The minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr Sunday Dare has revealed plans from the ministry to declare any Nigeria Professional Football League matches without medical personnel illegal.
He made this known while speaking with journalists in his office yesterday following the death of a Nassarawa United player Chineme Martin during a league match on Sunday the 8th of March, 2020.
Dare further directed that no game should be played henceforth without the presence of paramedic personnel and equipment at match venues.
“It is really sad as it was preventable, it was unexpected. I worked the phones to speak with the sports administrators and we have taken a decision that from March 14th, no league game will be played without the full complement of the medics.
“We will set up a task force that will enforce that any game that takes place without the paramedics will be illegal and will not be recorded in favour of any team.
“We will make sure there is full compliance as it will start a process we will review the medical challenges we have. Very soon we will come up with a code for the stadia, a code red, a code yellow and a code green.
“We will enforce the standards that are already in the book. What happened in Nasarawa is a trigger and we will enter a new regime of compliance and enforcement,” he said.
It was further gathered that all match commissioners, host State Football Associations have been mandated to inspect all medical facilities at match venues, test run to confirm that they are working before the commencement of any league game.
