NPFL: Ogunmodede says player safety more important than three points

Daniel Ogunmodede, the Head Coach of Remo Stars Football Club of Ikenne, blamed Kwara United on Sunday for poorly managing a near-fatal incident involving one of their players, Saheed Olaniyi.

Olaniyi went down after stopping a shot taken from a set-piece at the edge of the penalty box with his head. The incident was recorded in the second half of the 2024/2025 Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) Matchday 5 encounter between Kwara United and Remo Stars.

Play was put on hold for some minutes after this, with an ambulance initially brought into the field of play to convey the Kwara United defender to the hospital. However, the player regained consciousness and was willing to resume play after pressure was applied to the medical team from outside the field of play.

However, Ogunmodede physically restrained the player from resuming play. The Remo Stars coach, speaking later during the post-match news conference, blamed not only the Kwara United technical crew and medical team but also the player.

“In my opinion, the player should be jailed because what he wanted to do was like trying to commit suicide. This is football; you play today, you play tomorrow; there is always an opportunity to play again.

”He suffered a concussion on the field of play, and he could have died. He was brought back, luckily, and he wanted to go back inside to play,” he questioned.

“But I will fault the medical team for even giving in to the pressure to let him return to play,” the coach said.

Some Nigerian players have died whilst playing, the most famous being Samuel Okwaraji, who collapsed while playing for the Super Eagles against Angola at the National Stadium, Surulere, in 1989.

In the NPFL, Amir Angwe was the first on-field casualty in 1995, and the most recent was Nasarawa United’s Chineme Martins, who died after collapsing in a match against Katsina United in 2020.

Ogunmodede, part of the Super Eagles’ crew of assistant coaches under Austin Eguavoen, said he owed it a duty to ensure the right thing was done.

”As a coach in the NPFL, I am not just a coach for my team but also a coach for this country. Tomorrow this player may just be one of my players. So, it’s not a do-or-die affair. I stood my ground and told the technical team of Kwara United that he shouldn’t be allowed to play,” he said.

Ogunmodede’s Remo Stars lost the match 1-0, ending their unbeaten start to the 2024/25 NPFL season.