The chairman , Kano state Rugby Association, Martins Crawford has appealed to the Minister of sports, Sunday Dare to reverse the dissolution of Nigeria Rugby Football Federation , NRFF.
Crawford said the dissolution of the board of the federation by the sports minister infringed on the provisions of the constitution of the rugby federation, which he said has prompted the African governing body, Rugby Africa to suspend Nigeria from participating in all its activities.
Crawford lamented that the suspension has already resulted in unaccountable losses to Nigerian sports sector just as he noted that Nigeria will not compete in the Rugby World Cup qualifiers for Burkina Faso next month.
He said before the sudden dissolution of the federation, Nigeria’s preparation for the Rugby World Cup qualifiers was in top gear
Furthermore, Crawford revealed that Nigerian born rugby players plying their trade in South Africa, Italy and England had already enlisted to feature for Nigeria at their expense in service to their fatherland.
Apart from killing the morale of such patriotic Nigerians, the chairman noted that suspension of the country is going to affect her continental and global rating.
He maintained that if nothing is done about the current situation, what is going to be lost may not be hurriedly regained, considering the time frame and resources that will be required to launch Nigeria back to its current status.
The chairman, therefore, appealed to the sports minister and other critical stakeholders to save Nigerian Rugby Federation from further suspension by the world governing body.
Crawford reiterated that the world rugby governing body frowns at all forms of government inference in the running of the sport.
