Once upon a glorious past

I have always believed that one of the ways of studying the psychology of a people is by watching the way they play football. The Brazilian display of beautiful football is an expression of the Brazilian love of entertainment. German football showcases the methodical efficiency of a well-designed machine. Nigerian football is generally physical and disorganized. Does that not say something about widespread allergy for order in our country? 

Indices abound of the dilapidated condition of the game and administration of football in this country. For a start, we do not have a well-organized league. Our stadia are for the most part badly constructed and rarely maintained despite the huge amount of money used in constructing them. We are not even judged worthy of hosting the Under-17 World Cup. All the venues should have been ready since last January. But six months later, that is not the case. Then you talk of the Super Eagles. Serious minded professional footballers do not approach the game the way our players do. And, despite holding the Tunisians to a goalless draw in Tunis, there is no assurance that Nigeria will be in South Africa come 2010. So, each time I see the MTN advertisement saying: “We can’t wait”, I hear a voice saying to me: “We can’t go.” The rot in Nigerian football is a symptom of the rot in our life as a country.

 On December 4, 1973, the National Stadium in Lagos was opened by then military ruler, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, with a match between Nigeria and Mali. The match ended 3-0 in favour of Nigeria. Yakubu Mambo, wearing the no. 10 jersey for Nigeria, holds the record of being the first player to score a goal in that stadium. 

 The National Stadium was built to host the 2^nd All-Africa Games from January 7-21, 1973. It was a beautiful stadium, said to be the most beautiful in Africa at the time. Nigeria not only built a magnificent stadium for the Lagos games, she built a solid soccer team. Events at the games were broadcast live on radio and television by the then Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria. Still ringing in my ears is the voice of Ishola Folorunsho, reading the line-up of then Green Eagles, as the national team was called between 1960 and 1988, when Augustus Aikhomu renamed the team after emerging runners-up in the 1988 Africa Cup of Nations. With impeccable diction and well chosen adjectives, he said something like this: “The Eagles are on the field of play. Eyo Essien is in goal, right full-back Anthony Igwe, left-full back Sylvester Egborge, right-half back Sanni Mohammed, centre-half back Dominic Ezeani, left-full back and captain of the side Victor Oduah, outside right Sunday Oyarekhua, inside right Kenneth Olayombo, centre forward Haruna Ilerika, inside left Yakubu Mambo, and outside left Josiah Dombraye.” 

Those were the regulars on the team that beat Ghana 4-2 in the opening match, and Guinea 2-0 in the final, to win the soccer goal. I still recall the picture on the front page of the Daily Times the day after the final match and closing ceremonies: Tony Igwe, one of the best defenders Nigeria has ever had, carrying his little girl on his hip and showing her the gold medal.

 A beautiful National Stadium, nicknamed Sportscity, hosting Africa’s version of the Olympic Games, a highly efficient outside broadcast unit, a team of sports commentators led with distinction by Ishola Folorunsho, a formidable contingent of Nigerian sportsmen and women, and, the icing on the cake, a national soccer team we were proud of—add all these, and you had a glorious display of the potential greatness of Nigeria. Today, all that is gone. 

As a matter of fact, Nigeria’s dominance of soccer in Africa lasted only a few days. After winning the soccer gold on January 21, 1973, on February 10, 1973, the Green Eagles lost 3-2 to Ghana right inside the same National Stadium. That led to the elimination of Nigeria from the race to go to the 1974 World Cup finals in Germany. A riot broke out after the match. The bus conveying the Ghanaian players was burnt. All that led to the world governing body of football, FIFA, sanctioning Nigeria. Later in the same year, Nigeria was beaten 5-1 by Zambia in Lusaka. The players promised to write off the goal deficit in Lagos. I believed. I accompanied a cousin to the stadium to watch the second leg which Nigeria won 3-2. But that was not enough to write off the deficit. Hence, Nigeria could not play in the Nations Cup of 1974. Despite that disappointment, I cannot forget the beautiful pitch, the sparkling tracks, the electronic scoreboard that displayed the line-up of the two teams, the terraces, the vociferous crowd, etc.

Today, that beautiful National Stadium is all but gone. Sometime in 2002, on a flight from Lagos to Port Harcourt, I could catch a glimpse of what was left of the stadium. The pitch looked like a patch of desert in the midst of a residential neighbourhood. The stadium that hosted our national team for so many years, the stadium in which Nigeria hosted and won the Africa Cup of Nations in 1980, the stadium in which Pope John Paul II said Mass when he arrived Nigeria on February 12, 1982 has become a hideout for criminals, a habitat for rodents, a junkyard and an eyesore.

