By Ade Ojeikere
The domestic league is lying prostrate in the sun waiting for its funeral. Doctors are reluctant in declaring it clinically dead because they feel some form of miracle is possible to change the evidently unpleasant sight of the decapitated industry. Sadly, those who took the league through this unenviable path have refused to throw in the towel, preferring to make promises which are dead on arrival.
One of such morbid proposals is the better forgotten tale of Nigerians following the local game on their mobile handsets. Laughable because it would be easier for the Carmel to pass through the eye of the needle than for Nigerians to benefit from this white elephant project. It didn’t come as a surprise when those who celebrated this hopeless proposal with pomp and ceremony sat before the cameras to explain why a failed project should be allowed to die. Pity. We don’t resign here. So, such clowns will continue to insult our sensibilities.
The biggest fillip the domestic league needs to grow is for those running its affairs to quit today. Most of them have been hovering around the local leagues since over two decades. If the project has moved forward, they ought to be removed since they have compromised the system which in other climes would have passed a vote of no confidence on the organisers. Should we sit aloof and watch them kill our joy of using the domestic league as the pivot to throw up new stars to the world? Something must give and it should start now.
Interestingly, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Chairman of the Bauchi State Football Association, Patrick Pascal decried the poor standard of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).
“For me the structure and set up of our league needs to change. The private sector and companies need to come in and run the clubs more professionally and make a profit. “ Today most clubs owned by state governments are being run like a charity organisation, we cannot continue like this,” he said.
“We need to make sure our best players in the league are not travelling abroad after every season due to poor remuneration.” I can tell you some of our players are suffering abroad, some are even scouting because of bad contracts, so instead of going out in a hurry, make sure you play well here before making any move.”
Good talk Pascal, a former Nigeria international, a star performer in the domestic league of yore. But the organisers keep deluding themselves with sponsored media reports that the game here has improved.
The truth is that Nigeria cannot parade a team of 25 players playing in the domestic league to confront Sierra Leone, with due respect to the sovereign nation, which ranked over 200 steps behind Nigeria in FIFA ranking. What this disturbing news translates to is that our league is worse than what operates in Sierra Leone. We are due to confront the visitors in a two-legged tie spanning a period of 10 days, with our armada of foreign-based players. And nobody sees anything wrong with this setting. Rather, they would quickly tell you that we don’t want to toy with our qualification chances to the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations. Against Sierra Leone? No, gentlemen ruining (oh sorry running) our football, No!
We should easily assemble a home-grown Eagles to beat Sierra Leone anywhere in the country. inviting 25 players from Europe for such a game is wasteful and underlines the level of rot in the domestic game. I won’t join the motley crowd to blame NFF. The separation of the league from the federation was to ensure that they had the liberty to do things to improve the game. No surprise that the league can’t produce good players with the poor state of the pitches. How can the domestic players perform when the clubs cannot be bothered if they have been paid their monthly wages. No player can give his best on empty stomachs. Little wonder the few who have the opportunity to play for the country depart in droves to all manner of leagues in Europe, America and the Diaspora.
What our league organisers don’t understand is that Nigerians love our sports ambassadors, they would do anything to watch them live. They are prepared to risk their lives to meander through the crowd to take pictures with our stars. Need I recall how the late Rashidi Yekini ignited the league venues with his presence after retiring from European football and playing for Nigeria? Yekini played for defunct Julius Berger FC of Lagos and Gateway FC of Abeokuta. Daniel Amokachi, who played for Nasarawa United FC replicated the Yekini crowd upsurge when he returned to the domestic game. Clubs benefitted immensely in those fixtures Yekini and Amokachi featured.
With the evident failure of leadership at the league level, the country is forced to rely absolutely on foreign-based players who we pay $5,000 each. If you multiply $5,000 each for 25 players over two matches, then you would appreciate why those who run the game here should cover their eyes in shame. Simple arithmetic tells us that we would pay our players $500,000 for winning bonuses. The pain is that we would fly our players into the country twice, no matter how close the fixtures are. What it means is that we would pay flight return tickets for 25 foreign-based players twice – first for the home game in Asaba inside the Stephen Keshi Stadium and the away game in Freetown.
This writer has not computed what we would spend on hotels in Asaba and Freetown. I have also not factored daily allowances for the players, coaches, assistants and backroom staff. Let’s also not try to add what the chief coach gets, his three assistants, backroom staff and other ancillary staff. Little wonder NFF is always broke. How won’t they when we spend close to N600 million to prosecute a home game against Sierra Leone in this instance.
Did I hear say N600 million for a game? Yes. All payments with foreign-based stars are done in hard currencies. Let’s forget that the team would fly aboard charter flight from Asaba, where the first leg would be played to Freetown. Since Asaba isn’t an international airport, the players would be refunded their cash for flying from Lagos to Asaba and back on their way out of the country.
Sadly, Gernot Rohr isn’t ready for any gamble on home-based players. He understands that a coach is as good as his last game. for Rohr, only the best is good for Nigeria. for Rohr, Nigeria’s best players are in Europe. He will remain in France and monitor our best. It is so bad that Rohr is thinking of luring Odion Ighalo out of retirement. What a country.
Read Rohr: “Yes on Odion Ighalo I have been in constant touch with him. Everybody is happy about his new challenge to play for Manchester United. Let him play. Let him find this good spirit with the Manchester United team and his presence there then we will see.
“But it will be too early for him to play for us (Super Eagles) or to invite him for the Sierra Leone game in March even if he wants to play for us. We want to watch first what he is doing (for Manchester United)”, Rohr told SPORTINGLIFE from his base in France on Friday.
Rohr also hinted at the possibility of inviting two or three new players to join the Eagles when he eventually release his team list for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations’ qualifying matches against Sierra Leone early days of next month.
The Franco-German football tactician who was coy in revealing the names of the new players couldn’t reject outrightly the possibility of the new t players making the team list for the Sierra Leone match.
“To invite new players depend on some conditions. I will travel to see some of them in their clubs in Europe this month and speak with them to see if they are truly and really in the right spirit to join us.
“We cannot force them to come. If they are willing and very serious to play for the Eagles then we will warmly welcome them. The good thing is that some of them are playing for good teams in Europe and they are in very good shape.
“I hope that perhaps one or two new players will eventually come and join us. We have quality players already but the ones coming newly must be better than the ones we have already have here with us”, Rohr told SPORTINGLIFE in an exclusive chat.
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