Sports

Fumigating The Sports Writing Sector In Nigeria

Published

3 years ago

April 3, 2023

I am threading on dangerous ground.
Four young men work as sports journalists in Eagle7 Sports Radio. They all have an uncommon passion for sports and for broadcasting. I am not even sure how many of them have academic qualification to be professional journalists. What I know in engaging them is that they are all brilliant chaps, and eager to conquer the world of sports journalism. One of them is actually an undergraduate student studying Agriculture.
They have the skills we want in the radio station’s sports presenters and reporters, good elocution, good diction and delivery, good knowledge about diverse sports, investigative instincts, and the willingness to improve their skills and become the best sports broadcasters in the land.
I have been following their work by listening to most of their programs. They are building an impressive resume and expanding their listenership around Ogun State and online in the rest of the world.
Their work is well cut out latest news, great reports, special interviews, sports commentaries, some analysis of matches and sports events, and plenty of Afro-centric music. In 10 months, they have been doing well.
They have become household names in Abeokuta, with a rapidly growing number of followers, and are already enjoying some benefits of exposure in the media. It is an elixir that must be handled with utmost care else that ‘power’ to influence the listener starts to intoxicate like wine.
A few days ago, I heard two of the presenters on radio arguing whilst discussing their take-away from the second-leg match of the Super Eagles in Guinea Bissau. It was going well until they started discussing Jose Paseiro, his competency, his choice of players and team tactics, questions about his credentials, and asking the public to vote to sack or to keep him.
It was a serious matter. What the presenters were feeding their global audience with in their opinions comes with a huge responsibility. To fire or not to fire a coach who has been on the job for only nine months at their instigation is serious.
My mind started to race with questions: with what authority are they selling that idea to the public? With what authority are they taking a stand on a technical football matter that has serious implications if implemented? With what authority are they venturing into issues for which they have neither the experience nor the qualification?
They were also discussing which players are to be invited or not; which players were to be fielded or not; how the team should play; what should be the team’s tactics and strategy be.
All of these are issues far beyond their mandates and ‘authority’ as fresh reporters and presenters within sports journalism. Not even most older journalists would venture into deeply technical area of football without been grounded and armed with years of experience or training. By the way, the analyst does not necessarily have to be a journalist.
Unfortunately, what has become the trend in sports journalism in Nigeria is that every ‘Tom, Dick and Harry’ with access to a pen or a microphone becomes as instant ‘columnist’, an influencer, a sports marketer, a sports administrator, psychologist, an analyst, an agenda setter, one whose views must be taken as ‘gospel’ or the world will end! That’s how brazen and even arrogant several sportswriters have become.
Many have become commissioned agents for coaches and players, consultants to football administrators and clubs, and not on media matters but on how to fix matches and referees. They exist and we know some of them.
It has now become acceptable and the norm to appoint sports writers as members of sports associations and even into federation boards and committees to share in the national ‘booty’ that funds in football administration are considered. In a once-glorious past, it was a taboo for journalists to mingle with administrators in any compromising manner. They worked independently of one another.
At a time, sportswriters became so ‘powerful’ that they actually were part of interviewing and engaging a coach for the national teams. Today, Sports writers are in an unhealthy and unethical relationship with clubs to the detriment of the game. They promote and protect football administrators in office for a fee.
It took Ghanaian and British Journalists to investigate and unearth scandals of corruption in Nigerian football that were well known to most Nigerians. No Nigerian sports writer had the courage to do anything about the depths of corruption in the system. Nigerian sportswriters allow the rot to fester for as long as some individuals are living off it. One way or the other, we are all either participants or accomplices. Either way, all sports journalists now face and live with the dire consequences – lack of development in a sector brimming with talent and opportunities.
With the voice and power of society’s watchdog silenced by greed, corruption, narrow interests, and absence of political will, and in the absence of professionalism, honesty, decency and morality in journalism, sport has to live with handicapped-associations, all trying to survive.
The muted voices of sports writers have become poisoned bread fed to the incredible talent and opportunities in Nigerian sports. Football, the flagship of all other sports, suffers the most.
Some sports writers have become an Albatross to sports’ growth in the country. They litter the sports landscape and, unfortunately, for now, determine the fate of Nigerian football. The tragedy is that those that are not engaged in the evil practice are in the minority, keep quiet and do nothing. I played the game of football for well over a decade at domestic and national levels. I was coached by many foreign and local coaches during the period.
That may not be much, but surely, those are ingredients a sportswriter without those experiences can never buy in the market, learn in any class room, or appreciate with any depth. Meanwhile, those are my humble ‘authority’ to seat at the table of conversations on issues of players and coaches in football.
Check out those persons that most international sports media houses use during matches and even as commentators. They are either drawn from the Corp of retired-players, or from the pool of the most seasoned of sports writers with deep experiences. Opinions and views are then taken seriously.
There is a great deal wrong with Nigerian sports and with sports journalism. Until we have a media that is not compromised, that is free of corrupting influences, that knows its limit and sticks to its clearly defined roles and responsibilities, that steers away from sports politics and areas over which it cannot claim ‘authority’, sports writing will continue to be a Jankara market for all-comers. A fumigation of that sector is necessary. The problem is: who will do it?

