By Ade Ojeikere

No person’s blood is worth being spilled at match venues before relevant changes could be reflected in the domestic league. Weekly matches are marred by violence with the culprits (hoodlums, urchins, etc) made to look like spirits due to inadequate security. Referees are beaten to a pulp regularly because the league venues don’t have close circuit televisions to track the beasts. When a referee is killed, we will constitute panels to find out how it happened, who did it, why and how? Innocent souls will be arrested while the roughnecks will be walking the streets, free as air, with instructions from their principals not be seen around any stadium. Of course, the noise over the dastardly act won’t last long; it will be buried with the victim whose family will be left to bear the burden of losing their loved one.

Nothing seems to be new because these same characters run the competition yearly. Those who run the domestic game have a penchant for signing MOUs. They enjoy listening to themselves. Those with dissenting views don’t know what it takes to run the game. But this writer won’t give up until the right personnel is put in place. Rather than secure an official television station for the competition to help curb violence and carnage, the organisers watched in awe as the previous league television station stopped the contract.

A proactive league board would have accepted what the previous television sponsor offered and secured an arrangement where others could either show the games live or record them to be shown later. Sadly, some of these battered referees don’t record their ordeal in their match reports, except such scenes happen in parts of the country where the media presence can ANDoverwhelm the influence of desperate club managers, owners, and, sometimes, sports commissioners.

Must a referee be killed before we know that league venues here are death traps? Each week, strange stories of how match referees were maltreated and the culprits left to walk free litter the sports pages of national newspapers.

The centre referee who refused to continue the match involving Sunshine and Nasarawa United did the right thing. He returned the next morning to complete the game having secured adequate security from the police. These beasts at league venues harass match officials from the blast of the whistle. Referees should be given the power to call off a game. The snag is that they won’t have video evidence the back their decision.

The social media has been feasting on the video showing the fan who assaulted the referees during last weekend’s game between Katsina United and Kwara United in Katsina. Kwara United won the game, but the referees were beaten groggy. Even pictures of the man being prosecuted don’t compliment the stories of mod action resulting in the referees’ maltreatment. One person can’t injure three referees so badly. Clearly, a fall guy has been caught and his countenance in the video clips showed, especially with the way he walked out of the courtroom as if he knew he would soon be released. No remorse. Never heard of a one-man mob attack.

I won’t be surprised if the referees don’t get justice. The so-called culprit would just deny the allegation since he wasn’t caught on camera. He would easily get a lawyer to bail him and the case would ease off faster than ice cream kept under the scorching sun. Sadly, the referees are left in pain arising from bruises inflicted on them by irate fans. Unfortunately, fans are banned from attending matches as part of the Covid-19 regulations. Yet, referees are either molested or beaten to a pulp. referees are now endangered species at match venues. What a pity.

The first thing that stadia, where games are played, need urgently are effective CCTVs which can’t destroyed to cover up malpractices. Besides, any stadium that is slated to host games must build special exit gates that will make it absolutely impossible to access the referees before, during and after matches. Any harm inflicted on match referees will translate to 10

points deduction from the offender’s total. Such a defaulting club should never be allowed to play in that venue for one year.

One wonders what the organisers show to prospecting firms willing to do business with them? Would it not have been better to show them recorded programmes of the league to appreciate what they stand to gain in a partnership? Will firms be excited to associate their brands with the game when the benefits of such unions are not documented? I’m sure the organisers dare not show games where referees are battered. They also won’t show videos of crowd violence with fans running through teargas.

No fan will dare beat up a referee or cause a breach of public peace, when he knows that the game is live on television and he could easily be spotted by the law enforcement agencies.

Match officials will be empowered to interpret the rules of the game when they know that their safety is guaranteed. They also won’t want to misbehave.

We don’t have to wait until a soul is lost before we institute probe panels with robust terms of reference. Such medicine after death mechanism won’t’ resurrect the dead nor would it heal the pains of the family of the dead person. Dead men don’t talk. We need to task the league organisers to prosecute the club chairmen in the matches where referees were brutalised, no matter how little. Those who inflicted the injuries on the referees are no spirits. Club chairmen must be made to face the wrath of the law for dereliction of duty. After all, it is the clubs that bring the referees to the stadium. And it is their prerogative to take them back unhurt.

Club chairmen are culpable in this new trend of beating referees since the law forbids fans from watching matches. Fans’ angst against the referees arose from their dissatisfaction with the way they handled the particular game in question. So, club chairmen must tell us how they gained entrance into the stadium. Club chairmen must tell us the security arrangement made to curtail such excesses by irate fans.

Most of the reports of carnage from the venues have played down the functions of the match commissioners, independent assessors and, others whose duties include ensuring that all the basics of hosting games are adhered to. How did the games begin without the match commissioners knowing what to do before matters got worse? We need to know the efforts the match commissioners of problematic games made towards getting the police to provide adequate security for the referees before, during, and after the games. After, the match commissioners and referees ought to be driven into the stadium behind police escorts to show the hoodlums what to expect if they misbehaved.

