Of recent, pulling out of tournaments and not turning up for games became a normal thing or should we say a Nigeria thing, but where we least expected, it surfaced again.
The Value Jet pre season cup started last Thursday with five Nigeria Professional Football League clubs (including the four CAF interclub campaigners) alongside five Nigeria National League clubs (newly promoted NNL team included).
The tournament since the start have produced a lot of fireworks and upsets in different degrees as the lower league teams on more than 3 occasions defeated their elite league counterparts.
The group stages were completed with no hitch as two NNL teams and two from the NPFL qualified for the semifinals.
Looking like it’ll be the best organised pre season tournament in the country with the live coverage of games and media on ground to cover and report every key moment, but again the Nigeria thing happened, a team in the semifinal was asked to withdraw.
Vandrezzer FC who are known for their vibrant publicity and marketing although that has not really translated into favourable results for them on the field of play, happen to be in the center of the whole saga.
They were billed to take on Smart City FC of Lagos in the first semifinal of the tournament but the game couldn’t hold and they were walked over. But why?
According to them, they didn’t pull out, they were prevented from continuing the tournament.
Below is their media release to explaining their own side of what happened in Ikenne on Thursday morning.
‘Vandrezzer Football Club has been compelled to pull out of the Value Jet NPFL Pre-season Tournament holding at the Remo Stars stadium in Ikenne, Ogun State after reaching the semi final stage.
‘The withdrawal became necessary due to the refusal of the organizers to allow Vandrezzer FC use the team’s official kits in the semi final match.
‘For the records, the letter of invitation to VFC to take part in the pre-season, dated 8th August, 2022 did not specify any terms and conditions that participating clubs would be required to appear in apparels provided by the sponsors of the tournament, Value Jet.
‘Using the kits provided by the sponsors amounted to a breach of contract with “Hexxen”, a brand that has a subsisting kit sponsorship deal with the Lions of Naija. An internal consequence management process had to be activated following the unauthorized use of Valujet apparels at the opening game, where the jerseys were hurriedly hoisted on the team as they were making their entrance into the arena at the start of the game.
‘These concerns were duly communicated to the organizers of the Valujet tournament in our letter dated August 27, 2022. No response was received to our letter and subsequent group encounters with Ijebu United, Plateau United and the host team, Remo Stars, were all executed without ado; seeing VFC successfully qualifying to the semi-finals.
‘Unfortunately, we were surprised to receive a late notification last night expressing that if the team failed to adorn the VALUJET branded apparel, VFC would have to discontinue the tournament.
‘In the light of this, Vandrezzer FC have had to forfeit their semi final showdown against Smart City and have kissed the tournament goodbye.’
A good reason though for any club to pull out of a competition you may say.
But from the camp of the organisers, it was a different story entirely as to the whole saga.
Reacting to the whole thing, Chairman of the ValueJet Cup organizing committee, Otunba Tade Azeez as quoted by the Value Jet Cup media team on twitter said:
‘ValueJet Airline are the premium sponsor of the tournament, and we must protect our agreement. The first communication to all the clubs was an invitation letter, and we invited 18 clubs to participate in the tournament.
’10 clubs responded to our invitation and we invited all the clubs to our unveiling ceremony of our sponsor and the draw which was the platform we used to communicate the framework and sponsorship terms to all the clubs.
‘We informed the clubs about the clause in our agreement with ValueJet Airline that all participating clubs would play with a branded jersey at the ceremony. Vandrezzer FC just like the other 9 clubs had a representative at the ceremony.
‘We presented the jersey to Vandrezzer FC officials at the ceremony and they accepted our sponsorship terms which include the appearance fee and prize monies.
‘They (Vandrezzer) communicated to us after playing with the jersey in the first game without any issue and we further explain to them about the agreement with our sponsor. They had the opportunity to pull out of the tournament after the sponsor ceremony.
‘We had the clubs and Airline management present at the ceremony in case of any dispute but we had none.
‘We regret the unfortunate incident, we must protect the framework and sponsorship terms of the tournament after official communication to all the clubs. We understand and respect Vandrezzer’s decision to discontinue the game and we wish them success.’
Vandrezzer FC claimed the letter of invitation sent to them to take part in the pre-season tournament did not specify any terms and conditions that participating clubs would be required to appear in apparels provided by the sponsors of the tournament, Value Jet.
The organisers on the other hand claimed they informed the clubs about the clause in our agreement with ValueJet Airline that all participating clubs would play with a branded jersey at the ceremony.
Who do we believe, the organisers or Vandrezzer FC?
Below are some of the pictures from the unveiling ceremony of the sponsor and the draw.
‘We presented the jersey to Vandrezzer FC officials at the ceremony and they accepted our sponsorship terms which include the appearance fee and prize monies,’ says the organisers have scanned through their pages but yet to see pictures in that regards. As regarding media, all key moment are usually captured either for documentaries, memories and the likes.
‘The jerseys were hurriedly hoisted on the team as they were making their entrance into the arena at the start of the game, states Vandrezzer FC. But if that is the case, why continue the tournament with the same hurriedly hoisted jerseys and not immediately pull out of it after the first matchday?
Who is saying the truth and who is to the blamed for bringing blemish to this wonderful and beautifully organised pre season tournament?
By Oluwayemi Omolagba
Leave a Reply