Football fans at the 2025 Pillar of Associations, Rivers State Intra-Union Football Competition, currently going on at the Goldashe Allstars field at Rivers State University, Port Harcourt have commended the standard of organisation and quality of games at the competition so far.
Speaking to news men at the venue, one of the spectators, Andrew Ukpabi said that most of matches have been impressive and could pass for national league matches. Ukpabi was specially impressed by the orderliness being witnessed in the three match days of the competition witnessed for now. “The level of organisation has been top notch and the quality of the games have been interesting. I hope that the competition continues to maintain the level we have seen”, said the spectator.
Another spectator, Kingsley Ezedike noted that this year’s Pillar of Associations competition has gone to another level, going by the level of preparation and competition seen among different Unions. Also, the quality of players being paraded by the teams has made the edition very interesting.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Organising Committee of the competition, Comrade Franklin Obute has described this year’s edition as a huge success so far. According to him, “It has been an improvement on the maiden edition held in 2023. The games have been very mature, the teams came with very good squads, if you watch the games, you’ll agree that the standard has been high”.
Comrade Obute noted that the vision behind the competition as to engender unity among members and provide a platform for people to explore and develop their talents towards pursuing additional career where possible.
“To a great extent, the competition has togetherness among various unions in the association. It is one of the reasons why the competition was initiated in the first place, bringing together different unions so that there’ll be unity among different businesses, people and players from different tribes and religion”, he said.
He stated that participation cuts across every part of the country because, “as long as you are a good player and you’re a member of the association or you are being hired by a Pillar of Association’s union, you are eligible to play”.
The Chairman assured that the competition has come to stay as it is being packaged to be a yearly affair. He explained that the competition is safe and secure as there is no loophole for participants or extraneous elements to bring the competition to disrepute.
He said, “The number one thing we considered in this competition is security and that is why we brought it to an environment that is secure. Apart from the University security, we have arrangement in place with security agencies in case of any eventuality. However, so far, so good “.
The competition which enters its day four on Friday will have two second of matches decided on the day. The first fixture will be between Rada Allstars FC and Rukpokwu FC, while Computer Dealers and defending champions, Rumuobiakani FC clash in the second match.
In some of the first round matches played on day two and three of the competition, Lions of Electronics beat Garden City 2-1, while Phase One and Computer Dealers played out a goalless draw on Friday.
Builders FC walked over Rukpokwu FC to chalk up three goals and three points on Saturday.
