19th September, 2013
By Tayo Ogunbiyi
A few days ago, the city of Lagos was agog, as the final of the 68th edition of Nigeria’s oldest football competition, now christened the Confederation Cup, took place at the Teslim Balogun Stadium amid pomp and pageantry. Since the Lagos State government began to host the final match of this annual football competition about four years ago, it has brought in lots of innovations aimed at restoring its lost glory. For instance, the state government usually uses the occasion to honour past heroes of the competition, both living and dead. In the last edition, ten of such personalities, including ace broadcasters’ whose colourful radio commentaries brought glamour to the completion in time past, were honoured. Included in this year’s honour list are late Ishola Folorunsho and late Earnest Okonkwo, two ace radio commentators whose unique style of radio commentary added colour and grandeur to the competition. Others in this year’s honour list include legendary footballers such as, late Muda Lawal, former Super Eagles Coach and Jogo bonito exponent, Joe Erico, former Super Eagles coach, ‘Wonder Boy’, Paul Hamilton, 1985 FIFA U-17 World Cup winning coach and Sebastian Brodricks-Imasuen. Others are Dominic Iorfa, Joe Erico, Josiah Dombraye, Toyin Ayinla, Stanley Eguma and ace broadcaster, Walter Oyatogun.
According to Lagos State Commissioner for Youths, Sports and Social Development, Wahid Enitan-Oshodi, “the essence of this honour is to appreciate the outstanding performance of some players who had featured in the Federation Cup”. The long term objective is to motivate the present crop of players that their efforts in the competition will not go unnoticed even after they had retired. Without doubt, the role being played by the Lagos State government in the revival of football, and indeed other sports, in the country, is a reflection of the sporting personality of the state governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola.
The earliest impression of the state governor, painted in most media reports was that of a sports loving individual. He had been photographed in sporting attires playing active football even after his election into office. Consequently, it was clear from the outset that sports loving Lagos youths are in for a great time. When one realizes that sport has moved beyond the level of recreation, which it used to be in time past, to one with a mega-buck earning status, the efforts of the State Government in encouraging the youth to take active part in sports will be properly appreciated.
Globally, football has become a money spinning sport. The organisation and management of football in Europe, for instance, is a multi-million dollars venture with all the teams running other sports related businesses. Indeed, all sorts of professionals-doctors, physiotherapists, psychologists, grass men, scouts, etc. are employed by the various teams in their drive for soccer glory. Football, in Europe, has gone beyond the mere recreational activity that it is in Nigeria. As a result of the excellent manner it is managed in Europe, youths across the continent have found in football a means through which they could use their talents to escape poverty. Young players such as Gareth Bale, Wayne Rooney, Cesc Fabregas, Christiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi among others-thanks to football-have become multi-millionaires before they clocked the age of twenty-one. Ironically, in Nigeria, what we have is the exact opposite of what operates in Europe. The once exciting Nigeria local league, that produced household names like Segun Odegbami, Adokie Amaesimeka, Christian Chukwu, Stephen Keshi, Rashidi Yekini among others, has become a shadow of itself. Hitherto widely followed teams such as Stationery Stores, Spartans of Owerri, Rovers of Kano, Abiola Babes, Leventis United, etc have gone into extinction while popular European clubs like Manchester United, Arsenal, AC Milan etc have been in existence for over hundred years. Unlike in Europe, where the clubs are purely run as business ventures, clubs in Nigeria are mostly run by governments on a non- profit making basis. Unfortunately, football administrators in the country are mostly only interested in fighting over the paltry funds that come from government rather than creatively and passionately evolving strategies to lift the game. This is why, some of our footballers travel to less known footballing nations such as Bangladesh, Sudan, India among others to further their careers.
There was a time when Nigerian footballers were the toasts of the soccer world. Then, we used to have up to six nominees among the ten footballers usually nominated for the annual African Footballer of the Year Award. Indeed, the high point of the country’s dominance in African football was when Rashidi Yekini, Emmanuel Amuneke, Victor Ikpeba and Kanu Nwankwo won the title in successive order. Other sports such as lawn tennis, table tennis, wrestling, volley ball, basketball etc are not exempted from the rot that currently pervades the nation’s sporting landscape.
If we are to offer the teeming youth in the country an opportunity to fulfill their God given potentials, we must change our attitude to sports. If we could go as far as the World Bank to get a tested professional to manage the Ministry of Finance, then we need a thorough bred sport personality – someone whose whole essence revolves around sports- to take charge of the Sports Ministry. Equally, a complete overhauling of all sporting facilities in the country is needed. Since it seems those saddled with overseeing the nation’s prime sporting facilities are overwhelmed with the enormity of the responsibility, government can resort to the PPP model. Similarly, the private sector needs to take more active part in the project to restore the nation’s lost glory in sports. All over the world, the initiatives and funds that drive sports come from the private sector. With the needed private sector drive, moribund school sports competitions across the country could be resuscitated.
Finally, governments across the country should focus on sports development at the grassroots. Lagos State is leading in this regards with the recently inaugurated Lagos State Sports Endowment Fund which is geared at taking sports to all parts of the state. The state government has also resuscitated competitions such as the Principals’ Cup among secondary schools, the School Sports Festival, the State Sport Festival, the U- 13 Soccer Championship, the U-15 Swimming Competition, Governor’s Cup, the International Squash Racket Competition, MTN Street Soccer, Oba Cup, among others.
Additionally, it has embarked on sports and recreational infrastructural development which has transformed the popular Campos Square in Lagos Island into a mini stadium with a sitting capacity of 5,000, multi-purpose hall for all outdoor court games, FIFA Star 2 Artificial Turf, and administrative offices/equipment Stores as well as the Agege Stadium into a sporting facility with a FIFA standard playing turf and a sitting capacity of 15,000.
It is only in doing this that we can discover new sports heroes and deal with the identical issues of job creation and youth restiveness in the country.
•Ogunbiyi wrote from Lagos