeria in general.
Ilerika said that he was at the final to fish out talents who can make the squad to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Algeria.
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Meanwhile, Peller in his remarks said: “The inspiration behind the tournament is for two reasons, to engage young Nigerians because I have come to realise that we have more youths in the country now than before and whether we like it or not, they are the workforce of this country and we need to engage them.
“Secondly, which is the main reason why we started this competition in 2017, I realised that the Oke-Ogun area with so much resources has been marginalised and for us to develop Oke-Ogun, we have to develop unity among the community.
“I see football as a tool for us to develop unity among the young minds, and this is the time we should banish all the hatred within us. This is the time we must invest in peace building and it starts from youth engagement because they occupy a large percentage of our population. This is time we must engage our youths meaningfully because we must also encourage them to combine sports with academics.
“I have watched their games and I can tell you that I have seen talents with skills here and it does not end here. IWe have our international coaches here to pick talents which I believe will soon become super stars in the near future.
“I am a very fulfilled person, you can see the crowd, so massive and is loved by everybody and this is something that everybody is looking at, even the young and the old, the traditional institution in support and the religious body are in support. I am happy with the results of the tournament.”
The Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrosheed Akanbi; ex-international Dosu Joseph, Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) Team Manager, Dimeji Lawal, and the General Manager of Crown FC, Mr Kunle Oyeleye, among others graced the final of the competition.