Ordinarily, the game between Nigeria and Malawi in Calabar ought to be the lead discussion in this column today. Not so. Malawi are minnows in global football. And if Nigeria wants to be counted as a soccer nation, matches against countries such as Malawi should be a piece of cake, irrespective of the squad (Europe-based or home-based) that we parade.
It is on this premise that I want to assume that Nigeria will whip Malawi silly, given the pedigree of our players in Europe and the Diaspora. Super Eagles players should bash the Malawians groggy with goals, if they must assert themselves as African champions.
The Eagles must stop the Malawians from the blast of the referee’s whistle. An avalanche of goals will suffice to warn any country wishing to be our next foes in the last stage of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers to surrender as soon as the draws are made next week.
A convincing victory will silence their loquacious coach. Tom Saintfiet has stirred the hornet’s nest with his mind games. Saintfiet’s antics have captured a casualty in Stephen Keshi, who must prepare soon his defence for Zurich, Switzerland at FIFA’s headquarters.
But I’m sure that Keshi won’t need to visit FIFA’s headquarters, if the Eagles beat the Malawians silly today. If that happens, we can seize the friendly atmosphere at the post-match conference to get Keshi to apologise to Saintfiet.
After Keshi’s post-match apology, we should get Saintfiet to assure the international media that he won’t press for further sanctions against Keshi, in the interest of peace.
If I were a photographer, my first shot would be Saintfiet’s reaction, when he meets with Keshi inside the UJ Esuene Stadium in Calabar. I urge Keshi to swallow his pride and walk up to the Belgian to apologise. No one should sacrifice Keshi on the altar of neutrality. Keshi is our best and must reap the fruits of his labour by directing the Eagles’ affairs from the sidelines, if we eventually qualify for the 2014 World Cup slated to hold in Brazil.
The Big Boss shouldn’t listen to those who think that there is nothing FIFA can do. I’m not interested in what FIFA can do or not. My concern is for the good of the Nigerian game since our young boys need the national teams to blossom under a coach, which is what Keshi has shown us with his feats since November 2012 when he was employed.
I’m sure Keshi would have been told by his employers NFF that they have received FIFA’s letter on the issue. Saintfiet is a gentleman. His grouse with Nigeria rests with the uncanny manner in which he lost the country’s technical director job. But he knows that cannot be the end for him with Nigeria.
In the event that Keshi sticks to his gun, the NFF must seize the platform of the post-match dinner that the Cross River state governor is to organise to get Saintfiet and Keshi to talk the brouhaha over. That post-match party could also be used to compel Keshi to mend fences with Saintfiet in conjunction with the Malawi FA chiefs.
Keshi must lead us to the 2014 World Cup. We need to keep Keshi busy through refresher courses or allow him to understudy any foreign coach whose style of play he wants to adopt for the Eagles.
There will always be a lacuna in our preparations for the next stage of the qualifiers. I won’t be surprised if Keshi tells us after the game that he wants to head for California for a deserved rest. He would be granted but when he goes, there won’t be a plan until we draw a big country such as Cameroon as our next foes.
A calculated plan must be instituted to get Keshi fully prepared for the 2014 World Cup. Our players have shown capacity to compete and excel over other nationals. What we should do is to make sure that our coach enjoys this advantage by ensuring he is not idle at any point leading to the World Cup matches in Brazil. Good luck Keshi, good luck Super Eagles. Up Nigeria!
No Gaiya no!
House of Representatives Chairman on Sports Godfrey Gaiya wants the industry to grow, albeit through improving the welfare of the athletes.
He has lofty ideas for the industry but what he lacks is the will power to push through these ideas such that cash to implement his thoughts are released to athletes. Gaiya has this tendency of playing to the gallery. There is nothing wrong with that, if he can back his claims with facts.
Gaiya wants to rock the boat again by stating that the NFF must pay the players $10,000 to beat Malawi. I hope he knows that the Malawians would be paid $500 if they beat Nigeria. Ordinarily, it wouldn’t cost the Malawians to promise their players $10,000, knowing that such a feat won’t happen. The Malawians haven’t done that because they don’t have the cash to back such outlandish promises.
This is the point that Gaiya must understand, beyond playing the nice guy that he wants the players to perceive him. NFF is cash strapped. I don’t know of any legislation by Gaiya and his co-travellers in the National Assembly to encourage the government to provide waivers for firms that support sports.
Even if there is, Gaiya needs to focus his attention on ensuring that such novel ideas are implemented. In other climes, efforts would have been made by the Gaiya-led body to visit firms to support sports.
Visits by such policy making unit will instill confidence in the corporate world to identify with sports. I would have been excited if Gaiya had told us that his committee has gotten a firm to pay more than $10,000 per player without recourse to government cash.
Gaiya must learn to be a team player. Smacking the NFF or deriding our sports administrators raises the question of the role of his committee in prospecting for sports at the National Assembly.
Good riddance!
Change produces new ideas. But when changes don’t bring some freshness, the smart way forward is to discard such innovations.
The biggest news from the National Sports Commission (NSC) is the scrapping of an ill-informed concessioning of some sports. I deliberately retained the headline – “concession my foot” because the last time I wrote on this issue with the headline, I was called names. Rather than look at my suggestions, I was maligned by those who introduced it.
The truth is for any sport to be considered for the concession plan, it has to be popular and have a large followership. No sponsor will splash cash on a sport that has few followers. Any attempt to bankroll a sport with empty stands amounts to winking in the dark.
One thing about the Bolaji Abdullahi-led NSC is that it doesn’t shirk from taking key decisions. He could also find a way round the concession theory. Perhaps, the NSC needs to shop for technocrats with the pedigree of revamping moribund companies to run some of the designated sports.
In asking for those sports to be concessioned, what the eggheads at the National Sports Commission (NSC) ought to have done was to visit those firms that bankrolled those games to return. They should have guaranteed those firms some tax waivers. They should also have allowed the firms’ nominees to run the show themselves since the general reason why they pulled out was because there wasn’t proper accountability of the cash pumped into such federations.
Chief Molade Okoya-Thomas has singlehandedly bankrolled a table tennis competition for over 43 years. Sponsors fell over one another in the golden era of the game.
The mood in the sports hall was always electrifying, with the spectators cheering ceaselessly, as players exhibited their skills. No sponsor would stop exploiting such platforms especially, if their goods are the consumables. The feel good setting that comes with watching the fans sip from sponsors’ products on television is unquantifiable.
It must be stated here too that our sports didn’t lack sponsorship in the past. The administrators of yore were honest. They spent the cash on what it was earmarked for. They organised competitions that compelled sponsors to advertise their products. They accounted for the cash spent and introduced innovations that made the events exciting.
Adequate funding will come when federations’ boards are made up of credible people. The presence of men and women of integrity in these boards will restore confidence on those who want to commit cash to such sports.
Good leadership is infectious. It propels all other components of the sport to always produce their best. It elicits discipline within the rank and file of such federations. It reduces suspicion among members, athletes and coaches because they trust their leaders.
