Ade Ojeikere
HONESTLY, I feel very sad that Nasarawa FC’s defender, Chineme Martins’ life was wasted due to a body’s refusal to do the right things at the appropriate time. My pain deepened with last weekend’s theatrics at league venues, where our league organisers and their superiors insulted our sensibilities with checks on the medical provisions at venues before games were played. It had taken the death of a player for us to implement a rule that wasn’t alien to us. Pity.
The foolery by the league organisers around the league centres underscored the need for a complete overhaul of how the game is being administered here. Officials’ personal intervention on seeing functional ambulances tells the story of a society which acts only after a calamity. Our administrators attend and officiate in international matches, yet it took Martins’ death to remember what they were taught at FIFA and CAF. All the new craze to meet the medical needs of players looks like a smokescreen to cover up the failure of those officials in Nasarawa.
I read of a stadium which had two ambulances for players. We have forgotten the fans. We would remember them when another one or two of them die from shock after an unexpected goal against his team. Nobody is asking how equipped our stadia are to handle large emergencies. Do our stadia have well equipped medical centres or sick bays for spectators? How many ambulances do we need to handle crisis arising from stampedes at match venues?
It is one thing to have these ambulances at match venues. What is more important would be the quality of trained medical personnel who accompany the ambulances. Let’s have people with bigger vision run our football. Can we sustain this compliance which has been triggered by Martins’ death?
Any stadium in Europe has medical equipment which could compete with what you have in first class hospitals, with staff of the same quality, not auxiliary medical attendants. The league organisers ought to have an official medical facility for those in the game, preferably one owned by the state or federal government.
Simply put, our stadia lack the capacity to handle emergencies. The number of exits at these stadia are not enough and so narrow such that it takes close to 40 minutes to empty any stadium in the country. The way the exits are built gives room for stampede if an emergency occurs. The ease with which fans crowd the pitches after matches endanger the lives of players and referees. Need I waste space to recall all the cases where referees and assistants were beaten groggy across the nation?
The Nasarawa State Governor captured the essence of having top quality medical facility for the club, albeit ironically. He releases his ambulance during matches, yet he was at the stadium where Martins slumped and died, with no report of the governor’s ambulance taking the dead to the hospital. Accounts talked about using the press corps bus to convey martins to hospital. Mr governor, what does it take to buy several ambulances fitted with gadgets found inside yours?
Indeed, I have waited with bated breath, to read the insurance packages Martins’ kids, wife and relatives would benefit from after his death. No insurance firm has spoken about having any deal with the league organisers, where Martins’ benefits are made public, considering the manner in which he died. Organisers who cannot package life insurance schemes for people whose business demands physical contact and rigour, should resign honourably.
It is very disturbing that it had taken this avoidable death for the league body and Martins’ club to commence talks on his life insurance. Is this how affairs are conducted elsewhere? How can both bodies be holding talks rather than ask their insurance companies to defend their territory by telling us how much Martins’ death would fetch in benefits for his family. Martins’ autopsy though needed, would not be a reason for talks to commence or not.
I almost had a seizure watching Channels television, where an official of the league organisers admitted flaws in the administration of dope tests for players. Yet, this fellow attends CAF and FIFA matches where such details are not toyed with. In fact, the first news after games are played is the announcement of the names of players taken for routine dope tests on both sides, even though the results are made public days after.
According to him: “We have been having conversations around that (anti- doping),our rules and regulations are very clear concerning illicit drugs. there are some players we have had to deal with at the club level without coming public, but now, we are going to intensify checks.”
“Part of what we are going to do is to introduce the spot check, like once in a while, we will send the doctors to clubs to test all the players, they will also pick any player at random at match venues and test the player.
“Before the season starts, each player normally goes through drug test and if they use drugs, it will be detected. But we have not seen that in most of the medical records we have with us, because when they know that they are going for that pre-season medical check, if someone is on drugs, he might refrain from using the drugs until after the test. But the spot checks will put everybody on their toes because they don’t know when and how they would be brought out for the test, so, that could control it.’’
My problem with our administrators is that they are hasty to make sweeping comparisons despite their exposure to what is right. A fellow who officiates at international matches does not have to offer reasons for not replicating what obtains at international level. Yet, he prides himself on managing the domestic game here.
According to the fellow: “Drug problem is not just NPFL problem, it is a societal problem and anyone earning what the players earn can go into drugs. So, we will keep educating them to desist from it,’’ he added.
Hmmm! Another one from a Nigerian administrator who blames everyone else but himself. What is the way forward sir? Not stated. So, it is business as usual. Sir, things cannot continue like this. Something must give.
Perhaps, the panel to probe what transpired in the game where Martins died could include other flaws in the league such as how fans are evacuated from venues after big games. Match venues should be rid of all manner of weapons, bricks, stones etc around the premises, which become missiles during troubled times.
The medical structures that should be put in place by all the clubs in the NPFL should stand the test of time and not the charade we all saw last weekend where the match commissioners appeared to be taking selfies inside some of the ambulances parked at match venues.
Everything about the domestic league smacks of death traps beginning with the way fans are hounded into and out of the stadia across the country. The chaotic settings around the gates scare fans away from coming to watch games with their families. Rather than allow professionals man the gates such that they become revenue outlets to the clubs, their management choose to assign urchins to man them. These touts wreak havoc on visiting teams and those who they perceive as foes to their clubs. not many would tell you their experiences at match venues? I expect the probe panel to proffer solutions to stem the tide of this ungodly acts.
Another aspect of the league which the panel should address, is the swiftness with which home fans pounce on ‘uncooperative’ match referees is disturbing. Sadly, no one has been sanctioned or jailed, making them look like spirits, which they are not.
Dear probe panel members, could you please include in your report a rule which forbids clubs from endangering players’, officials’ and drivers’ lives travelling late at night? Are we waiting for another player and/or official to be shot dead by bandits before constituting another probe panel to investigate such mishap? No club should be on the road with its players and officials anything after 6pm. Those who flout these rules should be charged to court, if robbers strike or kill anyone.
No player, official or driver should be sacrificed on the altar of honouring matches.
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