BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

Year in year out, Nigerians celebrate the attainment of self government by reeling out sectoral marks including that of sports.  Mention is hardly given to those people whose efforts had seen Nigerian sports leaping over national frontiers.

These are the media men, the sports journalists who have in various forms contributed to national development. They represent the factor responsible for the spread of sports which have helped in building bridges.

  They are the bridge for the fans, the participants and the sports disciplines. If people talk about a factor responsible for spread of sports’ passion, they are directly talking about the sports writer.

In the 61 years of Nigerian independence, while  growth in sport has been dynamic, the mass media undoubtedly, are in the vanguard of factors leading to its growth and popularity.

The media make it possible for sports to vault over regional, national and even continental frontiers. Through the mass media, it is possible for the prowess of a hitherto local star to stimulate the invasion of foreign scouts.

The mass media have therefore been partly responsible for the fame and wealth some of the footballers are getting.

Also, through the works of the sports journalists, the local fans become privy to the exploits of the legion of Nigerian players abroad.

The attention which the mass media lavish on sports generally, and football in particular, is illustrated by the comparison with other segments of the national life.

Radio and television broadcast have special time allocated to sports reporting. It is even more glaring in newspapers.

Globally, since the 1870s when the Hungarian-American newspaper publisher, Joseph Pulitzer organised the first sport department in his just purchased New York World, it had become traditional for publications to separate sports news from the rest.

While economic, political and other social matters are often parts of regular news reports; sports have their distinct pages and often encroach into pages for regular news such as front page when the events assume greater proportions.

Some editors have found the need to make sports pages the selling factor of their newspapers.

The relationship between sports and the media is therefore inter-dependent.  The newspapers have the tendency to believe that they need sports, to sell more copies.

Sports too, need the media to sell themselves. The relationship is therefore symbiotic.  

It is therefore to the credit of sports journalists that passion for sports, especially, football has been pervasive. To the overwhelming fans that are relegated to the anonymity of spectators’ stands, the sports journalist serves a vital role.

It is through his works that the fan follows the actions in his favourite sport and improves his knowledge of the star performers.

Larry Izamoje set up the first sports radio in the country and the station has done so well in getting many Nigerians informed. Thanks to the penetrating effect of radio.

The media men have not only kept alive the entertainment values of sports, but have also supplied informative and educative news on the game. Through surveillance journalism, the Nigerian sports writers had supplied vital information on Nigerian oppositions, so that in the march to victory of the Super Eagles for instance, the press played vital roles.

When in 1989 Nigeria suffered a two-year ban on infringement on age-regulations, the National Concord,  through a series of articles,  revealed FIFA’s double standard on the issue as some notable football powers –  Brazil and Italy –  had committed similar offence.

Since 1960, the media has produced an array of sports journalists. For purpose of easy comprehension, football writing will be used to illustrate the illustrious contributions by the media men.

 Football undoubtedly gains its pride of place, owing to the lavish attention of the mass media, both traditional and the new.

The mass media undoubtedly, are in the vanguard of factors leading to its growth and popularity. The newspapers, the radio, television and lately, the social media, make it possible for football to thrive.

Through the mass media, it is possible for the prowess of a hitherto local star to stimulate the invasion of foreign scouts. The mass media have therefore been partly responsible for the fame and wealth some of the footballers are getting.

 Practitioners are now moving from the era of merely reporting the game to administering it. Many well respcted sports journalists have moved from what they were reporting to perform rescue jobs in administration.

One of the well-respected sports journalists, Paul Bassey (Paul or is it “Sport” Bassey), was called up for rescue mission in his home state, Akwa Ibom and has twice the club into continental competitions and a one league tile.

Bassey is treading a path that is not too unfamiliar for the sport journalists. Aisha Falode, a queen in sportscasting,  has been a recurring  face in women football administration.

Also, more than any position, journalism can lay claim to the soul of Nigerian league! Four of the current 20 clubs, almost a quarter of the fold in the elite Nigerian league, are being run by journalists.

Tell me of another career that can boast of the feat. It is a reward for the services journalism has rendered

to the beautiful game.

Before Bassey in the present dispensation, we have Emeka Inyama, who took Abia Warriors from the lower rung of the league to the premier division.

Inyama is a journalist, who had worked at the Imo State-owned Statesman, Champion Newspapers and later the Sportslink.

Godwin Enakhena, whose daily presentations on radio and television are delights, steered the MFM team from the Nigeria National League, the second-tier division in Nigerian football, to the premier league. As the General Manager of the club, he steered it to become the winners of a global tournament among churches in 2014.

Also, Moses Etu, the journalist who transited from being a media officer to chairman of continental title chasing Warri Wolves. His story is almost like that of the Biblical Joseph. He was probably thinking on how he would consolidate his position as media officer of Warri Wolves, a position he assumed in 2013, but he got a surprise package as he was named the ‘supremo’ of the club on January 5 this year.

Prior to his joining the club, he had been a freelance journalist with National Sportslink, SoccerStar before joining the Delta State-owned newspaper, The Pointer in 2008.

Before the quartet of Bassey, Inyama, Enakhena and Etu, Fan Ndubuoke, another notable journalist steered Heartland to win the Federation Cup in 2012, just as Bode Oyewole who had been a journalist at Radio Nigeria

Ibadan led Shooting Stars to win the league in 1998.

Perhaps, as a tribute to journalism, that was the last time the club tasted national honours. Journalism did not just end at putting its personnel in high position of running the clubs; the control of football associations has been getting journalistic influences.

Fan Ndubuoke once headed the Imo State FA, just as his ‘twin’ brother from another mother; Emeka Inyama did some years ago in Abia State. Frank Ilaboya, another journalist headed the Edo State FA. Journalists are not done yet.

Nduka Irabor, another notable journalist midwifed the present dispensation of the improved premier league as the pioneer boss of the League Management Company.

In other category, Alloy Chukwuemeka, who was a freelance journalist at both Sportslink and SoccerStar later became the Team Manager and later General Manager of the Ilorin-based ABS club.

For some time, he has been the secretary of the Club Owners Association.This brings to relevance, the age long quote of former England and West Ham United player, Malcolm Allison: “A lot of people in football don’t have much time for the press; they say they’re amateurs. But I say to those people. ‘Noah was an amateur when he built the Biblical Ark, but the Titanic (supposedly unsinkable, but sank in its first voyage) was built by professionals.