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After
two weeks of excitement, action resumes at the maiden Governor
Babatunde Fashola Football Cup this weekend at Ibeshe, Ikorodu, Lagos.

The 16-team
football carnival was sponsored by former Lagos State commissioner for
agriculture and co-operatives, Kaoli Olusanya in honour of the state
governor. In the games, Isale Ebute would trade tackles with Ilemere on
Saturday February 5 at Kene Balogun School Playground; and Guide Close
will take on Owode Rabaka at the Liberty ground Oke Ota Ibeshe, Ikorodu.

The tournament’s
sponsor, Mr Olusanaya praised Mr Fashola for changing the face of
sports in the state, adding that the tourney was a small way of
boosting youth football in his community.

“You never can
really tell the number of football stars that would be discovered at a
tourney like this and go on to represent our country in the future,” he
said. He said he was happy with the work of the state governor and
decided to honour him with the tourney.

As the quarter
final games beckons, the sponsor enjoined all players and fans to
maintain the high standard of discipline exhibited so far towards
making the tournament hitch free.

Apart from a giant trophy, lots of other prizes are at stake for teams that excel and the finals comes up in March 20, 2011.

This
year’s edition of the Rivers State Governor’s Cup promises to be no
different from the others in its determination to showcase local
talents. The Obio-Akpor team, with three talented players – Kenneth
Ekwe, Osi Miniru and Owen Okene – has dominated the tournament and
recently bashed Bonny Kingdom lads 7-2. Not only are the trio
tournament leaders, they also dominated the score sheet, amassing a
total of 18 goals in three matches. The tournament is sponsored by
Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), Mr Ekwe has helped his team
to remain on top by scoring eight goals. Both Miniru and Okene are
among the leading scorers with four goals each.

Others who
registered their names on the scorer’s sheet include Uche Agoko of
Okrika with four goals, Kachi John of Akuku-Toru and Johnson Asaro of
Eleme scored three and two goals respectively.

It is interesting
to note that some of the best legs of 2009 Governor’s Cup are now key
players at the top of the Nigeria Premier League clubs. They include
the duo of Thompson Stowe and Fortune Omoniwari who play for Sharks of
Port-Harcourt; Ijima Wikina and Innocent Matthew who play for Dolphin
FC; and Solomon Job who plies his trade with Gateway FC of Abeokuta.

In matches decided
on Tuesday, Okrika lived up to their pre-tournament billing by
defeating the lads from Gokana 2-0 while Etche won 3-0 against Onelga
to keep their hope of progressing to the next stage although they will
have to wait until next Tuesday when the preliminary matches will be
concluded.

Birmingham
City manager, Alex McLeish, is desperate to have Obafemi Martins in his
starting line-up for this weekend’s game against West Ham United.

McLeish brought
Martins back to the English Premier League on loan from Russia’s Rubin
Kazan ahead of Monday’s transfer deadline but the striker was unable to
feature in Wednesday’s 2-2 draw against Manchester City as he was stuck
in Lagos. The former Newcastle United and Inter Milan striker was
reportedly waiting for officials of the British High Commission in the
former Nigerian capital city to process his visa to the United Kingdom,
and as a result missed the game at Saint Andrew’s. But the Birmingham
boss is now hoping that everything will be sorted before the Blues
travel to Upton Park to face West Ham in a relegation battle on Sunday.
And, he admitted, in a report on the Birmingham Mail, that Martins
would be in the squad even if he arrived in England as late as Saturday
night.

Wanted badly

“We want him back
as soon as possible,” he said. “Our hands are tied by the red tape.
People in Nigeria hopefully will push the wee man through. He’s a
popular guy and I’m told the embassy would be responsive to allowing
Oba to get back in this country as soon as possible.”

West Ham, after
what appeared to be an eternity, climbed off the foot of the Premier
League table when they defeated Blackpool 3-1 with two of the goals
coming from Martins’ Nigerian team-mate, Obinna Nsofor. So a win for
the Hammers this weekend will see them leapfrog Birmingham on the table.

