Sometime ago, Pres. Goodluck Jonathan decided to withdraw Nigeria from all international football events for two years, in order for the Nation’s national teams to reorganize and be fully prepared for competitions after the period. This was due to the national team’s abysmal performances in all competitions, even in the age grade tournaments where we used to perform above par. The idea sounded good and I was one of the very few Nigerians that liked the idea. Majority of Nigerians felt that the idea was far fetched and it would attract the wrath of FIFA, the world’s football governing body. Jonathan, being a man of the people, decided to call it off.
Immediately it was called off, people started celebrating. I began to wonder the reason for the celebrations. Its not like our football improved. Its not like anything thing changed. In fact, the people involved did not make any effort to salvage the worrisome situation our football had gotten into. A country that had beaten Argentina in years past now falls 4-nil to Argentina. A team that won the Atlanta Olympics cannot even win an under-17 competition with 25 year old men. And yet, the people meant to make changes cannot even conduct a simple election. Everything is politicized. As a result square pegs keep getting into round holes at the expense of the dreams of our youths. It’s a sad situation. Very sad indeed.
The corruption in the sports sector is something else. Most times, I wonder what the EFCC is doing chasing ex-governors, while they can easily chase past and present members of the national sports commission. The legislative approves large sums for athletes whenever there is a competition, and yet, our athletes cannot afford good hotels whenever they arrive at their host countries. It’s likely the only sport these thieves we call sport administrators know how to run is stuffing their briefcases and Ghana-must-go bags with athletes’ funds. Competitions are no longer organized in order to discover the talented, undiscovered sport men and women in this country. I swear, the boys that play soccer on the streets of Ajegunle are better than any of the jokers in that national team. But yet, these boys’ talents are left to rot. Our indigenous league is as good as dead. I do not even know one footballer that plies his trade in this country. But how can I when a team offloads its entire squad and buys 22 players every season? Are the players goods that are thrown away when they are expired? No wonder some players are purchased with a sign-on fee of less than a hundred thousand.
Recently, we witnessed how we were humiliated out of the world cup. One of the players that gave us heartbreaks was Yakubu. Now, in the days of Shuaibu Amodu, Yakubu was the guy that provided his coach with accommodation whenever he was in the UK. He also gave his coach little change when he was leaving. So how can a shuaibu do away with an unperforming Yakubu and pick up a boy from AJ that would give him nothing? Your guess is as good as mine.
We just came back from a fifa ban (which we were trying to avoid, but couldn’t when the scumbags couldn’t hold a successful election) to suffer defeat at the hands of one of the weakest African teams which we had promised to make look silly. Who ended up being silly? isn’t it obvious? Aren’t we silly? A country that cannot cater for its youths is nothing but silly. A country that toys with one of the few things that still unites us is silly. A country that beats up camera men that come to promote our football is silly. And we will remain silly if we do not change.
The government should realize that football and sports as a whole is a good way to reduce unemployment among our youths. Let private individuals invest in sports and bring back the golden days when we had a prominent league and our best medal at the Olympics wasn’t bronze. Let us field skillful and talented sportsmen and women and cater for their welfare. Let’s take our sports seriously. It begins with you…
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