Today, we no longer hear live description of soccer matches on our radio stations. Ishola Folorunsho is dead, Ernest Okonkwo preceded him, Yinka Craig followed them. Tolu Fatoyinbo, the golden voice of Ibadan radio, has moved on to other things. Sebastian Offurum, Kevin Ejiofor, these were the great sports commentators of those days. You can’t compare any of the commentators of today to any of these. What passes as sports commentary before, during and after soccer matches is a disgrace. Do you want to talk of the use or abuse of English language? Do you want to consider knowledge of the game or familiarity with the history and pedigree of the footballers? Use any of these criteria and our Nigerian sports commentators of today will fail woefully. What happened to the vans of the outside broadcast unit of the then NBC and now FRCN. It used to be that on Saturday afternoons you could follow minute by minute description of football matches. Now Radio Nigeria hooks up to the BBC to broadcast matches of the English Premier League.

A lot more to lament. This country once had a highly entertaining and competitive national league and Challenge Cup. These two were brought into our sitting rooms through live radio and television commentaries. We had heroes of our football. My generation knew goalkeepers like Peter Fregene, Eyo Essien, Emmanuel Okala, high quality defenders like Tony Igwe, whom I have mentioned, Godwin Odiye, my senior at St. Paul’s Primary School Ebute Metta, and at St. Finbarr’s College, Akoka, Chairman Christian Chukwu,  Muda Lawal the midfield movtivator, etc. The Dire Dawa Green Eagles of the 1976 Nations Cup had Samuel Ojebode, Kunle Awesu, Thompson Usiyen, Baba Otu Mohammed, to mention but these. They won the bronze medal then, but prepared the way for the cup-winning class of 1980 which included Mathematical Segun Odegbami, Felix Owolabi, Adokiye Amaesimaka, to mention but these.

Today, our children are watching the English Premier League with religious devotion because we cannot even organize a soccer league in this country. They can write you biographies of players and coaches on the Spanish Liga while they pay no attention to what we call Nigeria Premier League. A country that once boasted of Shooting Stars, Enugu Rangers, Mighty Jets of Jos, Benin Vipers has now become a country whose youngsters are killing each other over Manchester United, Arsenal, Barcelona, Chelsea etc. A country that hosted the Under-20 World Cup in 1999 has not been found ready to host the Under-17 World Cup. And even if we were to train a new crop of sports commentators, we would have no electricity to watch or listen to the broadcast. Nigerians go to business centres to watch matches of the European leagues, thanks to the use of “I better pass my neighbor”. We have become a nation without class, without taste, without art, without order, without shame. We have become a nation where those who ought to be involved in the serious business of governance go to shrines, strip themselves naked and swear to whatever they worship. We once had a glorious past, now we have miserable present, and the future is bleak. To go back to my thesis, the rot in our football is one of the most glaring indices of the rot in our life as a nation.

Post scriptum. The above was written in June, shortly after Nigeria played a goaless draw with Tunisia in Rades. It is being posted minutes after Nigeria played Tunisia in Abuja, going ahead twice and allowing Tunisia to equalize twice. Tired legs don't go to the World Cup. The current national team has no business in South Africa 2010.

Anthony Akinwale

Robot  # 1 | 07.09.2009 02:35

...Read the full article.

Tony Ishiekwene  # 2 | 07.09.2009 07:07

Everything in Nigeria is now going belly-up! We went to Berlin with our Athletes as mere spectators watching the Jamaicans and other tiny populated Caribbean islands cart away medals and world records in both their male and female contingents. Don't blame the SE players in their lacklustre performance against Tunisia in Abuja yesterday. Blame the NFF and the coach. Most of the players ply their trade in Europe whose football season just resumed about two weeks ago. So since May most of these players had been on holiday and very rusty. A friendly game was scheduled to be played in August against a north African country, Egypt, Morocco or Algeria, but ineptitude and probably corruption made Coach Amodu and the NFF to say that march was not necessary. Tunisia played a friendly with Ivory Coast to prepare them for the march against Nigeria, but Nigeria was adamant. So the march in Abuja is the first competitive football our Eagles player are playing after nearly 3 months of inactivity, and you expect them to beat a well prepared, disciplined and die-hard team like the Tunisians. shame! Nigeria should just forget about 2010 world cup. We do not deserve to be there. The only person I feel for there is Osaze Odemwingie who gave sweat and blood for a clueless, directionless Nigeria, as he may not go to any world cup despite his commitment over the years.

mathelize  # 3 | 07.09.2009 12:13

Nice one egbon!

Anioma777  # 4 | 10.09.2009 06:24

Nice short and precise state of our beloved Nigeria. I am at an all time low with regards to Nigeria....only God knows if I will recover from this and all the other non-related football madness that we get served up on a daily basis about Nigeria. Sometimes I wish I could somehow forget and lose my love for Nigeria and Nigerians, to give me peace of mind. As a fellow villager said, I feel sorry for Osaze, he always gives 100% and has a sense of purpose!!!! As I write this I feel like crying....no I lie I am crying.....I feel like a lost soul just wondering the earth, knowing where my home is but not knowing where its headed.

Abraxas  # 5 | 10.09.2009 07:38

Many thanks for this post. We may at the end of the day "wobbled and fumbled" to South Africa but will we pass through the group stages? Everything about us is doomed. May God, one day, give us men and women who will make the difference. GOD BLESS NIGERIA.