Preamble
The 1991 Annual Fives Tournament was held in Kaduna from 4th to 7th December 1991. Sardauna Fives Club acted as hosts to the tournament.
The following clubs participated:
Entry fees as fixed by the National body were paid by all participating clubs except Zaria for its three teams entered and annual dues for 1989/91 and stickers and Gusau which paid for its entry but has not paid annual dues for 1989, 1990, 1991 and stickers. As agreed during the annual general meeting, Zaria has to settle an outstanding bill of N1,000 and Gusau N400 against them before the next tournament. I wish to specifically appeal to them to please pay up.
Report
Most participants arrived on Tuesday December 3rd while the rest came in on December 4th, the date of the opening ceremony. This late arrival adversely affected attendance at the technical committee meeting. Despite the poor attendance the meeting was successfully held during which fixtures and rules for the competition were arrived at. The minutes of the meeting were circulatedto all clubs at the opening ceremony. Fortunately all participants were satisfied with the fixtures and this enabled the competition to start.
The opening ceremony was declared open by the Kaduna State Commissioner for Sports, Mr Pikawri on behalf of the State Governor who was unavoidably away to Lagos on official duties. Thereafter matches were held and in accordance with the programme drawn up. The Associations Annual General Meeting took place on Saturday December 7th. Though some clubs did not attend this very important meeting, and did not give any reason for not so doing, the meeting managed to hold successfully. Minutes of the AGM were being circulated along with this report.
The closing ceremony turned out to be without a guest of honour whose absence was explained by his attending another Government function in Zaria. This however did not affect the outcome of the final activities stated for that day. The veterans, junior and intermediate categories were decided while that of the senior category couldn't be finished due to nightfall. At the end of the day, the finalists - Katsina City and Sardauna Fives, Kaduna had a game each. The decider had to be stopped at 5-1 against Katsina City.
Thereafter an emergencY meeting was held at the tournament venue comprising the chairmen of the two teams, the players, the referee for the match, the chief referee and national officials of FAN where the following decisions were taken:
a) that the match will continue from where it stopped on the following day. Sunday at 8am
b) the referee's request to be excused as he had to travel out of town that very night was turned down. It was decided that since he started the match he had to see it through to the end. All parties expressed satisfaction with the decisions arrived at.
The following day Sunday 8th December saw the arrival of players, officals and spectators as agreed upon. The players went into the court, ready to conclude the match. All of a sudden the Katsina team walked out stating that they would not play unless the referee was replaced. The referee gave them fifteen minutes within which to come back to the courts and play as agreed the previous day or he would declare a walk over in favour of Sardauna Fives Club. They refused and at the end of the fifteen minutes, the referee declared the Sardauna Fives Club as winners of the prestigeous Sardauna Cup for the 1991 tournament. Thereafter trophies were presented by the National Chairman as follows:
Under 16 - Sardauna Fives Club, Kaduna
Intermediate - Birnin Kebbi Fives Club, Kebbi
Veterans - The Rest Team
Runners up - Katsina City Fives Club
Sardauna Cup - Sardauna Fives Club, Kaduna
Best Player Award (Senior) - Ya'u Umar from Sardauna Fives Club, Kaduna
Best Player Award (Junior) - Yahaya Ibrahim from Sardauna Fives Club, Kaduna
The Katsina City Fives Club who were declared runners up did not show up to receive their trophy
A dinner party was held later on at the swimming pool of Hamdala Hotel with the Chairman of the Arewa Appeal Fund and Patron of the Association as special guest of honour. The dinner party was well attended and the special guest of-honour seized the opportunitY of assuring the Association that the members of the Arewa Appeal Fund, for which he was the Chairman, have promised to favourably look at the request of the National body for financial support in modernising the Fives Courts behind the late premier's house and indeed any other request aimed at promoting the game of Fives which is inseparable from the life of the late Premier.
The dinner ended with a vote of thanks by the National Chairman and closing prayers offered by Mal. Tukur, the National Treasurer.
Personal Observations
This years tournament recorded less colour than the previous tournaments in view of the following:
a) The Transitional programme of the Government that incapacitated the invited guest of honour from attending due to other national engagements. For example the Governor of Kaduna State was away to Lagos presenting his handing over notes to the President.
b) Early Magrib prayer time made it impossible far many matches to be played late in the or even for the spectators to wait and watch matches.
c) Participating clubs did not in any way assist the National Secretariat. For example only one club responded at the close of entries. This made it very difficult if not impossible for the Secretariat to have information on the number of participants or even to have the confidence that the tournament will hold in view of lack of response by the clubs. The Secretariat was given this information only in the morning of the commencement of the competition. Tragically also no club offered any explanation for the lack of response.
d) Officials of clubs did not in any way help the situation for example by their failure to attend the technical committee meetings and the AGM. There was also a complete breakdown of communication between officials and their teams with the result that many participants came challenging even the entry fees which according to them they were made aware of. It's amazing that officials could not control or discipline their teams.
e) The issue of finance or lack of it generally affected all clubs including the National body resulting in limited scope of activities.
Despite these however, some positive achievements have been recorded. That the competition has taken place at all is an achievement for Katsina's failure to host the tournament had dampened the spirits of participating clubs. The introduction of participating fees had been a success and has brought about the realisation that life is not free any more. By far, the greatest achievement is the realisation that all clubs have to belt up and be more serious in their activities and the fact that it was about time disciplinary measures were enforced, in order to ensure the survival of the Association.
Finally, I am sure all members will join me in thanking Alh. Samaila Isa and Messrs Nigerian Seed Cotton Company Ltd, Kaduna for donating the sum of N10,000 and N5,000 respectively towards hosting the tournament.
Adamu Yakabu (National Secretary) for the Nigerian Fives Association1991 Sardauna Tournament by A Yakabu
Created 9th February 2006 by Mike Fenn
efa@etonfives.co.uk