World Cup is a big event which holds good attraction for all Youth. Organisers of the NSF say they thought about shifting the event but quickly realised that it may snowball to next year.
By Uzor Odigbo
Barely hours after the opening ceremony of the 21st National Sports Festival (NSF), spectators, mainly Youths have resorted to watching the Qatar 2022 world cup matches and their business than trooping to the event venues.
Events like Table Tennis, Swimming, Cycling etc, are some of the tournaments poorly attended by spectators.
Thenicheng.com gathered that after the colourful opening ceremony on Wednesday in Asaba, spectators have moved on by watching the world cup matches and attending to their businesses outside the Stephen Keshi Stadium.
Some Local Organizing Committee members who volunteered comments on çondition of anonymity alluded to the fact that this was expected.
According to them, World Cup is a big event which holds good attraction for all Youth.
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One of them said: “We thought about shifting the NSF but quickly realised that it would snowball to next year. The time was short and these world cup games are played in the evenings when most NSF events take place.”
They argued that the poor attendance of spectators at games venues may have to continue because there is nothing one can do about it and unfortunately, the NSF events are not on Television which also frustrates viewership.
However, coaches and most Athletes believe that the NSF was wrongly timed and the consequences are what is being witnessed now.
On solutions to the present situation at NSF venues, the coaches insisted that spectators should be lured to the venues with gifts and attractive lollies. Sponsors should also plan giveaways during games.
The National Sports Festival is ongoing and needs spectators to encourage Athletes to perform well, unfortunately, spectators don’t seem to know what’s going on around them.
Organizing officials are not happy about the situation, but can’t help the ugly development.
Sponsors are bad losers as patronage seems very low, perhaps, spectators would respond when Athletics start on Tuesday inside the main bowl of Stephen Keshi Stadium, they concluded.