Sports
Sports: Grappling With Mixed Fortunes
The Sports Sector in Nigeria has always been viewed as one
of the areas of national life that should put the country among the top players
in Africa and the world.
With a population of over 150 million people, the expectation
may not be out of place considering the potentials we are endowed with.
But after 52 years of nation-hood, the sector and indeed
expectations have been a mixed tale of raised hopes disappointments, heartache
and outright embarrassment.
From the 1964 Tokyo Olympics where Nigeria made her Olympic
debut with Nojim Maiyegun winning bronze, the country’s only medal at the Games
in boxing 61-71kg category, the Atlanta 1996 Games where we recorded our best
performance in the history of the Games with two gold, one silver and three
bronze medals to the recently concluded London 2012 Games where the country’s
athletes flopped abysmally, it has been a case of one step forward and several
steps backward.
To date, Nigeria has won a meagre 23 medals a total of two
gold, 10 silver and 11 bronze medals in nine Olympic outings from 1964 in Tokyo
to 2012 in London.
The London 2012 Games marked the highest point of the
country’s slide into the precipice of sports ignominy.
Team Nigeria had raised hopes of a good outing owing to the
performances of Nigeria’s athletes like Blessing Okagbare, Damola Osayemi,
Chika Chukwumerije, the weightlifting and boxing prior to the Games.
Unfortunately, all of them flattered to deceive and the
country left the Games empty handed to the utter embarrassment of the
Government and People of Nigeria.
The humiliation was so much that a national inquest was
called and President Goodluck Jonathan
moved to take concrete steps to restructure and reposition the sports sector.
Contrastingly, the country’s sportsmen and women have farred
better in the Commonwealth Games where it has achieved medal success in every
Games that it participated in, with the 1994 edition in Victoria the most
successful to date. The country achieved 37 podium places, harvesting 11 gold,
13 silver and 13 bronze medals.
Nigeria made its Commonwealth Games debut in 1950 finishing
with a solitary silver medal in men’s high jump, while the Federal Republic of
Nigeria officially joined the Commonwealth in
1960.
To date, the country has recorded a total haul of 176 medals
involving 50 gold, 55 silver and 71 bronze medals.
However, the most pleasing performance by Nigerian athletes
came from the recently concluded London 2012 Paralympics Games.
Where the able bodied athletes went and failed woefully,
physically challenged Nigerians stormed London determined to make up for their
compatriots’ earlier disappointment.
At the end of the day, the Paralympians won six gold medals
and a couple of silver and bronze.
Indeed, the Paralympians, with their performance, have made
giant strides that opened a vista to the potentials of the physically
challenged in our society.
However, despite the current elixir in the country
occasioned by the glorious performance of the paralympic contingent, the truth
remains that our sports can achieve much more glory than it has dared to since
independence.
Football in Nigeria, in spite of being one of the uniting
factors has nose-dived in terms of quality, achievement and organisation.
The Nigerian Premier League, touted as one of the best in
the country which ordinary should supply national team materials to respective
national sides is enmeshed in myriad of problems.
From leadership squabbles leading to litigations to poor
organisation, poor funding and lack of sponsorships, the league is currently in
shambles looking for identity.
Consequently, the clubsides can hardly hold their own in
Continental club competitions.
Apart from Enyimba International FC, Aba no other Nigerian
side has been able to cart home the slite club competition in the continent the
CAF Champion League.
Only four others, Rangers, shooting stars sports club, 3SC
Lobi Stars and Bendel Insurance have been able to bring home glory in the
second and third class competitions.
The situation in the national teams is not different from
that of the league.
Gone are the days when the national teams, be it the Super
Eagles, Flying Eagles, Olympic Eagles and the Golden Eaglets steamrolled them
and instilled fear in opponents even before matches were played.
Now, the national teams, especially, the Super Eagles
struggle to qualify for tournaments despite having immeasureable potentials on
paper.
