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Professional football clocks 33 years in Nigeria 

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BY KUNLE SOLAJA

On this date, 12 May 1990, professional football kicked off in Nigeria after years of agitations. It kicked off with Stores’ home match with the then Iwuanyanwu Nationale (now Heartland of Owerri). Ben Iroha, a left rear guard of the Super Eagles playing for the Owerri side entered the record books as the first scorer in the Nigerian professional league when he scored the first goal in a 2-1 away win at the now Mobolaji Johnson Arena.

Sports Village Square recalls that in the opening season, 16 club sides were paired in the first professional league fixtures in the country.

Professional football had kicked off in Nigeria 102 years after England pioneered the venture worldwide.

By 1989, the year preceding Nigeria’s adoption of professional football, the venture had virtually swept across the globe. What could not be imagined some years back were unfolding.

No fewer than six Eastern bloc countries of former Czechoslovakia, Romania, Poland, Hungary, East Germany and the defunct Soviet Union had surprisingly dropped amateurism.

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Even the Olympic Movement was not left out as amateurism was fading out rapidly. Professionalism has now become the bedrock of the movement, which only a decade earlier could not boast of having more than $100,000 to run its affairs.

By early 1990s, the International Olympic Committee measured its reserves in million dollars, thanks to the influx of sponsors. Juan Antonio Samaranch had transformed it into a big commercial enterprise.

In response to posers on the increasing professionalism of sports in the Olympic movement, Samaranch remarked that it underscored the importance of the games.

In Nigeria, the early agitation for professional football was perhaps in the 1950s. Initially, the argument was on the pros and cons.

But stronger voices seemed against it. Derby Allen, who later became the NFA chairman, for instance argued that the football industry would take more than it offered. The scale of organisation and capital investment for professional football to thrive were lacking.

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Derby Allen in the Sunday Times of  20 September 1953, offered such argument against professional football. He doubted the ability of clubsides to obtain suitable ground sufficiently large enough and equipped to accommodate thousands of spectators.

In the Lagos area, the only ground of note was the King George V Stadium (now Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Onikan), which could hold a tightly packed 12,000 people.

The value of terracing and facilities was estimated at £20,000. The paucity of facilities was also the strong point of argument against professional football, even up to the 1980s.

Allen argued further that managing the professional players, grounds men, manager, treasurer, trainers and other staff would be too much for the prospective clubs to bear.

A typical wage bill of each club was £6,209 per month. With other expenses like rent of ground and other operational costs, each club was computed to likely spend £16,000 annually and make about £8,000, leaving annual loss of the same amount. Such clubs would be too few and far apart.

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Most antagonists up till 1980s subscribed to the arguments. Clubs were expected to seek other means of generating funds like the Egyptian teams, which were run as semi-professional outfits.

The Al-Ahly of Cairo printed out 120,000 copies of its magazine weekly to supplement earnings from gate takings. Besides, each of the 15,000 associate members at the time, yearly paid one thousand Egyptian pounds.

Protagonists held that professionalism was the answer to the apparent dwindling standard of the game. Coach Peter ‘Eto’ Amaechina told the Sunday Times of 2 September 1969, that Nigeria could not make a World Cup standard without adopting professional football.

He was to be proved right as Nigeria’s debut in the World Cup was immediately after the commencement of the professional league.

Ameachina recalled then that only one non-professional football country, Sweden, in 1958 ever played the World Cup final.

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Jasper Philips, treasurer of LAFA for many years, maintained in 1963 that Nigeria should go professional.

His lofty idea was that 3,000 sports-minded Nigerians should contribute £10  each to raise a £30,000 Trust Fund to begin the venture.

Louis Edet, the NFA chairman, loved the idea, but doubted the implementation, as professionalism would rob Nigeria the opportunities to feature in some international competitions.

“There is currently no professional football in Africa, and barring African Cups, a team of professionals in Nigeria can’t take part in Olympics, West African Gold Cup and the Nnamdi Azikiwe Cup played by Nigeria and Ghana”, argued Edet.

He stated further that such debarment also applied to friendly matches.  “It will therefore require more than £30,000 trust fund to maintain a professional team which can’t play many matches and bring money from the gates to reinforce the trust fund”, Edet concluded.

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The argument sounded plausible, especially recalling past experience.

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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Governing Bodies

Sanusi set for record-extending tenure as Nigeria’s football politicians assemble in Asaba

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BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

Speculations gathered ahead of the 2024 Annual General Meeting of the Nigeria Football Federation holding in Asaba on Friday have it that tenure elongation for the General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, is a major item on the agenda.

