Sets up committee to prevent Sunshine Stars from relegation
The Commissioner for Sports and Youth Development, Hon. Saka Yusuf-Ogunleye, has moved to restructure the organogram and restructure of the teams under the Ondo State Football Agency (ODSFA); Sunshine Stars and Sunshine Queens.
The Commissioner, at a stakeholders meeting with relevant sports at his office in Akure said it was important to take steps to salvage the season of Sunshine Stars after the relegation of Sunshine Queens.
Yusuf-Ogunleye said as part of the restructuring, it was important to downsize the number of officials from 51 (for both teams) to a manageable number, while the squad of Sunshine Stars’ players is reduced from 52 to 25 regular players.
Also, a tactical committee to oversee the technical affairs of the team and to ensure that the team did not go on relegation was set up by the commissioner to be led by the FA Chairman, Otunba Sunday Dele-Ajayi.
Others in the committee are Chairman of the Referees’ council, the Chairman of the Coaches Association, former technical advisor to the team, former director of sports and the administrative secretary of the agency.
Yusuf-Ogunleye said the committee’s major responsibility was to ensure that the two teams were repositioned for optimum performance and that the agency should carry both the FA and the SWAN along as the stakeholders’ meeting must be a regular one.
“The committee is even saddled to look at betting allegations against members of the management crew against the club and sudden disappearance of six players that were allegedly signed with huge amounts of money without playing any matches.
“This meeting has mandated me to carry out internal restructuring as soon as possible and to ensure Sunshine Queens did not use public hotels as camping.
“The tactical committee has since commenced action because of the position of Sunshine Stars on the league table.”
The Commissioner also lamented the loss of capable hands that handled the female teams in the past and vowed to re-invite any of the hands that would be ready to help salvage the situation