No report has shown us match commissioners soaked in their pool of blood like the referees. Is it that they fled the scene to protect their lives? If no, how come they were not attacked? Referees would continue to be molested except the league organisers stop the clubs from paying match officials’ entitlements and indemnities. League organisers should today begin the process of getting the state police commands in areas where games are played to always send their best men to venues. Match officials should as matter of urgency make sure that visit the police stations to register their presence in such towns and seek adequate protection as law-abiding citizens. The police are our friends and should ensure the safety of everyone.

It would quite remarkable keeping videos of club chairmen even sports commissioners alighting from Black Maria in the company of a retinue of Correction Centre officials and moving towards the courtroom to face the tenets of the law. Not until this kind of measure is adopted would people learn to do their jobs. Club chairmen and indeed the state sports commissioners would appreciate the fact that referees are human beings, not animals ready for slaughter.

The domestic league is an apology, beginning with the sharp practices around the grounds before, during, and after matches. Nothing to stimulate the interests of the spectators to sit patiently at the stands. The essence of organising league matches isn’t for both teams to benefit from the gates takings, but to allow Nigerians watch the country’s future representatives at CAF inter-club competitions. The matches ensure that the owners of the clubs (mostly state governments) get the facilities ready for the players to battle for honours. But with visionless organisers, anything goes, even if it means playing games with empty terraces.

By Ade Ojeikere

Are you a Nigerian referee with the habit of travelling without extra cash or means of withdrawing money to tackle emergencies? Then you should read this. Referees assigned to handle a game in Enugu were held hostage by the owners of one of the hotels. The hotel’s management alleged that they were being owed colossal sums of money from doing the business of housing match referees and officials in the last two years. They threatened to lock-in the referees. Worried by their unforeseen predicament, the referees contacted a top club official in Enugu, who went there to settle the accommodation for the number of days they would spend for the game.

Did I hear you ask if the home team rescued the referees? Very intelligent question. Certainly not. This home team is on record locked out referees who handled a week one game from the hotel where they lodged. They committed this shameful act simply because they lost the game. Such a team can’t rescue anyone. This hotel in Enugu revealed that they had been owed debts in millions and would have nothing to do with the organisers’ promises going by previous experiences.

In fact, the home side, Ifeanyi Ubah FC had to send emissaries to their owner for them to honour the game against Jigawa. Ifeanyi Ubah’s owner was bitter that his club was banished to Enugu and fined N3.5 million by organisers who hadn’t given the clubs a kobo in the last three years. The owner’s angst was hinged on the fact that the organisers who have shown disdain towards the clubs, could also have the temerity to ask them to foot the bills of referees and match officials, wondering where the body thought club owners get their cash from. Indeed, the coronavirus pandemic worsened matters with the absence of fans at the stadium. Did I hear you ask if fans truly watch the games or pay to watch them? If you ask me, who would I ask?

While negotiations were ongoing to get the club owner Ifeanyi Ubah to rescind his decision of having nothing to do with the organisers, the visitors, Jigawa FC of Dutse had been in town for four days until when the game was played on Tuesday morning. Jigawa raised the alarm with the organisers, threatening to seek all avenues for redress if they didn’t provide guarantees to pay for the extra days spent in honouring the game. Sources revealed that Jigawa got the message they wanted to hear from the league organisers. It remains to be seen if the organisers would honour their promises.

While the horse-trading to get the game played was playing out itself, the referees didn’t know the magnitude of the precarious setting they had found themselves in until they tried to leave the hotel for the game’s pre-match formalities. The hotel management stopped them. They could only leave the premises when a top Enugu State FA chief came with the cash to pay for the referees’ freedom.

Having handled the morning game, the referees headed back home the same day instead of staying in the hotel to rest their limbs. Who does that in a properly structured organisation? Will you blame the match officials? This serves as a warning to referees to ask the organisers critical questions bothering on their safety and stay in cities where they are expected to handle games. The referees should also make alternative arrangements for their accommodation. Hitherto, the rules were for the match officials to report at the state FA secretariat where they have a game when they get there. It was then the duty of the host State’s FA chiefs to take their guests to the hotel and ensure their movement before, during, and after games, including their security whilst in the state.

With the huge debts as a result of lack of sponsorship packages from the corporate world, the organisers in their wisdom thought they had a partner with the clubs. Typical of most Nigerian setups, the clubs have abused the processes culminating in the series of pain caused the match officials and other anomalies that have dogged the league since it hurriedly began last year. Need I remind you, dear readers of the centre referee who had to stop the game between Sunshine and Nasarawa United FC in Akure penultimate Sunday on grounds that his life and that of his fellow officials were unsafe? He, however, returned the next morning to continue the game, having been guaranteed and he must have seen enough security personnel before he walked onto the pitch to restart the game.

