Exciting And Moody Moments Of Nigerian Football In 2017

FAITH OLUCHI /Port Harcourt

The Year 2017 was a year that came with so much expectations for football administrators,  journalists and fans,  now the year has  finally gone. Did we really achieve much in football in 2017?  I decided to take a stock to all that happened in our country’s football in 2017.

1. Nigeria Women Football League ( NWFL )
It was a year that the present board of women league led by Aisha Falode  should be commended for been able to steady the ship without so much controversies.  Though we crave for a straight League, the abridged league went on without any walkover. Another commendable thing that happened was that for the first time in a long while,  teams accommodation were taken care of during the Super Four to determine the overall winners of the league and teams had something to play for.

I remember vividly well the last Super Four held in Umuahia before this  present board took over,  the winners of the competition went home without medals, but 2017  competition was different. The winners went home with medals and  N3m while the runners up were given N2m. Aside that,  all the four participating teams were given N500,000.00  cash by the host State ( Edo State).  Also we saw a board that was able to instill discipline on teams that wanted to bring the game to disrepute through the act of hooliganism,  good example was the incident that occurred in Nembe during the match between Bayelsa Queens and Sunshine Queens where the goalkeeper of Sunshine Queens was manhandled by home team fans to the point that she was bleeding.  The board took immediate action by sanctioning the home team with huge fines and that sent signals to other teams for them to watch out. Finally as we look forward to a new season,  I want to urge the board not to relent but strive hard to get sponsors for the women league.

2. Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL)
The leadership of League Management Company under Shehu Dikko must be commended for the tremendous work they have done in the league and would still do. It was a year of good and bad in the league , but the good thing is that the good surpassed the bad, this goes to show that our league is growing and not dormant. One ugly incident that keeps occurring in our league is the issue of hooliganism which can be liken to terminal disease in our league.  Many are of the opinion that points deduction is the solution to hooliganism  but the implementation of these points deduction seems impossible.  In this concluded season,  we saw players suspended for weeks for the act of indiscipline on the pitch,  it has become  recurring issue in the league and I think the league body should be bold enough to come out with stiffer punishments to end this act of indiscipline among players. Also clubs should organise seminars for their players before the league will resume and probably during mid season break to enlighten them,  football is played with the spirit of fair play and not do or die.

Finally as the new season is about to kickoff,  we hope to see  good officiating from Nigerian referees. Truth be told,  we had series of horrible officiating that made some people tagged some referees as ” joy killers”, as much as the Nigeria Referees Association  and appointment committee  wouldn’t want to tag their people with bad names,    they should be bold enough to flush out  incompetent referees from their association.

3. AITEO CUP
The oldest cup competition in Nigeria now renamed AITEO Cup is one of the best thing that happened to our football this year. Everyone that followed the competition in 2017 would testify of the high level of competition due to the huge prize money involved   and the  glamour during the finals.  Before the finals,  we had controversies at various centres ( both men and women)  that made Kogi United being banned from the tournament for two years. Also another shameful act that occurred during this year’s competition was in Nembe, the 1st leg semi final  match between Bayelsa Queens and Rivers Angels where the goalkeeper of the home team ( Jonathan Alaba)  attacked the centre referee after she awarded a deserved penalty to the away team, she also torn the referee’s paper. I remember vividly well that I wrote about this particular incident the very day it occurred because I was at the stadium but it’s sad that there was no official report of sanctions on Bayelsa Queens players that attacked the referees.  I think this incident should not  be swept under the carpet if we do not  want to encourage players to take laws into their hands against match officials.

Finally, I have it on good authority that match officials that officiated the semi final matches of both men and women AITEO Cup have not been paid till date,  probably the money has been released by the sponsors but it’s been held by some “powers that be”. I want to plead with the “powers that be” to pay the referees their deserved money.

4. Nigeria Football Federation (NFF)

Nigeria Football Federation under  the leadership of Amaju Pinnick  did tremendously well in 2017 by securing sponsors for the national teams, also been able to play the politics to elevate some Nigerians to leadership positions in CAF and FIFA.

One of the  greatest achievement of Nigeria Football Federation under the leadership of Amaju Pinnick in 2017  was the qualification of Super Eagles for 2018 World Cup in Russia with a game to spear, this qualification seems to be the main vision of NFF no wonder Nigeria qualified with ease.  Aside the Super Eagles, Super Falcons were neglected in the year 2017 with no coach,  no friendly matches and this neglect tend to disturb a whole lot of women football followers because we haven’t forgotten how Amaju Pinnick went on air after he was elected as the President of NFF to declare his love for women football and his plans for women football in Nigeria but in the year 2017, this promises could be likened  to a situation where water is poured on rocks. Countries such as Ghana and South Africa played high profile friendly matches in the year 2017 but here in Nigeria,  our senior national team  ( Super Falcons)  were dormant for one good year,  at a point we were promised a coach after within 10 days,  the days expired without any coach named and recently we have been told to  expect a world class coach in the next 14 days for Super Falcons. By my own calculation,  the 14 days expires by 10th of January and I sincerely hope that stories won’t be told on that day.

In 2017 under the leadership of Amaju Pinnick,  we failed to qualify for the Africa  U -17 Cup of Nations , meaning that we didn’t play at the 2017  FIFA U-17 World Cup. Also in 2017, bonuses were scrapped for age grade teams and media officers were also scrapped, the federation may be right scrapping bonuses for age grade teams  but what measures have they put in place to take care of the young players under their custody?  Other countries that we intend to emulate by scrapping bonuses takes care of the age grade teams,  some of the players are on scholarship   in various schools.

Falconets opponents in the last round of qualifiers for U -20 World Cup, South Africa, few days ago played a friendly match against Ghana in their readiness for the match that comes up early this month but our girls are in Abuja playing friendlies  with U -15 boys and U -13 boys. I have it on good authority how the money for the coaches were slashed after they returned from Morocco. The coaches were supposed to be paid 500 dollars but their money was slashed to 250 dollars, yet we have sponsors that are supposed to take care of coaches bill.

As we enter the New Year,   I want to remind our dear NFF president, Amaju Pinnick that Super Eagles are not the only project of NFF in this year 2018,   Super Falcons need all the necessary support to qualify for 2018 African Women Championship ( AWC)  and this can only happen if they are given the best preparation. Also the era of appointing coaches for women national team few weeks to crucial qualifiers should please stop. Good example was the appointment of Bala Nkiyu as Flamingoes coach barely few weeks to crucial match. Also the era of treating women national team players in camp as slaves must stop,  I cannot understand the rational of  NFF keeping six players in a room?   I cannot fathom why players in camp would be threatened that if they eat extra food in camp,  they would pay with their money.  In this modern day, can this happen in the camp in any of our men’s national teams? Never!

Slavery of our women national teams.  must stop in 2018. Recently.  during the return leg of Flamingoes match against Ethiopia in Benin,   our girls were given “moin moin”  with bread and custard to eat in the morning of a match day, how do we explain this?  I took my time to ask a nutritionist about this diet and she was of the opinion that it was  wrong for players to eat such a meal on a match day.  Enough of this ill treatment of our women national teams.

I am very  optimistic that Falconets and Flamingoes would qualify for both U -20 and U -17 World Cups, I want to appeal to the leadership of NFF to please give the girls all the necessary support.  Let’s not focus only on the men’s World Cup.

Finally, I pray God to give all our administrators the wisdom to take our football to greater level in 2018.

Long live NWFL

Long live NPFL

Long live NFF

Long live Nigeria.