No waiver for NPL clubs - Babalola
by Hendrik Cronjé 06 February 2012, 18:15
The NPL has ruled out the possibility of granting match postponement or waiver to clubs with players in the national teams.
Premier League rules allow clubs with more than five players in the national teams to apply for the postponement of their matches.
SuperSport.com noted that some clubs have as many as six players in the recent 30-man Super Eagles' list for the February 15 international friendly against the Lone Stars of Liberia in Monrovia and are in the forefront pushing to leverage on the provision.
But the NPL acting executive secretary, Tunji Babalola told SuperSport.com that any club who intend to embark on the journey should erase the idea from their minds.
"We can't allow it, we made that view known to the clubs before the start of the season.
"That is the reason we allowed them to register 35 players each.
"The league is already behind schedule, if we allow it that means we won't finish the season.
"There is provision in the rules that allows it, but it won't apply this season.
"It will surely disrupt the timetable.
"It's subject to abuse. In fact, last season, clubs abused it and it contributed in part to the clumsy ending of the season," he said.
Babalola informed SuperSport.com that matches will resume at the weekend with Week 8 matches.
"No, there is no mid-week matches. We want teams to rest and resume at the weekend with Week 8 games," he said.