”The League Management Company (LMC) ruled that Sunshine Stars are to pay N2million for the disruption of the match and for the harassment of the match officials. The Akure club is also to pay N1m (N1,000,000) from which compensation is to be paid to the match officials; and another N500,000 for misconduct capable of bringing the game to disrepute.

”Sunshine Stars have also been ordered  to play its next two home matches of Matchday 17 and 19 in Lagos and which shall be reviewed upon provision of a satisfactory stadium security plan.” Fair ruling.

We haven’t forgotten the shameful incident where the game between Ifeanyi Ubah FC and visiting Kano Pillars was taken to Port Harcourt by the organisers without prior notice to the Rivers State FA, according to the body’s boss, Christopher Green. Stories from the match hinted that one of the teams only brought out N20,000 for all the match logistics. Perhaps, only one team was informed of the new venue earlier than the other. Fix the jigsaw, please. Rivers FA as the host took charge and delivered the game without hitches. Why always Ifeanyi Ubah FC, many discerning minds may ask? Do they know how to fight for their rights? Their management’s methods may just be an infringement on the law having been pushed to the wall. Who won’t fight back?

Former Super Eagles goalkeeper Dele Aiyenugba told the media penultimate weeks how fans in Kaduna stormed the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna switched off the referee’s dressing room’ lights and rained blows and slaps on the centre referee at the interval. Aiyenugba and his colleagues were not shocked when the referee changed his style of officiating and awarded a penalty kick to Kano Pillars in their temporary home against Kwara United. Would you blame the referee? Who wants to be killed? No prize for guessing that Kwara United lost, although Aiyenugba’s comments don’t necessarily stand for the true account.

For matches where there were restrictions on the fans, how come urchins gained entrance into the stadium to such an extent that they had the guts to storm the dressing room to humiliate the referee, according to Aiyenugba’s account which may not be the whole truth to the incident. But if there was adequate television coverage with both teams filming it through their own cameras, we would have had visuals that captured the ugly scenario and the thugs made to face the wrath of the law.

The clubs were told to ensure they have at least N400 million in their respective accounts before the commencement of this season. Yet, Heartland FC of Owerri players and officials are complaining about being owed wages running into years and the owners of the club paying deaf ears to these people’s plight. What these owners of clubs forget is that these players, coaches, and backroom staff earn a living for what they do with Heartland, for instance. Not paying them their wages monthly and other entitlements as at when due, not to talk about owing them running into years ruin their lives, especially with the prevalent economic recession and the imminent threat from the Coronavirus pandemic. These people have families to take care of. Have the state governors of these debtor clubs pondered how such people can educate their kids or how they meet with their families’ responsibilities? Do these governors expect these workers to steal for those who don’t have relations to loan them monies to at least feed their kids? Today, nobody can say how much our clubs are worth. Nobody dares ask how much players earn since many cannot remember when they were last paid.

Solutions to key problems affecting the league are embedded in the body’s constitution. For instance, it is stated clearly in the rules book that no club should be registered except such a club has cleared all its debts. So, how come clubs are still owing the players and officials’ debts running in millions or should I say billions? The truth is that those who are running the league don’t have the courage to sanction the clubs who have rescued them from problems such as paying for match officials.

By Ade Ojeikere

Football is an exciting game to behold. The language is the same. The technicalities and styles differ from team to team, yet the purpose remains the same – to score goals. It behooves the coaches to pick the players who suit their patterns. What stands teams out in terms of the kind of players they have is the resources available to each of them to recruit. Otherwise, the challenges remain the same – win matches and trophies as the case may be.

Jonathan Akpoborie and Richard Owobokiri were two of the best Nigerian players scoring goals with aplomb in Europe. Both of them excelled playing for local teams before heading for Europe. Akpoborie played for Julius Berger FC of Lagos and the country’s U-17 side, Golden Eaglets which won the China 85 Cup. Owobokiri was a gazelle playing for Sharks FC of  Port-Harcourt. As stars who emerged from the domestic league, adapting to the Eagles’ pattern should have been seamless. But our national coaches cast an indulgent eye on them, preferring to use other players. Not much could have been done then to include them in the squad since the coaches were given free hand to operate. Unfortunately, the Westerhoff team did well in the case of Owobokiri – he lost out.

Of what use would it be to discuss fully what transpired between Owobokiri and Clemens Westerhof in the battle for the Eagles top nine striker’s jersey which the late Rahidi Yekini got the nod? Yekini became the king of goals in Africa and the first Nigerian to score a goal at the World Cup in the USA in 1994. This happened because there was a Sunday Oliseh who provided the long-range passes which Yekini utilised to score the goals that brought honour and glory to both the players and the country. Had Westerhof being more dynamic in his choice of players and how the team should play, Owobokiri would have been at the World Cup. And it would have given Nigeria more attacking options, especially when the Italians had incapacitated Emmanuel Amuneke and Daniel Amokachi at the Mundial in the USA. Would Westerhorff say he didn’t take half-fit players to that Mundial because they were long-time members of the team? I challenge Westerhoff to say otherwise.

