Chairman of the state’s Sports Commission, Malam Farouk Yarma, announced this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gombe.
He said the clubs, which cut across the 11 local government areas of the state, would be used to pick players for the Globacom league side.
The chairman also announced that government paid N200 million as the outstanding sign-on fees for Gombe Utd FC players and other allowances for 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 seasons.
He said the current administration settled the debt to boost the players’ morale.
He said the fees and allowances encouraged the performance of the players in the last season’s Globacom league.
“As you can see, in the just concluded Globacom Professional League, we emerged the 7th position with 55 points against 9th position in the 2011/2012 season.
“We count this as an achievement and it was because of the motivation by the state government.”
Yarma said Gombe Utd Coach, Maurice Cooreman, had groomed four players now in amateur teams in the state, adding that they performed well during the league. He said one of the players named Sani Mohammed was invited to play for the national team.
He also said the commission organised an inter primary and secondary school sports in Gombe North Senatorial District, tagged “catch them young“, to identify talents at the grassroots.
“We were able to identify 12 athletes that performed credibly in track and field events.
“Those that we identified were in open camp training, and they will represent the state in any competition,” he explained. (NAN)
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