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No serious Chelsea fan would have believed it if he were told
that at the beginning of 2011, the Blues would be outside the Champions League
placing, especially going by the way the team started the season. In the last
10 weeks, it has gone horribly wrong for Carlo Ancelotti and his men. Chelsea
host Blackburn at Stamford Bridge on Saturday with just one need – get all
three points against Rovers. The fans will not mind the manner the victory is
procured as long as three points are secured. This will help the team leap-frog
Tottenham, which is in fourth place, at least for 24 hours.

Team captain, John Terry, has made another rallying call to the
players after describing their current form as being unacceptable. “Our recent
performances have not been good enough,” he said in the Daily Star. “We’re not
playing at the level we can and we’re slipping further behind the leaders with
every point we drop. That’s unacceptable for a club like this, where we expect
to win every game, and now we have to start to put things right. This squad
should be challenging at the top of the league, winning games and pushing hard
in every competition.” And despite the 7-0 mauling of Ipswich Town in
third-round FA Cup match-up on Sunday, the team will not be lulled into false
state of over-confidence. Ancelotti had said after the match, “I’m not going to
get carried away.

Morale booster

The result was good and we did a lot of things well in this
game. We have to give the same performance next week against Blackburn.” But
one thing the result will have done for the team is boost morale in the team.
Another plus was that young striker, Daniel Sturridge, got a chance to show the
coach that he can score goals and Salomon Kalou might be given a rest to allow
the England U-21 striker to continue his rich vein of scoring form. He scored
five goals in a reserve match against Aston Villa last week. “He played well,
scored, and is a good player and a good striker, very dangerous,” said
Ancelotti. “In the future, he’ll have opportunities. We have a lot of games in
this period coming up. I think he has to fight with the other strikers, but
everyone has to fight. There are a lot of players in competition up front.”

Though Chelsea has not completely given up on defending their
title, Terry said his side must firstly start winning games. “Even if we have
gone off course recently but, before we start thinking about silverware, we
have to concentrate on starting to win games again.” Ancelotti faces the
dilemma of dropping either Didier Drogba or Florent Malouda to accommodate
Sturridge. Drogba and Malouda have been out of sorts over the last eight
matches and Drogba has scored just one goal in eight for the Blues.

Blackburn, under caretaker manager Steve Kean, can themselves
move into the European spots with a win at Stamford Bridge though the team
selection and performance may be hampered by the absence of some key players
due to suspensions and injury. Former England goalkeeper, Paul Robinson, leads
the casualty list, joined by giant midfielder, Steven Nzonzi, centre back, Phil
Jones, who is out for the season, Keith Andrews and Vincent Grella. A piece of
good news is that Jason Roberts has returned from injury and should start in
the absence of Nikola Kalinic, who is suspended.

Basement side seek
Arsenal reprieve

There is no other way that West Ham can go but to seek to beat
Arsenal on Saturday. And with the Gunners’ coach complaining of fatigue in the
0-1 loss to Ipswich Town on Wednesday, there will not be room for excuses as
the Hammers also had to play on Tuesday. Arsene Wenger described his side’s
loss to the championship side as an act naivety. “We were too naive; I said to
them if you can’t win the game at least don’t lose it,” said Wenger on BBC. “I
was very disappointed. We had no spark, no creativity. But I’m confident we
will turn it around at home.” But his attention on Saturday will be turned to
the pursuit of the Premier League crown that has evaded the Gunners for six
years. Wenger also said after the loss at Portman Road on Wednesday that his side
had no excuse for losing and they will have no need for excuses on Saturday
afternoon as they confront Avram Grant at Upton Park.

Saturday could be Grant’s last as manager of the Hammers and that could in
itself lift the home side unless the manager has inadvertently lost the
dressing room. There is already a short-list of candidates ready to replace
him, from former Aston Villa manager, Martin O’Neill to recently sacked
Blackburn coach, Sam Allardyce. Arsenal will have to do that without the
presence of defenders, Thomas Vermaelen and Sebastien Squillaci, who are
sidelined with Achilles tendon and hamstring injuries respectively. Obinna
Nsofor is suspended for the Hammers because of the red card he picked up
against Birmingham in the first leg 2-1 win on Tuesday.

Coach Samson Siasia has given his Super Eagles wards the weekend
off to play Nigeria Premier League matches for their domestic clubs.

“You should go back to your clubs and help them in the League
matches this weekend; but you must be back here by Monday. Whoever is not here
on Monday should count himself out of the running for a shirt,” said Siasia as
the players had lunch at their Bolton White Apartments camp before dispersing
to different parts of the country. This came after the team had played a 2-2
draw with the national U-20 side, Flying Eagles, in a knock-around at the
artificial turf of the FIFA Technical Centre, Abuja.

On Wednesday evening, Chris Green, the Chairman of the NFF
Technical Committee; Felix Anyansi-Agwu, the Vice Chairman; and acting
Secretary General, Musa Amadu, watched the Eagles in their evening training
session at the Technical Centre. After the session, Green addressed the
players: “You must be ready to listen to the technical crew headed by Coach
Samson Siasia at all times, because if the coach says you are out, you are
out,” he said. “Discipline is important in everything you do, and be assured
that the Nigeria Football Federation will give the team the needed support at
all times.”

A total of 27 players featured in the training, which resumes on
Monday.