The argument from some purists that those who play in the Eagles presently are selfish is weak. We have heard this excuse in the past. Who picks them? The coaches or the fans? The coaches ought to have evolved a pattern that would have compelled them to play according to the team’s tactics and game plans. After all, Westerhoff dropped Samson Siasia for deliberately refusing to pass the ball to a better positioned Yekini in one of the team’s qualification games in Cote d’ Ivoire. It could have been Nigeria’s equaliser, but we lost the game 2-1.

I recall writing a stinker in my weekly columns at Thisday newspaper on Johannes Bonfrere’s preference of Babaginda ahead of Akpoborie after the Dutchman released his list for the Atlanta ‘ 96 Olympic Games. A few of my colleagues who were also in America for the Olympics offered the argument of Babangida playing for Ajax. It was laughable because Akpoborie was king in Germany scoring goals against some of the biggest clubs in Europe. The team won the tournament but it didn’t also obliterate the fact that Akpoborie was cheated after having to pull off his coat to play in an international friendly for the side inside the National Stadium, (Sportscity) in Lagos.

Yes, Akpoborie came to the stadium to watch the game in which Togo beat Nigeria 3-1, but was persuaded by some of his big friends who accompanied him to the stadium to change from his party clothes to play for the country. Akpoborie yielded to calls from patriots like him, not minding that he had eaten a bowl of pounded yam and ogbono soup before coming t watch the game. Akpoborie was unjustly excluded when the chips were down in Atlanta. A case of the cabal at work. The paradox of the matter is that most times those invited also play in smaller leagues in Europe where Akpoborie enjoyed tremendous patronage from the Germans and pundits globally who couldn’t believe that Nigeria didn’t consider him good enough for our teams.

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Pray, there was a time when Joseph Yobo was scoring goals for the Super Eagles while our strikers developed clay feet in front of the goalposts. At that time, we had a former Golden Eaglets captain, Wilson Oruma who was painting Europe red with goals but the coach didn’t invite him. I recall asking the coach at a press conference organised by Peak Milk courtesy of Taye Ige’s Hotsports Plc, why Oruma wasn’t included in the new list. The enraged coach lost his cool and said: ” Yes, that is all the rubbish you write in your weekly columns. I read them. Let me tell you, even if the player (Wilson Oruma) was scoring goals in the moon, he won’t be part of this team. Are you a coach?” Talk about club managers’ biases, this was a classical example.

Well, critics then couldn’t do anything to change the tide since the teams were winning games and trophies, most times, though they were nerve-wrenching feats for the team’s lovers to watch. The coaches then yelled at those who dared to talk about Akpoborie or/and Owobokiri describing them as club players, not national team players. Efan Ekoku, Victor Ikpeba, Peter Ijeh suffered the same fate but it was Ikpeba who muscled his way into the team much to the consternation of the coaches who handled the Super Eagles and Dream Team 1 then. Take a bow, Ikpeba, Prince of Monaco. Coaches and officials didn’t like him but he was such a great talent on-and-off the ball.

My problem with all the national team managers has been double standards, making it imperative to ask if the managers are not employees of the NFF? If they are, there is an urgent need for the federation to make sure that team lists are subjected to serious scrutiny, otherwise, we would soon start losing stars to countries eager to give them first-team shirts. Haven’t the managers told us that they base their selection processes on those who pay regularly for their clubs? Isn’t Onuachu one of those who have excelled for his team this season? If yes, why is he being dumped on the standby list? Don’t we know what this unjust act of dropping the best striker in the Belgium league would do to Onuachu’s psyche? Wait a minute, the coaches who pick Onuachu to play for his Belgian side are Europeans. Why wouldn’t our manager pick up his phone to find out how best to deploy him in the Super Eagles?

Perhaps, this is the best time for the federation to get the Eagles manager to establish a working relationship with the body’s Technical Director, Austin Eguavoen, who incidentally is a two-time World Cup player, former coach, and captain of the team to address these discrepancies. No foreign coach would love Nigeria more than Nigerians. If one of the highest goal scorers in Europe is a Nigerian, then he should be a first choice in the Super Eagles.

The Eagles coach should be challenged to find out how best to play Onuachu, especially as the team is lacking good goal poachers. If it means changing the playing pattern of the team to accommodate him, so be it. We are tired of excuses from the manager. We cannot forever keep rebuilding the Eagles when we keep stars such as Onuachu on the waiting list. We can allow the Eagles manager to have his way for the Republic of Benin game. But, Onuachu should be allowed to play against Lesotho, more so, if we succeed to leave Porto Novo unscathed. After all, we need a point to qualify from the two matches.

Enough of the double standards. Onuachu plays regularly in Europe and should be in the team, except they are saying he has disciplinary issues which happily haven’t be raised before now.

