Former Nigeria captain, Austin Jay Jay Okocha has said that the collapse of Fabrice Muamba.a player with Bolton, his former club was an unambiguous signal to clubs to always equip their medical units.
Okocha who led a delegation of the Delta State Football Association to Zenith Bank’s corporate headquarters to receive a sponsorship cheque on behalf of the association was critical of the domestic scene where players’ welfare is poor and they are made to play under very poor conditions.
Okocha who spoke to Sports Vanguard in Lagos said, “Muamba is lucky, he is not playing in the Nigerian league. Here, he would have been a dead man. He would have become history.”
The former Nigeria captain said clubs must emphasise on players’ fitness and this can only be possible with a medical unit that has up-to-date equipment at its disposal.
“If they know the risks footballers take, I think everybody would have sat up,” he said.
He also spoke on the national team and gave kudos to Coach Stephen Keshi’s rebuilding process. “He is in the right direction. His decision to give more playing time to the home-based players is good because it gives them more confidence, and that is good for them because even the foreign-based pros started from here. We should encourage and support them.”
-VanguardNG
Am realy happy for fabrice that he is alive 2 see another breaking of the day. Players should be 100 percent fit before playing, but some coaches will collaborate with the doctors to induce the players with injection so that they can play a particular match which is bad.