It is Christmas; plenty to eat and drink. A lot of visitors stream into the house to share in the Yelutide tidings. I almost didn’t want to write this column. It is always written on Thursdays, which meant doing this piece was on Christmas Day. What would I be telling readers of this column? So, let me start by wishing them all a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year, devoid of bombings and other insane acts.
Back from church, kids jumping all over you and your wife’s frowning face eager to be told that you won’t be at work on Christmas Day, even if it is Thursday, it was almost like climbing a slippery pole as I punched the computer keys to fulfill all righteousness to my dear readers. Let me confess that I sneaked out of the house on such days. I was always prepared for the backlash whenever I returned home late. It was not always a pleasant sight but I knew that such sulky faces from those at home wouldn’t last long.
Penultimate Saturday, I chastised Chelsea FC of England’s manager Jose Mourinho for blaming the team’s sickening 2-1 loss to Newcastle on Mikel Obi’s mistakes. Mourinho rued the absence of Matic from the game and reckoned that had Mikel scored via a header, Chelsea would have led the game before conceding the first goal.
My angst against Mourinho stemmed from the fact that Cisse has always scored against Chelsea and it was his duty to fashion out how to stop the Senegalese instead of slamming Mikel. I’m waiting for Mourinho’s comments over Diego Costa’s wastefulness against Stoke on Monday. Mourinho showed his displeasure over Costa’s missed chances by pulling him out of the game. I thought that would have been the most appropriate thing to do to Mikel, if he thought he underperformed in the game against Newcastle.
It is true that Mourinho has the right to chastise his players. But one would love to ask those in this school if that is the way others do theirs? I’m glad that Mourinho answered those in this school by substituting Costa and lashing him inside the dressing room instead of in the media. Mourinho’s comments drew a lot of flak from people in the social media against Mikel. Many of them who scolded Mikel were, sadly, Nigerians.
On Tuesday, the media were awash with what I would like to tag an afterthought by Mourinho who praised Mikel thus: “The first time he played (from the start in the premier League) was Newcastle and he was our best player.” I hope that those English pundits, such Alan Shearer, can back off Mikel by recanting their potshots against the Nigerian, apparently taking a cue from Mourinho.
It is, therefore, appropriate that one commends Mourinho for his praises on Mikel even before the game on Monday against Stoke. Besides, Mourinho’s recant is coming several days after he lashed Mikel, but it is good that he has eaten his words. Chelsea will lift the Barclays English Premier League diadem. My dream for Mourinho is for Chelsea to lift all four trophies (EPL, FA Cup, league Cup and UEFA Champions League trophy). Mourinho is the best manager that I have seen because of his positive influence on the team from the bench. His body language on the bench tells his boys if the manager is happy or not with their display. Mourinho’s biggest attribute rests with his ability to read matches and make flawless substitutions that result in victories for Chelsea.
However, I only hope that Mourinho’s plaudits will help Mikel lift his game to a level where many rated him highly in 2005 in Holland during the FIFA U-20 Championships which Nigeria lost 2-1 to Argentina. In that competition, Messi was adjudged the best player with Mikel and Taye Taiwo finished in second and third positions.
It is equally heartwarming that Mourinho has seen the wisdom in playing Mikel along with Matic, not comparing one with the other. His statement on Wednesday lifted my spirits when he said after Chelsea beat Stoke away from home 2-0 on Tuesday: “We decided to play Mikel and Matic, so we lost one creative player. We had stability in the team. They put themselves in every situation and I think the kids were fantastic.” Master of the mind game Mourinho is. But I ask Mourinho, which of the two kids are you referring to in your last statement? Mikel or Matic? Read my lips.
Crowd violence in stadia
I was excited reading a statement credited to the president of the Nigeria Referee Association (NRA), Ahmed Muade, on the need for the domestic game to have not more than 23 referees to handle the matches at the professional level.
Muade told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday: “They hardly promote three to four referees to the Premier League in a year in England, unlike what we have in Nigeria. You must be exceptionally good before you come to the premier league.
“We must identify the best and restrict the number (that gets promoted), so that the more they officiate, the better they become. If you only officiate once in five weeks, how good will you be?”