By Ade Ojeikere

Everything is politicised in Nigeria when it comes to sports, especially the choice of coaches. Mundane parameters are advanced by different sections to justify their claims. Characters engaged in this needless exercise do so to protect interests inimical to the game. Why we refuse to adopt systems that make such an exercise simple in other climes, remain a puzzle.

We always return to our tardy past and expect to improve. Put simply, sentiments becloud our thought processes in sports hence the jerky growth of the game here.

I held back when the scene was noisy over the choice of the next Super Falcons’ manager. I consider women’s football as a novelty, especially with our poor economy. I admire the girls who play the game, knowing the unscrupulous options which they would have taken if they were to behave like those who use what they have to get what they want. Not many club owners pay their women players and I don’t blame them. I rather look at these clubs as platforms for the girls to recreate and possibly use any opening to change their fortunes.

This has been the story of the career path of many of our girls who gained international acclaim playing for Nigeria. Elsewhere, the recruitment of coaches for women’s football is hinged on growth. Countries serious about the women’s game look at the manager’s pedigree with emphasis on his feats with other teams, schools, and/or countries. So, when chieftains of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) chose Randy Waldrum as Super Falcons’ manager, I sat on my desk to interrogate his credentials. I shouted reading through his achievements. It was an exhaustive and impressive resume.

Football countries head-hunt their coaches by listing the decisive factors which such managers must have to get the job. In headhunting coaches for the job, they have a scale of preference sheets where the potential choices are arranged according to their availabilities. If they miss their first choice, they go for their second and third candidates. If they can’t get who they want from the three, they throw the bid open knowing what they want. It is always a rigorous exercise, not guesswork. They don’t cut corners.

For this writer, any good foreign manager is better than ours. Our coaches are static. They don’t improve on their knowledge. They are fixated on their thought processes. They err on the side of caution. They are not risk-takers during competitions. They hardly introduce new players. They blame everyone else but themselves but take all the glories when the team succeeds. The aforementioned are the reasons I vote for competent foreign managers, not the journeymen who traverse the African continent as we have in the male’s game.

Randy’s successful outing at the Turkey Cup competition didn’t come as surprise going by his reputation. He had issues with the federation on the timeframe of his contract. He insisted on the October 2020 commencement date, not January which the federation had written in his contract. He had his way but the Turkey Cup soccer conquest has boosted his chances of a better deal with the Falcons’ remarkable performance.

Falcons didn’t play with their most experienced player for reasons best known to the federation. Yet the team played three games, winning all of them, scored a total of 11 goals against three different teams without conceding any. By any standard, this is an excellent performance. The prize for picking a very good coach. What is left is for the federation to support Randy by implementing his plans to the letter.

Super Falcons’ 9-0 annihilation of Equatorial Guinea laid the markers for the future. Time was when Equatorial Guinea ruled the women’s game. We need to challenge the best in the world which is what the recruitment of Randy signifies. The federation has made its point by excluding Desire Oparanozie from the Turkey party. Lessons have been learned on both sides, although the federation ought to have allowed the new manager to set the grand rules for his players.

The federation’s chiefs didn’t need to explain why Oparanozie was dropped. I hope that Randy can rise above the federation’s intolerance and speak with Oparanozie about his plans for the national team and the women’s game at the domestic level. No soccer nation’s strength is measured by the number of foreign-based players in the squads. Growth is measured by the quality of new players groomed from the local area – in Nigeria’s case the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs).

New players won’t be discovered when the selectors have the mindset of recruiting from Europe. The selectors would continue to do that because they carry the can if the team fails. However, a thriving template which would regularise how the nurseries are modelled is necessary now. Those European nations where we go to get players from have nurseries that produce them. These

Europeans are challenged by our quest to snatch their products by improving on their nurseries. The beauty above developing ours (nurseries) is that both categories of players can be invited to the camp, where only the best would be picked. The experience garnered by these home-grown players when they rub shoulders with and train with these exposed ones eventually rubs on the local leagues.

These returnees from the national camp come to training wearing the country’s jerseys. Home-grown girls who were in Turkey spend time recounting their experiences which propel others to strive to be invited next time. The national team players’ attitude to work changes and their colleagues notice and copy those which appeal to them.

The new girls in the team were Patricia George, Toni Payne, and Kehinde Akinwande from  FC Robo, a Lagos-based side. There were four other homegirls namely Monday Gift, Christy Ohiearkwu, Glory Obonna Nasarawa FC’s captain Maryam Ibrahim. Randy knew George and Payne from watching them play in their university days in America. Randy met the team for the first time in Istanbul. He was very accessible and easygoing. He maintained this posture until the end of the competition. The local coaches Randy met in the camp had no problem relating with him or his style of play.

Talking about taking risks, Randy ensured that everyone in Turkey played at least a game. He threw into the trash-bin the dictum of a coach being as good as his last game. He wanted to see everyone play under match conditions, irrespective of the game’s result. The five home-based players who were in Turkey are back home to showcase their skills. They would love to introduce some of the new training methods copied from Randy. The women’s game would surely grow if the NFF emulates what the Moroccans are presently doing.

