AFAS FOOTBALL TEAM HAS ALL IT TAKES TO REACH THE TOP

By Pelumi Adeniyi

The Faculty of Arts side is steadily heading towards greatness, and has been mooted as one of the favourites to win the Inter-Faculty Football Competition, in as much as commitment, hard work and dedication are their guiding principles, writes AFAS Pressman.

The faculty’s male football team currently sits at the top of its Group D table, unbeaten in its two games so far in the competition, and there is a general feeling that the side can go all the way. It didn’t all start like this though. For them to have reached this stage it took hard work, discipline and tremendous work rate. In order to make AFASites, and themselves, proud, they have subjected to hard work and discipline.

Here is what a player in the team had to say: ‘The players have all shown a sign of seriousness towards training to achieve a great result in the competition even before the commencement of the competition. The trainings now have been consistent and no player or players regularly miss any training session. As a result of this seriousness and dedication of the players for trainings, it actually has [an] impact on the field. We are currently unbeaten in the competition as we drew our first match against [the] Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and won against [the] Faculty of Science. As regards … the discipline of the players, everyone all curtailed their behaviour to utmost satisfaction. There is a sign of commitment and dedication.’

This is an insight into how they worked out their win against Science. It is no secret that if you work hard, you will surely be rewarded for your hard work and dedication. Someone else likened the faculty team to the Communication and Language Arts football team in terms of training (and this was not a CLA student). They train regularly, and this, perhaps, was one of the reasons why the CLA team reached the semifinals of the last Dean’s Cup.

If the faculty team players replicate what they practice in training on the field, it will be almost impossible to stop them. Talking about their dedication and commitment, there is no doubt that the players are dedicated and committed to the football team. There are other things they could be doing with their time, yet they make huge sacrifices to play. Let’s not forget that they are not getting paid for what they do, that there are little or no extra benefits for playing for the team as it is not properly funded. But still they play; and not just play; they dedicate their time and resources to the team.

At the start of the session, and the team trainings, the technical director, Dr Adams Akewula, raised discipline and commitment as the banner under which the team should gather. In all appearances this principle has not been neglected. This is one of the reasons they’ve been doing well so far in the competition. AFASites and even non-AFASites, seeing their dedication, hard work and commitment, come out in droves to support them. It is a common saying that the fans are the 12th player on the field.

The team has many talents and promising stars. As long as they remain dedicated and committed, then they have all it takes to reach the top.