HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES IN THE NIGERIA PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE CLUBS IN SOUTH-SOUTH, NIGERIA

Abstract

Professional football leagues in Nigeria have inspired some scholarly works, especially, the enthusiasm of football lovers during competitions. Extant studies have acknowledged the organizational structure of such leagues but little or no attention has been paid to the management of human personnel which constitutes a significant structural component of the league. This study adopted the descriptive survey of the expost-facto design. The population of the study comprises cubs' administrators and players. A representative sample size of 385 was used for the study. The proportional stratified and random sampling techniques were adopted to select the sample size, and a validated and reliable Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.70 was deployed. With the aid of six research assistants, copies of the questionnaire were administered to respondents. Data were collected through the use of questionnaire. The data were subjected to quantitative and qualitative analysis. The analysis revealed high level of indiscipline and poor remuneration as challenges to the human resources management of the Nigeria professional football league clubs in the South South, Nigeria. Conclusion was drawn based on the findings and recommendations were made amongst others that club management should instill discipline in the club by counselling and meting out punishments to people who flout the rules of the club; club members should always be encouraged and be well remunerated to serve as motivation which will help boost their morale towards ensuring effective and efficient services to their clubs.