Last week, agency reports revealed that Royal Morocco Football Federation (FRMF) gave mini-buses to all the 16 clubs campaigning in the Moroccan Women’s National League. The Morocco football governing body made this known via their verified Twitter where it wrote. “The ‎@FRMFOFFICIEL offered each club in LNFF a new minibus to ensure the transport of the women’s teams in good safety conditions.” It says a lot about the North African nation’s quest to dominate the women’s game at the turn of the century, possibly.

“Our objective is to develop women’s football and spread its practice in all the regions of the kingdom,” said FRMF president Fouzi Lekjaa during the presentation of the convention.

“This is an important step to allow female talents to practice this popular sport in good conditions and to give them the opportunity to start and pursue their professional career,” he added.

Also, the new plan aims at supporting the management of clubs on the administrative and financial level through training and support provided by the Technical Directorate and the FRMF’s Department of Finance. The federation also doled out funds to support the newly registered clubs.

“Women’s football will be entitled to funding of up to $130,000 for the top flight league clubs and $86,000 for the second division to support the remuneration of players and technical staff on a monthly basis.

FRMF women’s football director and head coach of the national team, Kelly Lindsey, described this plan as a revolution that is meant to promote the female game.

“We are excited to take on the biggest challenges, especially to ensure girls and women have an equal opportunity to develop and grow within the game and to take the time to educate and empower great leaders of the female game, for now and for the future,” Lindsey said.

The convention aims to increase the number of female football practitioners to 90,000 by 2024, train 10,000 technical executives in women’s football clubs and promote the level of the National Pro Championship, Regional League Championship and Youth Championship.

I hope our federation chiefs are taking notes of what the North Africans have started. Soon their local leagues for women would be the new Mecca for female players in the continent. Soon, the influx of foreigners into their leagues would rub off on how they play. Need I say the Moroccans’ nearness to European nations would serve as the elixir for their players in seeking greener pastures in the future? What I like about the new things happening in Morocco is that they are putting figures behind what they are doing. They have also set in place timelines. The way to go, dear NFF board.

By Ade Ojeikere

What do you say about a week where buses of participating clubs get burnt on their trips to away venues? A jinxed week or a cursed week? Why not a week of fire on buses, a subtle way of exposing some pertinent issues of the league which have not been addressed, perhaps until players die in the next unfortunate incident. We only know how to react to disturbing trends after a calamity by setting up probe panels. First, it was Wikki Tourists’ bus which went up in flames. Then the story broke of Kano Pillars’ bus burning and even recently Kwara United’s bus too. None of these buses had fire extinguishers to put off the fire when it first started. Possibly, the buses were not road-worthy. No one dared to stop them with the state government plate numbers in regions the buses where they were driven from.

Whilst we were ruminating over the spate of burnt buses within days, then came the fearful occurrence of the few buses that were not caught in flames being ambushed in what looked like an armed robbery setting, but which eventually became an encounter with kidnappers. The style was the same – hold the driver hostage and then demand a ransom. The passengers in the buses were robbed of their belongings and left to their faith on the highway. In the case of Adamawa United,  the driver was taken into the bush while the bus was driven to Lagos by the accompanying mechanic. What this unpalatable revelation portrayed to discerning minds was that the Adamawa FC’s contingent embarked on that long haul trip in a problematic bus that needed a mechanic in case of the obvious facts known to them. See how our sports administrators put our sportsmen and women’s lives in jeopardy.

No prize for guessing right that the cub’s chieftains weren’t inside the bus. How Adamawa players were able to play their game against MFM inside the Agege Stadium, Lagos with the driver inside the forest in hostage still baffles this writer. It wasn’t only the male contingent’s buses that encountered the robbers. A female side going to honour a league game in Warri was attacked. The driver was taken away. The girls were robbed. Thank God they were not randy marauders otherwise they would have taken their turns with the girls. God forbid. Whereas the female incident was last week, the male’s ought to come with reactions from the organisers by way of a policy statement on such a matter.

It is true that the rule stipulates that any travelling contingent which in the course going to honour matches finds itself late in any city at 7 pm, such a team(s) should find a way of spending the night in such a town than hit the road under the guise of saving cash. If Adamawa for instance observed that rule, they may have escaped that incident. This is not to say that robberies and kidnapping don’t happen in broad daylight.

Indeed, when our leaders want to embark on a wild goose chase in a bid to ‘change’ what they perceive needs to be improved in our polity, they introduce models from other climes thinking it would fit. Our leaders are merchants of quick fixes forgetting that what operates seamlessly in other countries arose from adequate considerations being given to their peculiarities before adopting them. For instance, sports in other climes operate from the business prism by competent managers, not opportunists.

