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Written by Benson Chukwueke, a Sport Marketing and Management Professional. President and CEO of FantaXtik. A great mind when it comes to football ideologies and in depth knowledge implementations, to deliver satisfactory football utility on a global scale.
Nigeria Football Supporters Club (NFSC) is not just a group of fans rooting for their favourite football teams, but they are vital part of Nigeria national teams nomenclature. Without the supporters club, the Nigeria national team is deemed not complete.
The Nigeria Football Supporters Club was founded in 1956 by football-loving Nigerians drawn from different walks of life ostensibly to support the Nigeria national team, Green Eagles, as they were named then. But they extended their support as other age group national teams and the women teams emerged.
The club has witnessed lots of remarkable changes overtime, as the wisdom of their leaders thought to extend their support to Nigeria teams or representatives in other sports. And at one point they renamed themselves as Nigerian Football and Other Sports Supporters club.
In as much as they have extended their support to other sports, national teams and team Nigeria alike, the Nigerian supporters club are more naturally integrated in the fabric or DNA of the senior national team - the Super Eagles, as they are named now,
So, they are an integral part of the senior national team and just as the coaching crew, the supporters club goes with the team to every competitive games, even to some international friendlies too. And in some rare cases when the supporters club were not allowed into the stadium, the Super Eagles played like a bunch of dead woods without their fire.
Ethos of the Supporters Club
Indeed, the supporters club fire up the team with their drumming, trumpets and songs that resonates with the players. And sometimes when the team is down and confused, the supporters club takes their beat to the next level to drum up the "Nigerian spirit", the never say die spirit that push the players beyond the natural realm into the supernatural to achieve results that can only be ascribed to divinity - just like "The Damman Miracle."
This is the difference between the Nigeria supporters club and the ordinary Nigerian football fans. When the team isn't doing well, the Nigerian fans boo the players and even transfer their support to the opponent team with chants like eah, eah, oh, oh! And when the Super Eagles are doing well they cheer "all we are saying give us more goals."
As part of their ethics, the Nigeria Supporters club will never boo the national team no matter how down and out, they bear the burden of defeat with the team. They are not just fans that attend games for entertainment, they are part of the national team nomenclature.
The Structure and System
To fulfill their essence, the Nigerian supporters club has grown it's membership to spread around different parts of the world and with large and active members in about 25 states in Nigeria.
When they get to a city or country, their job is to mobilise Nigerian fans in that city or country to pull a large support for national team during the match at the stadium.
The Music and Dance
The Supporters Club are popularly known for their glitz, glamour and entertainment, particularly, its ceaseless, exciting and inspiring singing and dancing whenever and wherever various Nigerian national teams are playing.
They predominantly use drums (large and smaller ones) and various kind of trumpets, with chorus vocal songs to make blaring music, which some session of the world football community has termed as deafening noise at the stadium.
However, the entertainment and glitz it brings to the game cannot be denied. The non-stop beats and dance which they often referred to as gyrations are something of an unforgettable experience.
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The Costumes
The Nigeria supporters club often create a carnival like setting at a specific part of the stadium stand. Their members dress in green and white which is colour of their flag as well as their national colour.
Some dress like clowns or mascots green and white hair styles with painting on their faces or even all over their bodies. Some dress depicting the country's tribal and religious diversity, with the traditional dressing of the three major tribes, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. They also display traditional and religious instrument of worship Bible, Koran, chaplets, amulets, pot of fire etc. so exciting and hilarious to watch.
The Spiritual Support
Apart from the physical support, singing, dancing and gyrating, the supporters club offer spiritual support to the national team. They often go into fasting and prayers in preparation for certain games, as well as emback on incantations, invocation during matches.
This activities are carried out based on the people belief that there's a lot of luck required in winning games and their must be a god of soccer somewhere, who can sway luck to favour the Nigeria national team.
The Achievements
Several accolades can be ascribed to the Nigerian Supporters club across the world, including being described by world football ruling body, FIFA as the most disciplined and entertaining football supporters during the 1994 World Cup in the USA.
In fact, there's no success story of the Nigeria national teams without a significant part played by the supporters club. This has cause the NFSC President-general world wide Dr. Rafu Ladipo to become a major stakeholder in football matters, not only recognized by NFF and Nigerian government, but in CAF and FIFA.
The Travels and Tourism
Becoming a member of the Nigeria Supporters Club with International Membership card gives you the opportunity to travel anywhere in the world, where Nigeria team is participating in any sporting event.
Such travels to sporting events around the world also create other opportunities of making friends globally and establishing international business contacts. It also give you opportunity to visit special tourist sites in each country you visit.
How to Join
To join the NFSC, you’ll need to visit the national headquarters of the Nigerian Football supporters club at 22 Mabo Street, Off Randel Road, Surulere Lagos Nigeria or Nigeria Football Supporters Club Cabin, National Stadium complex, Garki Abuja and pick up their membership form.
Fill the form and choose the category of membership you want.
There are two levels of membership:
1. Ordinary membership
2. International membership
The ordinary membership simply means you are a domesticated supporter who will be allowed to participate in any sports event within Nigeria and the West African sub-region that can be travelled to through land.
When you choose international membership, you are granted access to travel with the supporters club to international sporting events. This can include the Olympics, World Cups, African Nations Cup etc.
However, International membership comes with an annual due of ₦50,000 (Fifty Thousand Naira). Also, you must be able to foot the bill of a large portion of your travelling expenses.
Now here’s the catch for the Ordinary members, in cases where sponsor(s) volunteer to pick bills for the supporters club, a number of the оrdіnаrу members are chosen tо travel wіth thе others. Most times it is the active members, instrumentalists аnd human mascots that are selected.