By: Segun Odegbami

Sports

Forest Embarrass Liverpool At Anfield

Published

3 days ago

November 24, 2025

The Tide

Liverpool’s season of abject misery worsened as they were beaten with embarrassing ease by a hugely impressive Nottingham Forest at Anfield.

Arne Slot’s Premier League champions were looking to bounce back from a heavy defeat at Manchester City, but instead ran into a Forest side revitalised under new manager Sean Dyche and looking back to their best.

Liverpool head coach Slot gave £125m British record signing Alexander Isak a start, but he was totally anonymous once more and only lasted 67 minutes.

Forest went ahead after 33 minutes when defender Murillo shot powerfully past fit-again Liverpool keeper Alisson to subdue an already anxious Anfield.

Igor Jesus had a second ruled out for handball, but Forest doubled their advantage 39 seconds after the break when former Liverpool defender Neco Williams set up Nicola Savona for a crisp finish in front of The Kop.

Liverpool could barely raise a response in a desperate display, Forest increasing their lead 12 minutes from time when Morgan Gibbs-White scored after Alisson saved from Omari Hutchinson.

It means Liverpool, who lie 11th before Saturday’s late fixture, have now lost six of their past seven Premier League games as Slot’s near £450m summer spending spree comes under further scrutiny.

Forest, meanwhile, are surging away from the relegation zone and are up to 16th.

Sports

Bundesliga: Oliseh Stars As Bayern Rebound To Thrash Freiburg

Published

3 days ago

November 24, 2025

The Tide

Michael Olise scored twice and provided a hat-trick of assists as Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich came from two goals down to thrash Freiburg.

The visitors stunned the defending champions by taking a 2-0 lead after just 17 minutes when Yuito Suzuki scored from close range and Johan Manzambi rose highest to head home Jan-Niklas Beste’s corner.

Bayern, who had not lost in the league since March, responded superbly and had restored parity by half-time.

Teenager Lennart Karl fired into the bottom corner from Olise’s pass in the 22nd minute and set up the Frenchman for a fierce finish in first-half injury-time, although Freiburg goalkeeper Noah Atubolu should have done better.

Bayern took control in the second period as Dayot Upamecano headed home Olise’s corner to put them ahead for the first time.

England captain Harry Kane netted his 14th league goal of the campaign on the hour mark, before Olise made it three assists when he threaded a pass through for Nicolas Jackson to finish at the first time of asking in the 78th minute.

Winger Olise completed a sensational afternoon with his second of the game six minutes later, driving at the Freiburg defence and curling into the far corner.

A 10th victory in the first 11 games left Bayern eight points clear of second-placed Bayer Leverkusen, while Freiburg remain 10th in the standings.

Vincent Kompany’s side visit Arsenal in the Champions League on Wednesday with both sides having a perfect record of four wins so far in the league phase of the competition.

AS FAR Morocco Win African Women’s Champions League (8)

AS FAR held firm to beat debutants ASEC Mimosas 2-1 in the African Women’s Champions League final and become continental champions for the second time.

Hanane Ait El Haj put the Moroccan club ahead from the penalty spot in the 13th minute after Safa Banouk had been tripped by Aboa Yapo.