But the Blues would be confident at Upton Park as not only did they
stun the Hammers in the Carling Cup semi final, but the display against
Manchester City on Wednesday was uplifting. “It would have been galling
to have lost that one after the magnificent second-half performance,”
said McLeish. “But, City were dangerous, they will score goals, they
have got the quality there. By and large we matched them. We were
sloppy in the first-half but I can’t fault the players for the
fantastic effort they gave – and there was a lot of quality from us as
well, we played some good football. City move it well, they have great
footballers in Silva, Tevez, Dzeko will bring a lot to them when he
gets top fit, no doubt about it. So we knew we were playing against top
quality players. But we gave it a right go ourselves – and we’ve got
to. We’re at home at St Andrew’s, we have the crowd behind us, the
power of the troops last week against West Ham in the Carling Cup
semi-final was immense and, again, it unnerves the opposition. In the
second-half we were more in their faces, we were excellent.”

The
Nigeria Football Federation, yesterday filed a motion challenging the
move by the Harrison Jalla-led National Association of Nigeria Players,
to re-list the case it had formerly withdrawn against it.

At the resumed
hearing of the case between the two parties, at the Federal High Court
in Ikoyi, the new lead counsel for the federation, Akin Olujimi,
challenged the application by the association’s counsel, Aideloje Belo,
to bring back the matter formerly struck out by the court after both
parties had agreed to an out of court settlement. The players
association had returned to court on January 19, 2011 seeking to have
its case against the federation re-listed after previously withdrawing
the same case on October 25, 2010, owing to an agreement reached with
the federation.

The players union
however complained that the federation failed to keep to their side of
the bargain; a situation that prompted the move to re-list their case.
Confirming the development, Aideloje said he was served the notice
challenging his application late but will be studying the argument in
order to respond properly to the filed motion at the court’s next
hearing. “I need to react to what they have written in their
application and so we can continue from there,” he said. Justice Okon
Abang has thus adjourned hearing on the suit till Tuesday, March 1.

Zurich talks

Despite the court
case hanging around the legality of his board however, NFF President,
Aminu Maigari, is away in Zurich for talks with FIFA President, Sepp.
Blatter. In interview with the FIFA.com, Maigari revealed that he has
held very interesting talks, during which he informed the FIFA boss
about the latest developments in Nigerian football. On his priorities
for the next few years, Maigari said: “Our goal is to maintain Nigerian
football’s steady development. Although to ensure we continue our
development, we have to improve our structures. We’re very grateful to
FIFA for its valuable support in this respect. It’s a time of
transition for our national team at the moment, and we’re working very
hard with technical advisors to form a restructured, competitive team
as quickly as we can.”

FIFA
Executive Committee member, Amos Adamu, and four other officials of the
football governing body may have to wait a while before knowing the
outcome of their appeal.

The other officials
are Tahitian Reynald Temarii; Slim Aloulou, a Tunisian lawyer who
chaired FIFA’s disputes panel; Amadou Diakite of Mali, a FIFA referees
committee member; and Ahongalu Fusimalohi, chief executive of the Tonga
federation. FIFA’s independent appeals committee, chaired by Bermuda
Football Association boss, Larry Mussenden, also a former attorney
general in the Caribbean island’s government, commenced hearings in
Zurich, Switzerland on Wednesday. Expectations were that the hearing
would last for two days with the outcome expected to be made Thursday.
However, nothing of such emerged from FIFA’s Zurich headquarters as at
the time this paper went to press late yesterday.

Uncertainty

There was however a
contradictory reports on some news web sites to the effect that FIFA
will not be announcing the outcome of the hearing until two weeks. A
number of these sites, based in New Zealand and the surrounding
islands, most notably Dominion Post, Manawatu Standard and Taranaki
Daily News, reported that Temarii had told Fairfax Media that FIFA will
take more than two weeks to announce his fate and those of the other
officials appealing corruption and ethics bans. Fairfax, in January,
revealed that FIFA had formally written to Temarii, clearing him of all
corruption charges.

