Oklahoma State Football team forward Courtney Dike has explained why she rejected the bonus paid to her for representing Nigeria at the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup finals in Canada.
The 19-year-old, whose action has received widespread applaud, last week rejected the $7000 paid to her by the Nigeria Football Federation for participating at the competition saying that playing for Nigeria was enough honour for her.
The forward, who communicated the reason for the rejection in a mail to the NFF, said, “I would like to respond to what I have been reading on the internet about rejecting bonuses. Continue..
“I am delighted to play for Nigeria whenever called upon. I knew before leaving for the U-20 World Cup that I would not accept any bonuses. Acceptance of prize money is against NCAA regulations (the division 1 collegiate governing body) here in the US, so that is the main reason for rejecting it.
“Knowing this beforehand, I still chose to represent the country because I believed the experience would be more valuable than the money, and I was right.”
The National Collegiate Athletics Association scholarship, which is worth $35,000 a year, has as its guiding rule; ‘You cannot accept payment or a promise of payment for participation in your sport’, hence acceptance of the NFF payment would have been seen as a breach of the rules which could attract a sanction or disqualification from the scholarship
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