ASEC Mimosas rallied after the break and Ami Priscal Diallo netted a fine header from Sopie Brou’s cross to drag the Ivory Coast club level 10 minutes into the second half.

But AS FAR were handed a second spot-kick in the closing stages when Noura Diarra committed a rash challenge on Sofia Bouftini.

This time it was Zineb Redouani who stepped up to stroke home in the 85th minute and restore her side’s lead.

Asastasie Gbehi came close to forcing extra time but she poked wide of the post in stoppage time, and the centre-back was sent off after the full-time whistle for dissent.

AS FAR move level with South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns as two-time winners of the title, having first lifted the trophy in 2022.

The Rabat-based side will now take on Chinese’s Wuhan Jiangda on 14 December for a place at next year’s Fifa Women’s Champions Cup.

The winner of that match will face European champions Arsenal in the semi-finals of the inaugural competition early next year in London.

Sports

Barca Impress On Return To Camp Nou

Published

3 days ago

November 24, 2025

The Tide

Barcelona moved to the top of La Liga on Saturday with an emphatic win over 10-man Athletic Club in their first match at the Spotify Camp Nou since May 2023.

Robert Lewandowski scored their first goal back in their iconic home, which had been closed for extensive renovations, in the fourth minute.

Ferran Torres then netted twice in the second half, each assisted by wonderful skill from Lamine Yamal, who was aged just 15 in his only previous Nou Camp appearance.

Fermin Lopez also struck in the 48th minute, while visiting midfielder Oihan Sancet was sent off for a crude challenge on Lopez just six minutes later.

Large sections of the Nou Camp remained closed for the game, which was played in front of a 45,157 crowd.

The rebuilding work, which was originally scheduled to be finished in November 2024, will eventually increase the stadium’s capacity to 105,000.

Barca moved to 31 points from 13 games and top on goal difference, but Real Madrid had the chance to replace them, if they won at Elche in their game in hand, late last night.

Poland striker Lewandowski got his side off to the perfect start when he drove his low shot in off the arm of Athletic Club goalkeeper Unai Simon for an eighth league goal of the season.

The home side extended their lead in first-half added time as Yamal’s superb pass off the outside of his foot set up Torres for a good finish.

Lopez made it 3-0 three minutes after the restart, drilling a shot past Simon from near the penalty spot.

Sancet’s tackle from behind on Lopez was initially deemed a yellow card, but upgraded to red after the referee consulted with the video assistant referee (VAR).

And just before full-time, Yamal twisted and turned before sending Torres away to claim his second goal, which was originally disallowed for offside but overturned following a VAR check.

It was a dream return to their ground, with the reigning Spanish champions having mostly played at the 55,000 capacity Olympic Stadium on the city’s Montjuic hill since renovations on the Nou Camp began in June 2023.

They were forced to play two matches at the 6,000-capacity Johan Cruyff Stadium, home to their women’s team, this season after failing to get a permit for the Nou Camp through safety reasons.

Pogba Returns To Action In Ligue 1 (6)

Paul Pogba played his first minutes of professional football in more than two years as he came off the bench during Monaco’s 4-1 defeat by Rennes at the weekend.

The 32-year-old was introduced in the 85th minute at Rennes’ Roazhon Park, though his side were already four goals and a player down, following a red card for captain Denis Zakaria.

French World Cup winner Pogba broke down in tears when he joined Ligue 1 club Monaco last summer, after his four-year doping ban was reduced to 19 months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).

Pogba’s last competitive appearance was 811 days ago, when he featured for Juventus in a Serie A match against Empoli on 3 September 2023. He left Juventus by mutual consent in November 2024.

Pogba was provisionally banned from football for four years after a positive test for dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) in February 2024, following a doping test in August 2023.

Pogba maintained it was a mistake and that he was given a supplement without knowing it contained a banned substance.

The former Manchester United midfielder was permitted to return to football in March following the decision to reduce his ban.

Pogba watched from the bench as goals from Abdelhamid Ait Boudlal, Mahdi Camara, Breel Embolo and Ludovic Blas put Rennes out of sight.

Fellow substitute Mika Biereth pulled a goal back for Monaco in the 95th minute, but a second consecutive 4-1 defeat means Sebastien Pocognoli’s side drop to eighth in the table with 20 points after 13 games.