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| Heartland Fans Protest Enyimba Home win |
Someone got
idea why Nigeria football league is mired in a swamp of problems? Why such large
and vibrant market of over 50 million football consumers in the country aren’t
just interested in the local league? The answer is simple – poor packaging! It
isn’t difficult to decipher if you consider all the controversies surrounding
the management and administration of the league.
It isn’t
about the invention of Satellite (Cable TV) that makes it easier for Nigeria
fans to watch English premier League (EPL). It’s about corrupt practices that
has doused the excitement derived from the local league in the past. What we
might now call ‘the good old days’ when Nigeria stadiums are filled to capacity
several hours before a league match. Then, you could see the progression of
teams and the character of true league champions.
Unfortunately
today, Nigerian team managers invest in the wrong things. It’s an irony really,
instead of teams to invest on players and coaches, they rather spend so much
funds on mundane activities.
There’s the ‘home
win syndrome’ – most clubs win their home games at all cost. It isn’t about
home advantage, where teams enjoy more home support and players are more
conversant with the vagaries of the home pitch. It’s about mundane practices in
Nigerian league.
Match
Fixing: Team managers connive with match officials (referees) to fix most of
their home games. The implication is general poor match officiating in the
league.
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| Referee beaten at Kwara stadium |
Stadium
Hooliganism: Home teams employ the services of hooligans to harass visiting
teams, threaten match officials and in some cases maim referees just to force
them to compromise the match. The implication is general insecurity in Nigeria
league stadiums.
Fetish Practice: Some Nigerian teams go diabolical to win at all cost. They employ the
services of Juju Priests, ‘Prophets’ and you often see things like masquerade harassment, pot of fire, dead pigs and other ritual sacrifices with offensive
smells that create a general unhealthy atmosphere in Nigeria league stadiums.
Board Room
Points: clubs engage in boardroom politics, where they connive with the league
board to gain vital points. The league board encourage this practice by
unnecessary postponement of cases filed by clubs and poor match re-scheduling.
The implication is such boardroom points given to teams at crucial period of
the league frustrate fans and douse excitements.
Players
Slavery: I cannot conclude this post without
mentioning the problem of transfer market operations in Nigerian league.
Most clubs
in Nigeria does not keep their contractual obligations to their players. Players are not paid their sign on and salaries
as at when due. In some cases, they are not paid at all and yet the club wouldn’t let hem go on free transfer to other clubs.
The implication is most players in
Nigeria league are so frustrated that they cannot give their best in such
conditions. So there is a mass exodus of players moving abroad.
I don’t
think most Nigerian football administrators have the league at heart. They’re
all fighting to enrich their own pockets; destroying the very sport they were
meant to nurture and protect.
May be, the
league administrators don’t understand the kind of advantage we have in this
country. We can all earn more money if we package the league well. This is
because we have a large deposit of talented football players and coaches. Most
importantly, we have such a large active football fans that can attract merger
sponsorships to the league. Nigeria local league can be very competitive and
ranked among the best in the world.