However, in an
email sent to Fairfax this week, Temarii said the Appeal Committee
chairman, Mussenden, had warned him not to expect anything until
February 18. “An announcement will be made in 15 days, according to the
chairman of the Appeal Committee,” Temarii was quoted to have said. If
the report is anything to go by, then the result ought to be out before
the February 23 annual assembly of Africa’s football governing body,
CAF scheduled for Khartoum, Sudan. And should Adamu win his appeal,
then the 58-year-old would be eligible to re-contest his position on
the FIFA executive committee at the annual assembly where delegates
will choose two of the continent’s four representatives to the world
body’s 24-member Executive Committee.

No solidarity

Adamu is listed as
a candidate pending his appeal, with compatriot Ibrahim Galadima on
standby should FIFA stand by its original decision to ban him for three
years. Meanwhile, the acting secretary general of the Nigeria Football
Federation (NFF), Musa Amadu, has denied reports that the trip embarked
upon by him and Aminu Maigari, the NFF’s president, to Switzerland was
a mark of solidarity for Adamu. According to Amadu, Maigari and himself
had gone to Zurich to honour a meeting that had been long scheduled
over Nigeria’s desire for more FIFA goal projects, even though they
departed on the morning of the commencement of the appeal.

“It is important to put the facts straight,” he said. “We are not
here to be by the side of Adamu. It happened that our visit coincided
with Adamu’s appeal that was being heard at the FIFA Headquarters.
Remember that we had long sought for a meeting with the FIFA President
(Joseph Blatter). Originally, we got an appointment for January 26, but
we were eventually alerted that Blatter would be otherwise engaged and
another date had to be worked out. That was how it came to be Thursday,
February 3.”

Former
Olympic swimming champion Ian Thorpe ended months of rampant
speculation and announced his return to the pool Wednesday, with an eye
on making the Australian team to swim at next year’s London Olympics.

The 28-year-old,
nicknamed “Thorpedo,” quit competitive swimming in 2006 after a
glittering career in which he captured nine Olympic medals, five gold,
three silver and a bronze, at Sydney in 2000 and Athens in 2004 and 11
world championship titles.

“It hasn’t been
something I’ve taken lightly, I made the decision last September,”
Thorpe told a televised news conference in Sydney.

“I went to see the
swimming venue for the London Olympics and it’s an extraordinary venue
and I could taste it, which is something I haven’t felt for a very,
very long time.

“I didn’t get back
into the pool to get fit, I got back into it for (no) other reason to
get back into the stage where I could compete at an elite level.”

Thorpe registered
for the drug-testing regime Wednesday. He must be registered in the
program for nine months before he can compete.

Thorpe, whose
speciality during the height of his career were the 200 and 400 metres
freestyle, said he would target the relays and the 100 and 200
freestyle when he returned to competition.

“It was on my bucket list to swim at another Olympics before I was 30,” Thorpe added.

“I’ve never not
liked swimming. I like the laps, I like the training and the hard work
and in the time out of the pool I have been able to get on with a
normal life, but this is something that has just been nagging at the
back of my mind.

“I have set myself in preparing for London and it may continue after that.

“The thing that is driving me, is being able to perform again.”

Super
Eagles coach, Samson Siasia says that in order for him to succeed in
the task of transforming the senior national team into one of the most
formidable squads in the world, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF)
needs to organise friendly matches on a regular basis.

Siasia spoke yesterday in Lagos during the TomTom Roundtable with Sports Editors organised by Cadbury Nigeria.

Siasia’s call came
on the heels of the cancellation of an international friendly match
scheduled with the national team of Guatemala and the choice of Sierra
Leone as its replacement.

“We need to play a
lot of friendly matches. That is one was we can assess the progress of
the team. I would like for us to avail ourselves of the opportunity
presented by the FIFA free days to engage teams,” Siasia said.