Neither formal confirmation nor denial has been issued since one of the leading newspapers in Nigeria, ThisDay dropped the hint.  

 The agenda of the meeting is also not made public. Dr, Sanusi is the longest-serving General Secretary in history having been in office from 30 March 2015 making 3,476 days or nine years six months and four days.

It easily drowned that of his closest rival in tenure – Sani Toro whose tenure from 21 December 1993 to 3 May  1999 is merely 2020 days or five years, six months and 12 days.

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 Thus, no one had enjoyed a longer period in office than the incumbent, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi.  It is speculated that the tenure will be extended as NFF has reported that all delegates have arrived in the Delta State capital by Thursday evening.

The NFF Annual General Assembly, the first of which took place 90 years ago in Lagos on 19 February 1934, is the biggest assemblage of football administrators and stakeholders in the country.

In one such meeting on 24 July 2008 in Makurdi, the football body changed its name from NFA to NFF.

This year, according to a press release by the NFF, the plenary will have in attendance, the chairmen and secretaries of football associations in the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory, chairmen and secretaries of the Nigeria Premier Football League, Nigeria National League, Nigeria Women Football League and the Nationwide League One, as well as chairmen and secretaries of the referees’ association, players’ union and coaches’ association. This group of 88 makes up the Congress.

 They are joined by the members of the NFF Executive Committee and the management team as well as former NFF Presidents and General Secretaries.

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The Minister of Sports Development, John Owan Enoh, is announced as the special guest. Nigeria’s Member of the FIFA Council, Amaju Melvin Pinnick is also expected as well as a representative of the West African Football Union (WAFU B).

The Governor of Delta State, Sheriff Francis Oborevwori will declare the General Assembly open. 

Venue is the Unity Hall of the Delta State Government House.

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Governing Bodies

Like in Egypt, former Nigerian Olympian, Sadiq Abdulahi wants Tinubu to declare ‘State of Emergency’ in Sports

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Former Nigerian tennis player and Olympian, Prof. Sadiq Abdulahi has called for drastic action to arrest the decline of Nigeria in global sporting events.

  The former tennis player who is now a professor in the United States declared that the “failure to win a medal at the regular 2024 Paris Olympics, the few medals at the Paris Paralympic and the fallout at the National Youth Sports Festival has exposed the deep problems facing the sport’s sector.”

  He wants Nigeria to have the same approach that the Egyptian president has taken while reacting to the country’s performance at the Paris 2024 Olypics.

Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi ordered  a comprehensive evaluation of sports federations that  participated at the Paris Olympic Games, following a mission report submitted by the country’s sports minister.

 According to Prof. Abdulahi, the National Sports Federations charged with the preparation of elite athletes have failed to do their job despite the cry for funding from the government.

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“Federal Government cannot adequately fund all the Olympics sports. It is impossible.

“By declaring a state of emergency, new people, new approaches and new funding models will be identified. More importantly, the Federal Government will redefine grassroots sports development.

“We will lay sustainable foundation for sports development.”

Continuing, he called for the return of the National Sports Commission (NSC) which enabling decree was abolished through Decree No. 7 of 1991, but came back through presidential proclamation under Sani Abacha before it was abolished again.

 The original NSC was established in 1964 as National Sports Council before the promulgation of Decree 34 of 1971 which legalised it as  the apex Federal Government agency to control, regulate and organize sports.

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  “The FG may now bring back the National Sports Commission or the National Sports Authority. Our emerging national economy with the full participation of the private sector can support this new beginning. I hope this helps.” 

RELATED STORY: President Al-Sisi orders sports system overhaul

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Governing Bodies

CAF gives Yoruba and Arabic interpretations of  ‘OLA’ the Super Cup 2024 Official Match Ball

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The Confédération African of Football, CAF, has given the linguistics interpretation of OLA, the confederation’s official match balls produced by Puma which has also unveiled a special edition for the Super Cup duel holding on Friday in Saudi Arabia.

According to CAF, OLA, symbolizing the dynamic and energetic nature of African football, means “wealth,” “honour,” and “respect” in Yoruba and “rise” and “success” in Arabic.

The OLA ball stands out with its vibrant design and cultural significance. “OLA” 

The ball is a mix of black and gold, representing power and sophistication. The ball will be the centrepiece of the eagerly-awaited match between the two giants of African football.

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