By Tony Edilke
THE expectations of football fans in the Coal City of Enugu and neighbouring states who are desirous of watching live World Cup matches will be fulfilled today as the FIFA Under 17 World Cup tournament kicks off at Enugu center with complaints of poor preparations by the Local Organizing Committee (LOC).

The Enugu State

Eagle Line-up

Government under Sullivan Chime had tried all it could within the past few months to ensure that facilities at the Enugu Sub-seat were given facelift and upgraded to meet the FIFA requirements and contractors in-charge of various projects initiated to ensure successful hosting of the tournament in Enugu, which is the only center chosen in the South East zone of the country, actually did their best to deliver on time.

The Coal City was cleaned up with street lights provided on some major roads to beautify the capital city at night while security had been beefed up especially within the areas where the foreign visitors including FIFA officials, participating teams and their officials would conduct their activities like training grounds and hotels.   Armed police men were deployed to guard the teams and their officials since they arrived last week and no security problem had been reported.

Security around the town was also beefed up Friday as the joint Army-Police patrol teams drove round the town signalling their combat readiness, while operatives of other para-military forces and traffic officers took full charge of traffic control along major roads in the city.
But despite these arrangements, there were still a lot of complaints from participating countries and even Nigerian football fans and local journalists who are confused about arrangements made by the LOC for hosting of the event.

Many fans trooped to the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium Friday to purchase the match tickets but they were told that some banks had been given the franchise to market the tickets without adequate publicity just as majority of local journalists who are expected to cover the tournament in Enugu center stormed the stadium protesting their non-accreditation by FIFA online.

The LOC Media Officer, Tony Nezeanya and other officials of the Media sub-committee, however, promised to make necessary contacts with FIFA officials at Abuja to seek possible means of accrediting the journalists.

Apart from the problem of accreditation, the internet facility at the media center which efficacy was tested and confirmed by the LOC during the last visit by FIFA inspection team is no longer functioning but officials of the firm that provided the facility were seen effecting repairs yesterday to ensure that the service is restored before the kick-off match today.

To ensure that the people of Enugu State watch the matches live, Governor Chime through the state Ministry of Sports, has purchased 10,000 tickets to be issued free to persons who are interested in watching the matches but there was confusion  as to when and how the tickets would be issued by the state officials since no publicity had been made about the governor’s gesture.

The State Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Chuks Ugwoke, who is also a member of the Media Committee, however, assured that the LOC would try its best to tackle all the observed problems as the tournament kicks off.