NPA FC players get half-loaf relief

At long, long last some respite has come the way of players of the Nigeria Ports Authority FC, the Seasiders. The boys who have been playing under pressure from hunger and penury, were at long last paid 50% of their sign-on fee for the current soccer season only last Friday.

We gathered that the players, who had ceaselessly bemoaned their fate over management's non-payment of their sign-on fees, could not help but show their excitement at the half-a-loaf-is-better-than-nothing gesture of the management by paying them 50% of their total sign-on fee.

nigeriasports.com investigations show that, the players are still being owed a back-log of salaries arrears; and that the payment of 50% of their sing-on, was only a way of dousing the players' endless protests in the press. However, tried as the Seasiders' management felt, the players still cannot come to terms with the idea of squeezing six players into a little room in an uncompleted Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.

They have therefore, decided to pressure-on for better welfare packages to enhance not just their living condition, but boost their performances in the current Globacom Premier League season. Fifty per cent of players' total sign-on package, is what the FA directed teams in the league to pay to their players before kick-off.

While the players smiled to their banks last weekend, the coaches and officials wore mournful looks. This is because these calibre of team members, are yet to get paid...''we do not even know when we would be paid,''one of the affected officials said.