Apart from the women football teams, Super Falcons,
Falconents and the flaminigoes, who have given Nigerians something to cheer in
the game, from the African women Championships, FIFA women’s U-20 and U-17
World cups, football in Nigeria has been marred by poor performance and
near-success syndrome.
After failing to qualify for the 2006 World Cup in Germany,
the Super Eagles Failed to fly at the South Africa 2010 World Cup, the first to
be held in Africa and capped it all by failing to qualify for the 2012 Africa
Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, which saw the untimely exist of
coach Samson Siasia as the national team gaffer.
The youth teams have also found it tough re-enacting the
nation’s glory days of the 1980’s and 1990s.
But the trend had not always been like this. It is believed
that the major problem with sports in Nigeria is that of policy implementation,
inadequate funding, selfish administrators and poor infrastr4uture.
It is no longer news that Sports facilities across Nigeria
are in terrible shape and this in no small way has affected the development of
Sports in the country.
Poor management of facilities and poor preparations have
been largely responsible for the poor performance of the nation’s Sportsmen and
women in both continental and world championships, making it difficult to
develop and inject fresh blood into Team Nigeria’s contingent.
The situation has even worsened to the extent that the
entire country can only boast of one stadium, U.J. Esuene Stadium, Calabar,
good enough to host Super Eagles’ International matches.
The Abuja National Stadium built about 10 years ago at the
cost of N57.6 billion of tax payers money and others like it is today best
described as a national embarrassment in terms of maintenance.
But all hope is not lost. Nigeria is endowed with abundant
manpower and resources that if the current restructuring effort is followed up
sincerely, the country has the capacity to bounce back and reclaim its place in
the continent and the world.
According to the President, Sports Writers Association of
Nigeria, SWAN, Saidu Abubakar, “until and unless the right things are done
starting from the statutes, especially that of the Nigeria football federation,
NFF, and their elections, coupled with intensifying school Sports and credible
league without government owned clubs, we shall remain where we have been since
the advent of professional soccer and modern Games”.
For the Team Manager of ABS FC, Ilorin, Alloy Chukwuemeka,
faulty Sports Policy and government’s overbearing influence have been the major
bane of the sector.
He however, stated the need for all relevant stakeholders in
the industry to come together to fashion out a new policy framework to chart a
new course via an all indusive sports summit.
However, the expected Sports revolution in Nigeria may have
begun if the decisions of the body, Nigeria Academicals Sports Committee,
NASCOM, recently formed by the National Sports Commission, NSC, on the
directive of President Goodluck Jonathan to revive grassroots Sports through
the schools, are implemented.
According to the committee six national grassroots
championships for academicals in Football, Swimming, Basketball, Tennis, Table
tennis and Track & Field have been put forward with the aim of eradicating
age cheats and keeping the supply line of national athletes open and running.
Nigeria’s sports is indeed full of potentials but the
dividend can only be reaped when the right policies and committed
administrators are made to succeed.
Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy has said that criticism that he and other players chased money by moving to Saudi Arabia is wide of the mark.
The 33-year-old left Chelsea for Al-Ahli in a £16m ($21.4m) deal in 2023, and in May the Africa Cup of Nations winner helped his Saudi club win the Asian Champions League, making him one of the few players to win both that competition and its European equivalent.
But, like many others, Mendy has been criticised for playing for money rather than prestige in the lucrative Saudi Pro League.
When asked about such criticism, Mendy told a Tidesports source, “Al-Ahli’s project came along and they made me feel I had a big role to play.
“Two years later, we won the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history. So yes, that validates my choice. And I hope the coming years will validate it even more.”
He added: “Some people will quickly jump to conclusions and say the only reason is money. From the start, I always said that when I left Chelsea, I knew I was joining another team where I could win everything , which was no longer the case at Chelsea.”
The Blues have since won the Conference League, Europe’s third-tier club competition, under the ownership of Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital.