There is zero tolerance for government ownership. The government’s contributions towards sports rest with providing the enabling environment for the industry to thrive – which includes providing infrastructure, policies, and takeoff grants, if need be. It is run through communities and individuals with sufficient funding from the corporate world over time. What our leaders also don’t take into consideration before adopting models which work elsewhere is such models are time tested and necessary changes informed from what they gathered after the introduction of such an exercise make such models attractive and worthy of emulation.

In trying to remodel the local league, our organisers embarked on several trips to different European nations carrying with them their lickspittles instead of key stakeholders who would be using the models directly. The so-called knowledge acquired by those lickspittles who have no direct bearing on the operations of the league is lost, making those dropped from such trips less knowledgeable and a potential threat to the league’s operations.

To justify such jamboree trips, the organisers ensured that those foreigners came into the country to see what we how we make a mockery of league organisation here. These foreigners come here to meet a new set of people who are directly involved in the daily activities of the league but who never made the trips to their countries. They immediately know our problems but would rather allow us to take them through what they would be exposed to. It doesn’t take a second thought for them to write us off as unserious when they return to their countries. It is the reason all the trips to Europe by our organisers and their lackeys have not rubbed off on the game’s administration. Let alone its development. What we have is an arrested development setting where the undertakers have refused to vacate their positions for more knowledgeable people to take charge.

Our league organisers were in European countries (names withheld), how has that affected the Nigerian league? How much of what obtains in the European leagues do we have here? Our organisers belong to several committees in WAFU, CAF, and FIFA, what can they point at as things they have brought back home? We still have players wearing nameless shirts during matches. We still have match officials using slates with instructions written with chalks to make substitutions in the course of matches. Referees’ safety is in the hands of the clubs, yet we want the league to be attractive. How would we have a good league when most of the pitches are easily soaked in rain with other despicable, good enough for cattle grazing?

A top football man in Nigeria confronted this writer with the theory of what the league runs with, insisting that the organisers chose the English or was it the Spanish model? He wasn’t sure. It explained clearly the tardy handling of the domestic game’s administration here. This writer confronted another soccer chief to explain how the game is run here without representation on the board as we have in other climes. Our football board isn’t represented by a club owner whereas the game itself is about association football nurtured by the clubs in the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the country.

A situation where the hierarchy of the game in Nigeria meets and the clubs have no genuine representation is unacceptable. Those who threw into this mess should correct the flaw. When the contraption they forced on us started, its chairman wasn’t allowed to participate in the NFF meetings. In this dispensation, the so-called head now runs things in the federation.

One rule different interpretations. Rules are drawn at the whims and caprices of a privileged few. Little wonder the league began without the body’s congress and it doesn’t matter. What is sacrosanct is the game is being played irrespective of oddities.

On Wednesday, the Morocco FA bought buses for the women league as part of the

body’s quest to give the women’s game the fillip to reach for greater heights. Women’s soccer is like a novelty there. This gesture would open a new vista for the game since the corporate world would willingly support these clubs.

The FA’s message read: “The Royal Morocco Football Federation (FRMF) has given mini-buses to all the 16 clubs campaigning in the Morrocan Women’s National League.

“The Morocco football governing body made this known via their verified Twitter where it

wrote: “The ‎@FRMFOFFICIEL offered each club in LNFF a new minibus to ensure the transport of the women’s teams in good safety conditions.”

“The Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) announced the launch of women’s first and second division professional league in October 2020 and the maiden league will kick-off this season after signing a new convention with the National Women’s League to take women’s football to a new level.”

Unfortunately, Nigeria’s elite league that has produced world stars still has its clubs driven in buses that go up in flames due to mechanical issues arising from poor maintenance. But FA has seen the need for the women to be driven in brand new buses not the risky ones or should I say death-traps our players ride on the highways.

Would our league organisers change? My joy is that they are reading. It is the beginning of the desired change from a ‘rotten’ past. Let’s pray.

By Ade Ojeikere

Whenever a player falls on the field in a soccer game in Europe, the response rate of the medics is breath-taking with no room for guesswork. All the apparatuses needed for the fallen star are with the nearest medical person including oxygen. When the situation looks critical, the player is given enough space by bystanders while those whose duty it is to restore the player’s life take charge.

Evacuation of the player from the pitch is always dignifying with the ambulances driven close to the point where the player can be taken. It must be stated all the ambulances are fitted with state-of-art facilities which would improve the conditions of the players before getting to the hospital or theatres if that where he needs to be taken to. The first aid the players get on the pitch sets the stage for how successful the exercise would be. If such a player requires oxygen, it is fitted right there on the pitch.

No player or should I say teammate accompanies such colleague out of the pitch. The injured is wheeled into the ambulance and driven away. Not so in Nigeria. The crowd around the fallen player is enough to suffocate him. the methods of reviving him are laughable. When those around the injured player are not fanning with dingy jerseys, they are pouring sachet of pure water on him while some others are pressing the player’s chest for someone gasping for breath.