Good talk Muade; evidently one of the benefits of exposing professionals to refresher courses. But Muade must be reminded that his committee is in charge of promotions and punishments for referees. They have failed in these tasks. We have seen referees found guilty of poor officiating return to the league in the same season. Some others return the following season. We also have reported cases of one referee handling games involving particular teams for over 24 matches in a 38-week league competition. These devious acts are perpetuated because the referee’s committee plays god, largely because its decisions are final and no other body can dictate to it as decreed by FIFA.
Muade must be reminded that his NRA encourages quota system. Excellence has no room for such mediocre indices as quota system. Any referee who fails medical test must not be allowed to officiate in matches again. This idea of bringing them back because they have shown a referral letter from any doctor should be discouraged. The reports turn out to be fake. We don’t get to know about these fake documents until they either collapse on the pitch or die during the routine FIFA medical tests.
The president hinged his submission on what he found in the English game during their training in England last month. He argued that there was the need for one referee to handle at least two games in one month.
The NRA president is the problem with officiating in Nigeria. His men have accused him of favouritism. And the only way that the president can implement all that he learnt in England is to officially publish the list of referees for two months. That way, we can monitor the list of referees. The president cannot justify how certain referees handle only away games of certain rich clubs in the league. Club chairmen, such as Dominic Iorfa and even the current NFF president Melvin Amaju Pinnick, have accused the Referees’ Committee, which he heads of lopsidedness in the list of referees for the domestic game.
I’m surprised though that Muade didn’t comment on match commissioners. Some of them are part of the mess. Most of the time these match commissioners are former referees whose previous records are nothing to cheer. God help any team that has such match commissioners with an incompetent referee.
In fact, the centre referee from Bayelsa State who handled last year’s FA Cup finals in Delta State should never be allowed to go near any football field. If Muade doubts what I have written, he should ask the current NFF President to produce the match’s final tape. That referee is a disgrace to association football. He was grossly incompetent. He was not bribed because there was no need for such ignoble acts. The two teams were already in the national draw, having qualified for the finals.
If the Maude committee can implement all that they were exposed to in England, league venues will be safer and Nigerians can come and watch the domestic games. Muade holds the key to stop crowd violence at match venues due to terribly biased performances from our referees.
All hail Okagbare, Oparanozie, Oshoala
Three names top my list of Nigerian athletes who excelled. And they are all women, not for the first time. Take a bow Blessing Okagbare, Asisat Oshoala and Desire Oparanozie.
Okagbare is the Commonwealth Games’ fastest woman in the 100 metres and 200 metres. She has been Nigeria’s brightest medals prospect in any multisport competition, but that we have federation chieftains who don’t know how to manage her affairs for her to be best in the world.
Thank God that the Delta State governor Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan developed interest in Okagbare, bankrolling the little details that would help her attain the height that pundits had predicted that she would hit.
Shortly after Okagbare’s poor outing at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Uduaghan sought a parley with the queen of the tracks to find out what her training programmes were and how to make them compare with those of world stars such as Usian Bolt.
The blueprint submitted by Okagbare was financed by the governor. And, like they say, the rest is history. Uduaghan didn’t stop his support with just providing the cash. The governor was at the stands, cheering Okagbare as she dusted the pack of sprinters twice to win the 100 metres and 200 metres races in style.
Okagbare could get Uduaghan’s support because she is a Deltan. Oparanozie plays football in France. She is a professional earning a living through salaries from her club’s coffers, unlike Okagbare, who must finance her expenses with pittance from the smaller athletics prix that she attends. Oparanozie sprang from the dusty streets of Owerri, playing the game (soccer), which many feel is for boys because it is a contact sport.
Thank God, Nigeria’s brightest moments have come from Nigerian girls’ exploits in soccer for women in Africa and at the world stage. If our boys had done as well as the girls in soccer, we would have broken the banks. Not so for the girls, but it hasn’t deterred them from winning laurels for our dear country.
The grassroots in Nigeria is filled with raw talents. It has raised a new star in Oshoala, who emerged from the robust grassroots projects that the Lagos State Government has to effectively engage the youths to shun the social vices and face sports. Bravo, worthy girls.
