Nigerian League Football Needs Freedom and Structuring
My IJGB cousins would come back for summer and Christmas holidays and their chatter would singularly be around their hometown sports teams. This stated around when I started liking AC Milan as a 6 year old.
Asides being on the outside of inside jokes - the worst place to be - and sport nerding, the problem was how I couldn’t relate to shit they were saying.
In no way was I made to feel ratchet, but it wasn't still fun, delving from destroying them on our mini soccer pitches to getting schooled on Basketball and American Football - they hated baseball, Thank God.
I couldn't understand the idiosyncrasies and peculiarities of fandom till I started supporting Liverpool. Although I'd been a staunch Super Eagles fan, the love and raw emotion that ran through me with Liverpool, I'd never felt. I only realized it was because of consistently watching them than the Eagles much later.
The hole I couldn't fill as a counter-brag to my Oyinbo cousins was a worthy home team to shower these untapped love on.
See, I grew up in Akure, Ondo State. The home team there was the Sunshine Stars AKA The Akure Gonners - or Akure Frauds, whichever shoots your gun. The team was in tatters and close to inexistence at the time. Bureaucracy, corruption, governmental meddlesome interloping and improper funding were crippling the team - as I later realized.
Then, the Akure Stadium - a regular spot during Children's Day celebrations was in tatters, gradually going moribund as we all queued to salute and get annual waves from whichever corrupt figurehead was State Governor, standing on a ridiculously ornamented centrepiece, in a venue literally falling apart.
After starting from the grassroots with Alejo FC of Ado-Ekiti, my Uncles, Kole and Dayo used to play Amateur and Pro League football Works Rangers of Akure and Fountain FC of Ado-Ekiti in the '90s. Uncle Dayo left because of a terribly treated knee injury that almost led to something more serious before embarking on his education, funded by Lagos hustle with Kiddies' Land and another printing press.
My Uncle, Kole stayed with the train, got called to the Nigerian U-17 and U-20 regional squads. He almost made the Nigeria '99 initial 50-man squad, but was cut over a lack of "Godfather". Back to Ado-Ekiti, jaded, getting older and broke over unpaid salaries, spanning months, he began pondering early retirement, despite being team captain at club level.
Shortly after, with Works Rangers getting liquidated, and no promises of unpaid bills, he quit Football in '99, despite getting a standing offer from Sunshine FC of Akure and a training/trial offer from Julius Berger FC of Lagos - upon resumption.
I used to go watch Uncle Kole in particular because I used to feel special when fans and teammates on the bench would sing his name "Kole Abe the skippo...". Coincidentally, one of these visits resulted in my first experience of match fixing and phony calls when a referee started dancing after my Uncle’s opponents scored.
Asides the sentiment with my Uncles, watching any live Nigerian match never looked passionate like even Nationwide League Games - except the cup finals and Shell Cup Matches with Secondary Schools.
Maybe I accorded the players similar expectations to my childhood international heroes, but I would still have known if anything was worth celebrating - most things were not.
The cumulative effect of sentimental and systemic issues meant I was never attracted to any local team. Call this Part A
Fast forward close to 2015, I was at home in Akure. Uncle Kole came visiting and he kept raving about improvements in the Nigerian League and why I needed to savour some magic. I knew some things had changed with stadia and fee payments - Gbolahan Salami was reportedly getting NGN1,000,000 per month - but I was never interested.
Occasional dabbles in the extreme sport of watching the Nigeria Football League on DSTV and the near-pukes were enough.
Mind you, during free times around the same period, I used to watch OSFODEC FC - the other Akure team - train at the State Sports Complex. There were improvements, but major changes were still required.
I obliged my Uncle, and I drove him to the venue. Bruh! It was the greatest waste of NGN100 and worst tactical play I'd ever witnessed. It was a wonder how Sunshine FC were 2nd on the log at the time.
The play was simple; keeper loads the ball to a 5'7 winger on the right, he tries to control, passes to the No. 8, who then switches play to continually launch crosses at a 5'9 strikers, playing against 2 6'3 Centre Backs. Rinse. Repeat.
