Ogunmodede says player safety important after near-fatal incident at Kwara United

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

It was reported that 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) match day 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.

But the player seemed to have regained consciousness and was willing to resume play after pressure was brought to bear on the medical team outside the field of play.

However, Ogunmodede was seen physically restraining the player from going in to resume play.

Ogunmodede, while speaking during the post-match news conference later, not only blamed the Kwara United technical crew and medical team but the player also.

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

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

Ogunmodede who is 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 however lost the match in Ilorin by a lone goal to end the team’s winning streak in the Nigerian top-tier league.