Siasia, who
expressed regret that the proposed match with Guatemala had been called
off, said it was encouraging to know that a replacement has been lined
up. He debunked claims that he had objected to moves by the football
federation to get Benin Republic as replacement before a deal was
finally struck with Sierra Leone:

“I did not reject
any team. That report is untrue. It is the responsibility of the
football federation to ensure that the team is kept busy through the
organisation of friendly matches. I do not dictate to the NFF what to
do,” Siasia said.

Mountain climbing

On his assignment
as coach of the Eagles, Siasia says it is akin to climbing a mountain,
noting that there is a long way to go to getting the Super Eagles
Flying again.

“It is not an easy task but it is doable. It requires hard work and commitment on the part of all,” Siasia said.

One of the ways
Siasia believes this can be done is by having the right calibre of
players. He said no player who is not enjoying regular playing time
with his club, will be extended an invitation let alone play for the
team.

“There will be no
shortcuts to the Eagles. It is either a player is in form or he is not.
There’ll be no room for unfit players in the squad,” the Super Eagles
coach said.

He warned that
though he is determined to make a success of his present assignment by
ensuring that only the best players are assembled for the national
team, he will not beg any player, no matter how good he is, to play for
Nigeria.

“If a player feels he doesn’t want to play for his country, there is
nothing anyone can do about it. We have good players spread around the
world, we will turn to those that are interested,” he said.

The
Super Eagles dropped eight places in the latest FIFA ranking released
yesterday. The Eagles, who were ranked 32nd last month, now occupy the
40th position.

At this time last
year, the Eagles were ranked 15th in the world, but a poor outing at
the World Cup followed with other dismal performances has seen the team
lose ground. The fall is also due to Nigeria’s inability to play
quality friendly matches when it is not engaged international
competitions. The Super Eagles are usually idle at periods when other
national teams are busy playing friendly matches.

Despite the dip in fortune, the team is still ranked 4th in Africa, behind Egypt, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana.

Missing out

According to FIFA,
one of the yard sticks adopted in ranking teams is the outcome of games
from friendly matches at periods when international competitions are
not on the football calendar.

Only recently, a
proposed friendly match with Guatemala billed for February 9 in the
United States of America was put on hold as organisers failed to seal
an agreement with their opponent. The football federation has however
announced that the Eagles will take on fellow West Africans Sierra
Leone on the same date in Lagos.

African Ranking

While the Super
Eagles will be ruing their fall, current African champions, Egypt were
the worst hit in the February ranking. They fell from their previous
enviable 10th position to the 33rd spot in the world. The Pharaohs
consequently lost out on the continent’s top spot; a position they had
consistently held for the past twelve months.

According to FIFA,
Egypt’s slump, which puts the North African country in 3rd place on the
African ranking, was due to the significant devaluation of the points
won a year ago at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations in Angola.

The Black Stars of
Ghana are now the highest ranked African team; they occupy the 15th
spot in the world, followed by Côte d’Ivoire who are eleven places
behind in the 26th spot on the world ranking.

Asian on the rise

There were no
changes at the summit of the global ladder with the top nine teams
maintaining their positions, but Japan (17th, up 12 places), who became
Asian champions for a fourth time in Doha, have re-entered the top 20
after being absent for almost five years.

The Samurai Blue
are now the highest-ranked Asian team as well as being the third team –
after hosts Brazil and world champions Spain – to qualify for the FIFA
Confederations Cup in 2013.

The just concluded AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2011 had a significant impact on the latest edition of the ranking.

Qatar 2011 finalists Australia (21st, up 5 places), as well as
semi-finalists Korea Republic (32nd, up 7 spots) and this month’s
highest climbers Uzbekistan (77th, up 31 places), rose in the ranking.
Other Asian teams on the rise include Iran (44th, up 21 places), Jordan
(84th, up 23 places), Iraq (88th, up 10 places) and Qatar (90th, up 15
places).

Thank God for my
buddy, Sadiq Abdullahi, Nigeria’s Tennis Ambassador, who, by any
standard, is one of the most successful international tennis players,
this great nation has produced. Abdullahi drew my attention to Segun
Odegbami’s column of January 23, published by one of the nation’s
sports papers.

