The National Sports festival is back, but not with a bang. Those expecting new things are still in shock. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the multi-sports festival meant to discover and nurture talents at the grassroots to win big laurels at big tournaments for Nigeria has lost its value – and glamour.
The festival is a glorified inter-house sports; a mockery of the show that kept Nigerians staying up at night to watch the highlights of interesting events captured on television while they were busy at work.
In fact, sportsmen and women looked forward to the festival, which was meant to foster unity among the participating states of the federation and Abuja. National Sports Festivals were miniature Olympic Games for Nigerians, where those things that made the global event a showpiece were recreated. All that is gone. The most shameful aspect is the absence of the burning flame inside the National Stadium in Abuja to signify that something very important was going on there. The fans rightly have shunned the place.
I sat through the opening ceremony of the festival in Abuja and didn’t notice any quartet of ex-internationals running into the stadium with the games’ torch ahead of a motorcade. I didn’t notice any of the big ex-internationals jogging through the terraces to light the ceremonial games’ torch. I have searched in vain for the burning torch.
In fact, the torch’s journey starts with the President igniting it at a big ceremony. It then travels round the participating states. At the states, governors took pleasure in receiving the torch. Not anymore. Governors now send their officials. They are always busy. In the past, the governors drew applause from the crowd that are at every stadium when they held the torch while running round on the tartan tracks inside the stadium. Pictures of such governors were splashed on newspapers’ front pages.
The march past was a platform to celebrate the Nigerian culture – our dressing, dance styles and those things that are unique to particular states. I laughed when I saw athletes in ‘’coats of many colours.’’ I doubt if all the states marched. From the march past you knew how many big stars (national teams’ athletes) were at the games. It informed the need to watch key events such as the 100 metres male and female finals, 4×100 metres relay men and women finals or events in which national champions were dethroned. Athletes cherished having their governors eat their meals and see the setting in which they are prepared for the competition.
I recall watching the late Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia sack one ‘’untouchable coach’’ for failing to comply with camp rules at the once famous Afuze Games Village. I wondered then how it was possible for the late Ogbemudia to be at Afuze as early as 6am to witness and sometimes participate in the morning drills. Ogbemudia drove straight from Benin City, about one hour 10 minutes, to Afuze. He ate the meals and sanctioned any caterer with poor quality meals. Athletes’ allowances were paid.
But today, the festival is like a pain to our governors. What are their priorities? Flip through the dailies, the stories bother on the inadequacies in the games village. Contingents arrived in batches, some having to travel between six and19 hours on the road; others, who were unlucky, were victims of armed bandits; they lost their belongings, yet they were expected to win laurels for their states. Pity.
Again, I remember how the late Ogbemudia made Midwest’s and Bendel states’ entrance into cities hosting the multi-sports event a spectacle to behold. In those days, Lagos had the tag, ‘’Eko for show’’. But Lagosians
watched in awe as the Midwestern and Bendel states’ contingents drove in a convoy of buses. The buses driven by women. I remember coming down from one of the buses with my colleagues to take pictures of the bridges and the beautiful scenery Lagos offered from the top of those bridges. Flyovers were unique to Centre of Excellence; so we had to be part of history taking shots from the place. We used Polaroid cameras those days. Sports was good. Rock in your casket Ogbemudia, an officer and gentleman, frontline sports lover and exemplary administrator.
The festival will be closing this weekend. I wonder how the administrators will hand over the flag to the next host when there isn’t any torch in the stadium. What will be the highpoint of the games if we can’t sit back and watch how the torch flame will be extinguished. What a country! I left Nigeria for London in 2012 to carry the Olympic Games’ torch with other world sports greats such as the late Mohammed Ali. I was invited by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in collaboration with soft drinks giant Coca-Cola. It was an unforgettable experience.
Truly Africa’s best
The African Footballer of the Year Award is one diadem soccer stars cherish. Winning it makes the answer the continent. A few choices have ruffled feathers, but the truth is that the voting patterns are released to authenticate what was done. Most winners have had unblemished records, but a few have been bad representatives of the award, such as the ‘spitting cobra’ El Hadji Diouf of Senegal.
George Opong Weah has given the award a presidential fillip with his new assignment as Liberia’s president. Weah also won the 1995 FIFA World Player of the Year award. He is the first African player to win the award and the only one till date. It isn’t surprising the ex-internationals are angling to hold positions, which were hitherto held by politicians. A few have started running organisations which address some humanitarian activities.
The reigning winner, Mohammed Salah, politely rejected the Most Valuable Player (MVP), which he earned for being the best player against Bournemouth on Saturday after scoring a hat-trick. Rather than accept the MVP plaque, Salah presented it to his mate James Milner, who scored the game’s first goal, but who was remarkably playing his 500th Barclays English Premier League game. Salah’s rare gesture left Milner blushing, unable to believe what he was seeing.
Salah’s 10 goals silenced doubters who felt that he was a one-season wonder star, especially as he struggled through Reds’s matches, losing goal-scoring chances unlike last season. The Egyptian was the poster boy for Liverpool with his goals. Not a few pundits tipped him to win the World Footballer of the Year award. It didn’t happen.
Salah’s injury almost cost him his appearance at the Russia 2018 World Cup, where Egypt crashed out of the first round. On 19 June, Salah scored a penalty in Egypt’s 3–1 defeat to hosts Russia at the Krestovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg. In Egypt’s final group game on June 25, Salah scored his second goal of the World Cup with a chip over the goalkeeper in Egypt’s 2–1 defeat to Saudi Arabia at Volgograd Arena.
Salah has been involved in 78 goals in 75 games for Liverpool. He has been directly involved in 48 goals in 38 games in all competitions for Liverpool at Anfield. Salah has scored nine goals in nine Champions League appearances at Anfield for Liverpool. Only Steven Gerrard (14) has scored more in their Champions League history. Salah has scored 34 goals for Liverpool in 2018.
These incredible feats qualify him to join the league of African players who won the continent’s best star award back-to-back. A Nigerian, Nwankwo Kanu, achieved the feat but that isn’t the story today. With 10 goals and joint highest goal scorer with another African, Pierre Aubameyang, the Gabonese who plays for Arsenal FC of London, and both of them being past winners of the award, makes the choice of the next best African footballer of the Year a close call.
The distinction could be the European championship where Salah plays in the elite class (UEFA Champions League) while Aubameyang stars in the Europa Cup for the Gunners. It isn’t as easy as that, if one considers the fact that Arsenal’s manager, Unai Emery, is a specialist in winning the Europa Cup, having won it several times with Sevilla FC of Spain. Emery won seven trophies in two seasons at the Parc des Princes – one Ligue 1 title (2017/18), two Coupe de France trophies (2016/17, 2017/18), two Coupe de la Ligue trophies (2016/17, 2017/18) and both Trophee des Champions that he entered. These seven titles amount to an impressive haul of 10 in the last five seasons.
Emery left Sevilla after making history by winning the Europa League three times in succession in 2014, 2015 and 2016. His record could have been even better too, only for losing against Barcelona in the 2016 Copa del Rey final whilst Monaco snatched the league title from PSG’s grasp in 2017. However, he can still boast of being the best coach in terms of titles won across Europe’s major leagues in the last five seasons since 2013/14.
What have the coaches got to do with determining who among the two players eventually wins the African award? A lot. They decide if they will play weekly for 90 minutes or make cameo appearances. The best will emerge from the number of matches each one plays and how well their clubs fare in Europe this season. This is where Salah has the edge because he is literarily the soul of Liverpool’s attacking options. You cannot say so for Aubameyang, who Emery gambles on most times for the Gunners.
