GFCI News

Following the camping activities of extensive training hosted by the club Management on the 17th March 2019, Adeboyega was also lucky to join his team mates in Lebanon for football trials. His team mates had earlier travelled in the year 2019 but with the relentless effort of the Management as making our players compete at the highest level he was the first of our players to make a move to the Lebanese side in the year 2020. The Management of the club has also made contributions in helping other players move out as well but the pandemic (covid-19) has made it look a bit delayed.

Omenka Abraham joined his team mates (Oyebode Temitope, Adeeko Damilare and Adisa Mutiu) in Lebanon late November and was the last of our players to have travelled in the year 2019. Abraham, one of our utility players, was fortunate to have made it that year as nobody saw it coming. We have decided to continue with the process of moving our players out in the following year but Glory to God as the slot came, he was the luckiest to be in the position of whom to travel with.

Adeeko Damilare and Oyebode Temitope were recorded as the first set of players of Gateshead to travel to Lebanon for football trials after the completion of the football camping activities hosted by the Management. Gateshead coach, Agu Joseph had travelled earlier to set it right for the coming players. It was indeed a remarkable month for us as we recorded the first historical achievement in Ota and as a grassroot club. Coach Agu picked them up at Beirut International Airport, accompanied them home and encouraged them to build up for a new challenge.

In less than three weeks in the same month, Adisa Mutiu joined his team mates (Oyebode and Adeeko) in Lebanon to also partake in the football trial. Adisa was shocked to have heard he will be travelling when he was called urgently in the afternoon, after being a partaker in the training session that morning and nothing was said to him at the end of the training. According to him, he said, “I did not believe when I received a call from the admin telling me to pack my belongings and that I will be travelling with immediate effect. I didn’t believe it because I was not told anything before and after the training that morning. The Club President then had to call me himself and from that moment I started packing. Glory be to God”.

After the intensive football camping activities headed by Coach Agu Joseph, he was privileged to travel before the players in order to reach a certain agreement with the football agents at Lebanon in the month of October 2019.

It is a great achievement for GFCI as the first team in Sango Ota and as a grassroot club to send a coach out before any players. This is done as a result to make sure our players will be in safe hands when they get to Lebanon and he can also be in charge of monitoring their engagements while having the football trials, as well as not to be stranded also.