After enduring 45 minutes, and with my Uncle probably also noticing the same, because he was chatting with some Old Buddies, I set off to find cold Orijin. Call this Part B.
On Monday, July 9, 2018, I has initially called Urban Central Scribe Nico, [Tweets @WordsbyAG], but he did not pick up. Though he denies it, I guarantee he was with a woman. As he called me back, our chatter led to our Fathers.
Like his Dad - a fan of Bendel Insurance of Benin, mine was a fan of 3SC Shooting Stars of Ibadan, and he was even friends with certain footballers because debauchery. They respectively saddled us, their sons with old tales of Nigerian Football League fandom and it was nothing like current realities.
I remember how my Dad would tell us about watching games and celebrations. Nico's Dad told him about the days of losing at home - which were not funny for anyone, including the visiting team.
One common denominator was that players were joyfully playing and facilities were good for that time.
Some will allude the fandom to lack of exposure to foreign leagues and they will have a point, but I know certain Liverpool and Manchester United fans from the '70s. One, the Liverpool Supporter was also a Stationery Stores of Lagos stan. I met him in August 2007, in Akute, Lagos while watching Spurs vs. Sunderland. The first match of the 2007/2008 season, decided by a Micheal Chopra goal.
Part C
While standards have become progressively better than the 90s and 2000s, with match fixing less palpable, better facilities, greater coverage, better sponsors and better payments, the outlook of the league, to anyone with an unbiased is still far from ideal.
For one, governmental interference is still disruptive and football standards have some way to go, to be on par with contemporary standards. Something needs to happen NOW!
Across the world, I do not know a truly thriving league entirely under governmental auspices, in club ownership and League control. If anything, only a few have governmental influence, reduced to a controlled extent. This is step one to liberation, the recognition.
Our Legislators should examine a world where our League Structure, control and club ownership will be privatized with minimal governmental influence, only for checks and balances.
An in-depth Law should be enacted to privatize the entire affair, with league control subject to election and based in tenures, with nobody entitled to more than a term of 3 years.
The Law should also envisage the management of funding to at least, manage the funding generated. Club Ownership should also be privatized, with private individuals allowed to pump money into the league. It will not be without disadvantages, but long term, it will be a great decision.
I know what you are thinking about; competition and potential corruption, but look around you, they are already rife, and even reproducing healthy kids. Enyimba offers more than Sunshine Stars.
There will never be a level playing field. Look at the rapid development of the Indian, American and Chinese Football Leagues for inspiration.
Stadia should also be open to rent from the government, till clubs can build their facilities. It is the only way followership can improve with our league. Fans mean money and money means revenue and development.
To maintain the standard, the Law should also establish a player payment structure and registration of each club as private businesses. Asides that, it should stipulate a set club standard, that also includes Academy Players.
To maintain purity, there should be a limitation of foreign players.
To keep the standard pristine, the Law should also establish a Kids/Varsity Sports system in Primary and Secondary schools. This system ensure early talent discovery and participation, maybe even early focus. The system should have a structure that creates a league format across town, local government, regional and state levels.
By Law, Schools will also have to adhere to certain standards in facilities and funding before they can be granted kids sports/varsity status. This will ensure better ease of talent scouting.
To ensure academic excellence, and like the American system, any participating student will must match certain academic standards before he can participate in any sport at any level.
Also like the American Standard, and by Law, Universities and other Institutions of higher learning should also have sports structures, with University coaches scouting High School Students for their teams.
The structure will include Faculty Teams, Department Teams and then School teams. Cups should be created and inter-University/Higher Learning Institutions structures at State Level to ensure participation at Inter-State Levels.
Certain individuals should also be allowed to create a maximum 20 private clubs, registered with the school. They will have a league format and their managers can scout in High Schools. Players can have University teams and still have private teams.
Like the Kids/Varsity systems, an academic standard must also be set for sportsmen to be adhered to before sport participation.
Nonetheless, payment to any sporty student at any level should be prohibited. The Law should codify it as a felony.
I know this doesn't solve anything and it's easier said than done, but we need a good plan. Only then can we dare to dream.
By OneMotolani - PennedMusingsNG for Urban Central (Tweets @OneMotolani)
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