A very stimulating story about inheritance is brewing in Nigeria’s football referees’ sector, as a highly rated arbiter, Tijani Adam has successfully inspired two of his daughters to follow his footsteps in the vocation of respected match officials.
Sports247 reports that he is now a proud dad who can flaunt two of his female offsprings as very promising referees, with a symbolic tag that they can do it better than him or even men who dominate the sector.
Step out for recognition, Oyindamola and Success Adam, two ladies of esteem who dare to rub shoulders with vibrant men in the arduous task of running the length and breadth of a pitch, while blowing a whistle to control the flow of a football match.
One of the sisters, Success Adam told Sports247 in an exclusive interview that she is grateful to her dad for introducing her to the ref’s duty in 2022 and she is enjoying every second of it, regardless of the physical stress that it entails.
The member of Lagos State Referees Council, whose dad hails from Ejigbo local government in Osun State, disclosed further that the recent exploits of Yemisi Eunice Akintoye at this year’s Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco have further encouraged her to aim for the top and become a globally acclaimed match official.
Success Adam, who is an undergraduate of Chemistry at Lagos State University, disclosed further that she has taken charge of some games in the third-tier Nationwide League One (NLO) and many in the Nigerian Women’s Football League (NWFL), but looks forward to getting more.
She added: “I always thank my dad for encouraging me to be a referee. He’s now an NNL assessor, and I am happy to follow in his footsteps, along with my older sister.
“I love being a referee, mostly because I’ve always been a sports fan, especially football. I also like the opportunity it gives me to know various places and meet different kinds of people.”
Success admitted that the difficult part of being a referee is the fitness drills they have to go through in order to be declared physically fit to handle matches, but quickly added that she does not have anything to complain about.
“It’s actually tough physically, but I’m not bothered about it. I’ve attended two physical fitness tests already … one in Lagos and one in Benin City.
“I’ll be going to Benin again in a couple of weeks for another test and I look forward to it. I gained promotion to Grade 1 through the last test and it’s something that I love doing.
“I enjoy it because of the love that I have for the game. I’ve officiated three NLO matches and many in the NWFL, and I’m looking forward to getting more.
“My most memorable match was FC Robo Queens versus Dannaz Ladies at Onikan. I was the fourth official and all the others were FIFA graded. So, I felt honoured to be among them,” Success Adam reflected gleefully.
