Former Nigeria international who played for Leeds United and Brentford, Sam Sodje has said government’s responsibility is to put the right people in position of authority in sports.
Insisting that there should be a body necessary for empowering players after retirement, Sodje said ex-players are not asking the government to give them free money but provide enabling environment to cater for players welfare after retirement.
“We aren’t asking for free beans, we aren’t asking the government to give us things for free. We are saying if the structure of sports in the country is properly done, the players will look after themselves,” he told brila,net.
The former Super Eagles player who was reacting to Coach Fanny Amun’s ‘trade by barter’ story on Brila FM recently said, “no government or NFF should take care of ex-players. The NFF are there to make sure the football in the country goes well.
“In England the government doesn’t take care of players; there is something called the PFA. And the PFA, as I speak to you right now, I still get looked after by the PFA, and I finished in 2013/2014. I still get pensions from the PFA.
“They are not the government, they are the Professional Football Association. So when players are talking, they aren’t saying the government should take care of them.
In Nigeria the government are the people that run football. All we want in Nigeria is to get the right people that respect sports, to be able to look after the legends of the game in our country. And it doesn’t have to be financial, because when people talk about sports they always talk about money — it doesn’t have to be money. I just came from one sporting director course, it was paid by the PFA”, he stressed.
