There is no doubt that the year 2011 is fast moving into history as one of the most traumatic years of Nigeria football. The disappointing elimination of Dream Team V in Morocco from the 2012 Olympic Games in London completed a cycle of sorrowful year for Nigeria where her senior national team, the Super Eagles, failed to qualify for the 2012 Africa cup of Nations in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, while the female counterpart, the Super Falcons, were also unsuccessful in their Olympic games qualifying quest.
The Tsunami that hit the Nigerian football scene in 2011 is not likely to be abating soon, unless drastic actions are taken to reposition the nation’s football sector for better service delivery.? It is a known fact that the standard of football in the country had been sunk and it should occur to the managers of the game that the usual norm of looking for scapegoats to be sacrificed while leaving the real issues swept under the carpet, will not solve the conundrum of deterioration football in the country had suffered.
It is hard to believable that Nigeria which was voted the most entertaining team in 1994 World Cup, the same year it was ranked 5th in the world by the world soccer governing body (FIFA), dominated the African football scene and was indeed a team to beat, is no longer among the top 16 teams in the continent, let alone in the world scene. For sure, all is not well with the Nigerian football and the most disturbing part is lack of focus by the administrators to clearly identify and address the problems militating against the sport.
On that score, setting agenda for the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for 2012 becomes necessary as the outgoing year is leaving many Nigeria soccer fans and philanthropists with much agony. The nation’s football will reinvigorate if managers in football sector put aside their personal gain and adhere strictly to the provisions of modern day football.
Administration
Modern day football has taken a new dimension. Unlike in the past, there are no more borders and one thing is for sure, sooner or later, to be part of this, you must be a professional in this field. The day to day running of modern day football, the general management and execution of the game requires professionals to be on driving seat.
The presence of a one-time best player in the corridor of football administration will spur the dreams and help nurture the next generation of players who want to be like them or even surpass their records. Therefore, the implementation of the recommendations by the Ministerial Committee on the Reform of Football in Nigeria needs drastic action and political will on the part of the government and the National Sports Commission (NSC) for it to see the light of the day. These will not only put the nation’s football on a sound footing, but it will also give the former athletes and genuine stakeholders of the game opportunity to give their best to the game and a career job worth doing well, while getting paid.
The review of the statutes that set up the NFA will ensure only individuals who have ample experience in football administration and have proven themselves over time are allowed to join the board.
The chairman of the ministerial committee, Dominic Oneya, in submitting the report last month to former minister and chairman of the NSC disclosed that the committee’s report is so encircling because it spelt out the road map, time frame, mode of implementation, funding and sponsorship.
Domestic league
The bedrock of any nation success in football depend on its domestic football competitions. Without a viable local league there are no ways the national teams will succeed at continental and international tournaments. The 2010/2011 Nigeria Premier League (NPL) season came to an end on November 13, 2011 after more than one year of league season. It is the longest league season in the history of the round leather game.
The 2010/2011 season which was expected to run for eight months ended up lasting for 13 months without much to cheer. The standard of play exhibited by players and the management of the games by match officials were far from the standard expected of Nigerian football league.
For Nigeria to regain its lost glory in the world of football there is need to harness talent from the local scene. But how could the country achieve this when its league is a shadow of itself, incapable of producing top sound minded footballers.
Several coaches have complained of not finding local players worthy of inviting into the national team and they (the coaches) hardly visit league sites to seek for players, thereby contributing to the decline of the local game. The last two season of the domestic league was without sponsorship, leaving this season’s eventual winners, Dolphins of Port Harcourt, with just handshakes for their efforts just as the financial support of N20million given to clubs at the start of every season under the leadership of Chief Obaseki when Globacom was sponsoring the league to become a thing of the past. The new leadership of NPL must ensure that the once glamorous league has title sponsor before the commencement of the new season expected to start next year January 7.
Grassroots competition
Most of the grassroots sport organisations like the Youth Sports Federation of Nigeria (YSFON), whose effort gave birth to Nigeria’s golden era of football were left alone to struggle for themselves. The devastating effect is that the nation no longer produces home-made quality star players, because children are not dreaming anymore. Those who genuinely can play are denied the opportunity due to lack of motivation.
The likes of Stephen Keshi, Sunday Oliseh, Kanu Nwankwo, Ben Iroha and co, who represented the golden era of Nigeria football, were products of YSFON competitions. With an estimated population of 167 million people, Nigeria has no business not to be among the top five best football nations in the world.
The managers of the round leather game should return to the basis of football development and ensure that YSFON is given all the necessary requirements to return competitive spirit in age level competition across the country. This will help discover players who will not only have passion for the wearing national jersey but also have hunger for victory.
Football administration requires lots of thinking and planning. You don’t sit in your office and determine what goes on the field. How many of the NFF eggheads watch a grassroots football matches. They only brush their brief cases when it is time to travel abroad for one tournament or the other, but to watch local competitions, no way, it’s a taboo. Setting agenda for football in the coming year is a huge task and it requires the contribution of all.
Grassroots competition that is the bedrock of football development and where a good number of talents are discovered suffers inadequacy of equipment and infrastructure as well as limited programmes. Because of this, the nation’s youth abandon the country and scramble to take up citizenship of other countries in order to benefit from their generous sports packages and facilities. The potential for the continuation of this drain of our sports men and women to other countries will continue in the absence of serious effort to stem it through the provision of resources and facilities for football development across the country.
Accountability
Sport is self-sustaining and self-generating. Such a declaration is not a leap of faith but a leap of mind. To create everything from nothing and something from nothing requires thinking differently and more creativity; moving away from self-imposed limitations, value and belief systems.? Reliance on government funding creates a comfort zone for those who run our football. All they are interested in is getting money from government and share it within themselves and their colony rather than put in efforts to raise fund for the development of the game. It is misleading and mischievous for people to think that football will die in Nigeria without government funding it.
To become a champion in sport, weaknesses must become strengths and there must be a phenomenal team spirit, unity, friendship, honesty, willingness to work hard and self-belief. In simple language, the nation football managers must be prepared to go through hell as it takes real guts and big match temperament; all qualities and attributes that sports leaders and administrators should possess in abundance especially as most have come through the ranks of sport. The private investors are willing to inject money into football industry, but are being held back because of lack of accountability and transparency of administrators who are only interested in seating at the comfortable zone of their office to misappropriation.