Evacuating the patient inside the ambulance from the stadium isn’t a guesswork thing. As soon as the situation occurred inside the stadium, the medical crew which provided first aid for the patient opened a line of communication between them and the designated hospital. Doctors and nurses in the hospital have been debriefed about all that transpired during the first aid sessions. This synergy between the two medic crews helps those in the hospital to commencement work to save the patient (player). This helps to reduce the mortality rates from such incidents at the stadia.

What it clearly shows is that the league organisers and the designated hospitals have a business understanding to attend to all medical cases arising from incidents at the stadia. This agreement isn’t hinged on verbal talks. All the parties in the agreement sit to jaw-jaw, with everyone coming to the negotiation tables with their terms and objections. The differences arising from the discussions are addressed before a binding document is signed. This working document makes defaulters liable in terms of breaches. No half measures. Those selected came from transparent bidding processes among renowned hospitals in the country.

With such an arrangement, the patient doesn’t get to the hospital and is confronted with the cheap talk of money to commencement treatment. No idiotic suggestions of lack of oxygen, no light, etc. The patient is wheel into the theatre if that is what he or she needs immediately. Surgery is done, photographs of the patient on his or her beds are awash on the internet with get well messages from around the world for such a patient. No ceremonies and no tales of the unexpected having met all the conditions enshrine in the club licensing book. How many clubs in Nigeria can meet all the conditions of club licensing? We can with the right people running our league. But we won’t because we think it is the Nigerian way to subvert all that is good in the country. Simply, nothing good works in Nigeria.

Sometime last year, a player (name withheld because the matter is in court) died on the pitch with pictures of the timid manner in which they tried to revive him. We saw one man pressing the player who was gasping for breath on his chest. We saw others fanning him with their stinking shirts soaked with sweat from the game. While another helper tried to force a spoon through his mouth. Not forgetting those who wasted sachets of pure water on the dying player. All these efforts were futile since those who sought to save the player’s life were not taught the rudiments of such an act – which is essentially first aid.

The player may have died because the ambulance at the stadium, which was meant to carry him to the hospital had a malfunctioning battery. The ambulance had to be pushed around for it to start. No dice. The player was eventually taken to the hospital in the ambulance of the state governor’s convoy. Help came late, pity.

Did the league organisers learn anything from the death of the player being discussed above?  No. After all, they showcased all the pictures from venues with club proprietors, match referees, and commissioner(s) standing beside ambulances to show them that they were compliant only after a player died. Last weekend, another player who plays for Adamawa slumped, according to one account, and was taken away in an ambulance.  This account showed the player with two of his mates sitting inside the ambulance, which many claimed was a Danfo bus converted into an emergency ambulance.  I don’t want to believe this account. What the ambulance showed was the player lying down with his mates looking over him as the bus drove off. The bonnet of the Danfo was flung open. I hope that wasn’t the be way it went to the hospital, that is if it did eventually.

Shocked? Don’t be. The players would have forced their way into the bus to ensure nothing goes wrong. Would you blame them? No. Indeed, an account from the man who ought to be the chairman of Adamawa FC stated that the club has no doctor. Can you bet that? He stated further that the team had two nurses. This writer cringed as h spoke wondering what the conditions of the club licensing are if it doesn’t contain such a sensitive and critical aspect of the game – players’ medical conditions. The account from one of the top organisers stressed that the players slumped after the game but walked away of his volition after standing on his feet. I immediately remembered how the late Tunde Charity Ikhidero died.

If a player slumps as a result of exhaustion, should he be taken to the hospital for further medical cross-examinations instead of allowing walk home untreated? Could it be that the ambulance wasn’t there or that the driver couldn’t be located? If the player remained on the pitch, before slumping, it meant that he was struggling with some health issues and needed to be helped not left to rise to his feet unaided. What were his club officials doing? If they watched in awe, then it confirmed the chairman’s revelation that Adamawa FC has no club doctor. A state government-owned club? Haba Adamawa State governor! What does it take to deploy a doctor from the state-owned hospital to accompany the team to is matches or assign a doctor to the team? If we can’t get the organisers to provide adequate first aid attention for players in a game that involves physical contacts, how do they want us to trust them with the Covid-19 regulations?

Facets of the league’s organogram work in other climes because of the existing business frameworks which defines who gets what and who doesn’t for proper accountability. There are no jobs for the boys. Recruitment into key positions of the leagues is strategic and duly run by professionals with rich business resume acquired over time. Rather than address the issue of telling us which hospitals in the six geo-political zones in the country that they are partners with, the media is awash with the so-called television coverage on our telephone sets. Can a fan watch the match on his or her handsets travelling through the Lagos to Benin City highways? No way. Established radio stations and television stations can’t bet on that. Of what use is it then? Should we not know the official hospitals for the league? Or have the organisers left this critical task to club owners who owe their players, coaches, and officials their wages running into years?

What those celebrating the so-called television coverage don’t understand  that is the fans prefer to watch the matches live at the stadia or in viewing centres where they try to recreate the stadium setting than to sit alone like the selfish Chief Executives who always see things from the myopic prisms not from the world view.