Super Falcons of Nigeria defender, Ashleigh Plumptre, has declared that she was proud to be a Super Falcon, and incredibly grateful for the opportunity to go deeper into her own identity as a Nigerian.
Plumptre made the declaration on her Twitter page has been of the most outstanding players for the Super Falcons in their four games at the FIFA Womens World Cup holding in Australia and New Zealand.
The amazing performance put up by the Super Falcons have achieved global acclaim after they held their own against some of the best ranked teams in the world.
The Super Falcons were undefeated throughout the matches in regulation and only went out in the second round after a 4-2 penalty loss to England.
Plumptre who was born in England was a particular thorn in the flesh of the English, who were just lucky to scrape through after an unbelievably strong performance by the Nigerians.
The Super Falcons preparations for the tournament had been dogged by issues surrounding match bonuses which the Nigerian football Federation (NFF) refused to pay to the team. The NFF had earlier been given over a million dollars by FIFA, the global soccer body to aid the preparation of the team for the tournament.
Coach of the Super Falcons, Randy Waldrum had spoken about how the NFF withheld funds meant for the team preparation and player bonuses. Waldrum even revealed that he had not been paid for 14 months and was only paid 7 months salary just before the tournament started. Some players have outstanding bonuses with the NFF for almost two years.
This development led FIFA to announce that all payers at the World Cup would be paid directly to their accounts from FIFA to avoid diversions from National Federations. This led the NFF to now state that no match bonuses would be paid to the team since FIFA had undertaken to pay them.
More revelations were unearthed yesterday, that even the daily camp allowances of $100 due to the team was not paid in full by the NFF.
Despite all the distractions, the team put up a superlative performance. They drew with Olympic Champions, Canada and Republic of Ireland, while securing a famous 2-3 victory over hosts, Australia during the group games.
This is the post by Ashleigh Plumptre:
Incredibly grateful for the opportunity to go deeper into my own identity, learn more about what it means to have “Naija spirit” and to showcase to the world what a unified, determined and empowered group of women are capable of achieving.
Proud to be a Super Falcon 🇳🇬