He called me from
his base in the USA, as is his custom, to discuss modalities and
strategies being put in place for the Save Nigerian Sports Initiative
(SANSI). Abdullahi is one of the rejected who should be firming up
grass roots tennis development in Nigeria, but is not considered
valuable by those that are in charge of tennis in Nigeria. Another
rejected stone, also domiciled in the USA is my darling sister – Pat
Itanyi, who has been massively, but very silently, contributing to the
development and promotion of athletics in Nigeria. Like Abdullahi,
Itanyi is not considered as a person capable of serving her father land
by the powers that be. She spends time calling, upwards of 45 minutes
on various occasions, passionately discussing issues concerning the
state of athletics in Nigeria and how SANSI can fulfil the purpose for
which it has been ordained by God.

By the way, as far
as I am concerned, I will continue to remind fellow Nigerians, that the
Lord God Almighty is the greatest Sports Person on this universe. And
it does not matter whether you – the reader of this write-up, believe
it or not. God is in control of sports in Nigeria and when He decides
to do what He alone can do, there will be deliverance for sports in
this country. It is only a matter of time and of course the efforts
made by those, who are genuinely concerned about the future of Nigerian
sports, to cry to God and say ‘enough is enough’ of the shenanigans,
going on in the administration and management of Nigerian sports.

I have good news
for Abdullahi and Itanyi and all those ignorantly rejected by the cabal
temporarily killing sports in this great country. The good news is that
it is the rejected stones that will eventually form the pillar, needed
to uphold and lift sports to the height of glory, in Nigeria.

This is one of the reasons, why we cannot afford to give up now.

The so-called Fans Assembly

I then searched for
Odegbami’s write-up, only for me to discover that we went through the
same unpleasant experience on the morning of Thursday, January 20, by
being unfortunate to have listened to the same radio programme referred
to as the “fans assembly” or ‘back-pass’ in which members of the public
call in and make contributions to issues concerning sports, especially
in Nigeria. I was also driving to my office as I traumatically listened
to the programme. I must confess that I used to be a honourable member
of that ‘assembly’, until I became “dishonourable”, after my views on
the issue of age falsification was considered reactionary and
absolutely unpatriotic, during one of such programmes in 2009. Since
then I decided never to be part of that ‘assembly’.

The ‘speaker had
set the ball rolling by telling Nigerians to contribute to the issue of
age falsification by age grade players, who represent Nigeria in
international competitions if they would allow or encourage their wards
to perpetrate such demonic act.

Majority of those
who participated in the phone-in programme saw nothing wrong in age
falsification. I got miffed and called in, to make my position known,
only to discover that I had stirred the hornet’s nest with my
contribution. My consolation however is the fact a few other patriotic
Nigerians, supported my submission.

The concern I have
is that if parents (fans) publicly endorse such acts of deceit,
corruption, falsification, immorality, thievery, misplaced priority,
ignorance and the lust for money, then it is not too difficult for the
discerning mind, to figure out what is happening to Nigerian sports.

When matured
adults, parents especially, are not mindful of the dangers inherent in
the acceptance of fraud, greed, mediocrity and ignorance, when the
socio-political, economic, academic and spiritual values of sports are
not only trivialised, but subjected to being shamelessly raped by those
who are supposed to uphold and defend such values, then, it is not
likely that there is the guarantee of a bright future for Nigerian
sports. When about 150 million people allow a few individuals to
continue toying with the their God-given passion, which is sports and
the only thread binding this nation, endowed with so much sporting
potentials, enough to rule the world of sports, then, it is time for us
to wake up from our slumber in Nigeria. It is necessary, because even
animals – dogs for instance, do not take it too lightly, when human
beings mess around with what they are passionate about.

Fellow Nigerians,
the future of Nigerian sports, the future of our children and the
future of this great nation, is being toyed with right now. It should
not be so. But how did we get ourselves into this ruckus? What can be
done to salvage the situation?

Wait a minute, I was going to discuss issues raised by Odegbami’s
column, but got so carried away. We will continue later but it is well,
because there is plenty of hope.