But it comes after the regime’s trophyless first two years, a period which has frustrated some supporters after the success enjoyed under Roman Abramovich’s stewardship in the previous 19 years.
Mendy has also been celebrating what he describes as a historical win with Senegal against England at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground, but days earlier he had been in Dakar delivering a different kind of win.
He is the sponsor of Yakaar, a school in Keur Massar, which seeks to improve funding and access to digital learning tools for local children from underprivileged backgrounds.
Famously, as Mendy grew up in France, he was unemployed, aged 22, while struggling to find a club, with members of his family still living on the outskirts of Dakar.
That is why Yakaar, a word meaning “hope”, was chosen, a word Mendy has carried with him in his career.
“Hope is what kept me going. When I was without a club, it was the hope of getting that first professional contract.
“Then the hope of playing for the national team. The hope of making my family proud by doing the job I had always dreamed of.
“Indeed, hope is the best word to describe my career.”
Mendy was also asked whether the responsibility of being an African goalkeeper had weighed heavily on him.
“Of course. When I was in England, there weren’t many African goalkeepers in top clubs,” he admitted.
“Whether nationally or internationally, I had that responsibility. It’s the same for other African goalkeepers like Andre Onana [Manchester United] or Yassine Bounou (Al-Hilal).”
The entire refereeing committee has been fired by the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), with structural reforms soon set to follow.
According to sources, the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has dismissed the entire refereeing committee in response to mounting pressure from clubs demanding structural reform. A major shake-up aimed at modernising Spanish refereeing from top to bottom has now been set in motion.
Head of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA), Luis Medina Cantalejo and Head of VAR, Carlos Clos Gomez, have been removed from their positions. They are joined by several senior officials, including Antonio Rubinos Perez and three vice presidents, who are also stepping down. A new leadership model will be introduced, led by a CEO and a sporting director, aiming to overhaul how refereeing is managed covering assessments, promotions, and daily operations. While the leadership changes are sweeping, the current pool of referees in La Liga and the second tier will remain, ensuring continuity on the field during the transition.
Cristiano Ronaldo has signed a new two-year contract with Al-Nassr that means he will stay with the Saudi Pro League club until beyond his 42nd birthday.
The Portugal captain, 40, joined the Riyadh-based team in December 2022 after leaving Manchester United in acrimonious circumstances, having criticised the club and said he had no respect for manager Erik ten Hag.
Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr deal had been due to expire at the end of June and there was speculation he could leave, but that has now been quashed.
In a post on X, Ronaldo wrote: “A new chapter begins. Same passion, same dream. Let’s make history together.”
Although Al-Nassr have not added to their nine domestic titles during Ronaldo’s time at the club, they have benefited from a flood of goals from the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.
Ronaldo scored 35 times in 41 matches across all competitions last term and was the league’s top scorer for a second consecutive season.
He has managed 99 goals in appearances overall for Al-Nassr and is well on his way to reaching 1,000 senior goals in his career, with a current tally of 938 for club and country.
Having helped Portugal win the Uefa Nations League a little over two weeks ago, the former Manchester United, Real Madrid, Sporting and Juventus forward will almost certainly now be targeting a sixth World Cup appearance next summer.
Only a month ago, Ronaldo posted on social media to say “the chapter is over”.
That came after the Saudi Pro League wrapped up with Al-Nassr finishing third and trophyless once again.
The comment fuelled rumours that Ronaldo was ready to leave the league where he reportedly became the best-paid player in football history with an annual salary of £177m when he joined.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino raised the prospect of Ronaldo joining a team involved in the Club World Cup after Al-Nassr failed to qualify for the extended tournament which is being held in the United States.
Ronaldo said he had received offers from participating teams but had turned them down.
The decision to stay until at least 2027, which is certain to be highly lucrative, appears to rule out any future prospect of Ronaldo returning to play at the highest level in Europe.