Siasia as technical
director

Meanwhile, Green has revealed that Siasia would act as technical
director of the federation pending the appointment of a substantive coach.
“Siasia’s position as the head coach of the Super Eagles qualifies him to act
as the technical director,” he said. “He will do that for now until we appoint
the right candidate for the job.” He said the arrangement has been made
expedient because of the crowded schedule of the NFF this year. Nigeria will be
involved in a number of international football competitions beginning with the
Africa Youth Championship in Libya in March.

If the Flying Eagles do well, they will feature in the FIFA U-20
World Cup coming up later this year. Also Nigeria’s senior women’s national
team, the Super Falcons, would be participating in the FIFA Women’s World Cup
billed for Germany in June. For their part, the Super Eagles would continue the
qualifiers for next year’s African Cup of Nations. The Eagles are currently in
camp preparing for an invitational international football tournament, ‘Obama
Cup’, taking place in the United States next month with Siasia fully in charge
of training sessions. The former Eagle striker has warned players to comport
themselves in a manner befitting of national team players.

Unearthing talent

Green says with someone in the saddle as technical director,
these and the federation’s development programmes would not suffer: “We want to
ensure that the programmes we drew up are systematically implemented in addition
to the various competitions lined up this year. Now is the time to actualise
the promises we made about the development of our football and we must move
beyond lip service to achieve these objectives,” he explained.

Green, who is also Chairman of the Rivers State Football
Association, has attributed his re-election into the board of the NFF to hard
work. He said that he intended to embark on an immense sponsorship campaign to
garner more sponsors for grassroots football in the state.

One of such grassroots development programmes is the forthcoming Governor’s
Cup which is sponsored jointly by the Rivers FA and the Shell Petroleum
Development Company. The tournament begins on 20th January. Green hopes that
such programmes such as this would “unearth more football talent in the
different local government areas of the state.”

The
new Super Eagles coach will resume office today if he makes it back
into the country from the United States of America. He was to have
resume on January 3, but that resumption date was postponed for
technical reasons.

During his trip to
the United States, the Nigeria Football Federation completed the
coaching department of the Super Eagles with the announcement of Ike
Shorunmu as the goal keeper coach and Salisu Yusuf as the second
assistant coach. Simon Kalika, the first assistant to Samson Siasia had
been chosen prior to these announcements. These coaches will either
make or break the next set of players that will make up the senior
national team.

Every coach has a
philosophy which he normally adopts in coaching his sides and as the
new era starts, we need to ask questions concerning the individuals
that make up the coaching quartet. On first hand basis, Siasia is a
hands-on coach who is said to be close to his players. This was the
prognosis of his team during the build up to the Olympic Games at
Beijing in 2008.

But that assumption
throws up further questions -will he be able to forge that kind of
camaraderie with the likes of Yakubu Aiyegbeni and the other senior
Eagles players?

What will be the
functions of the first assistant coach and the second assistant? What
are their antecedents? In a nut-shell, what are they bringing to the
table?

Though there is
still controversy on how the NFF came to pick Yusuf and Shorunmu, we
want to believe that best practices were followed in arriving at the
choices. Yusuf has worked extensively on the local scene, most
prominently with Kano Pillars over the past three seasons and his sides
have been known to play pleasing football.

Former Super Eagles
Coach, Christian Chukwu said recently in a local newspaper that, “I
cannot tell you I know the criteria used in picking the two coaches but
we all started the process which was inconclusive.” “We were told that
when the nominees were pruned from the number of text messages, Siasia
was supposed to have an input in the choice of who would be his
assistants. I do not know if from the names gathered through text
messages, Siasia was contacted to make his final choice. May be he was
contacted through the same way we were asked to send names, I cannot
confirm. Until we meet, I cannot exactly say what really happened.”

Moving forward

The second
assistant coach, Yusuf spoke to NEXTSports from his base in Kano and
said, “We are young and ambitious and we also want to make Nigerians
proud.” When he was asked what particular quality he would be bringing
to the national team, the Kano Pillars coach said,

“I have extensive
knowledge of the local league and even Samson (Siasia) does and since
we are in the process of rebuilding, the local league will have a say
in the formation of the new national team.” Nigerian football fans have
not been happy at the ‘plodding’ football that the national team
currently exhibits so the question was posed to the second assistant
coach for him to elaborate on what he thinks are the challenges that
the team currently faces?

Yusuf said: “The
problem that the Eagles face presently in my own opinion is that of
players playing out of their natural positions.

“The first thing we
need to do to build a viable team is to make sure that the players that
are chosen are placed in their natural habitats. There can be
emergencies in the match but firstly, players must play in their
natural positions. In the past few years, players have been used in the
wrong positions and that is why we have had defensive midfielders
playing as offensive midfielders and vice versa.” Yusuf and Shorunmu
have been with Siasia at different times. Shorunmu was around the U-23
team before the Beijing Olympics and Yusuf was on the bench with Siasia
at the FIFA U-20 World Championship in Egypt IN 2009.

The new coach has
drawn out a plan of action to revive the national team. They are of
short and long term duration; the question being asked is: how would
Yusuf and Kalika fit in to his plan?

Speaking concerning
Kalika in the new set-up on SuperSport, Siasia said: “Simon (Kalika) is
a useful ally in scouting other teams and that is how we got to meet.

“In 2005 in
Holland, he just came to me and said he would like to help the U-20
team by helping us scout the opponents. I was glad that he came but I
told him not to expect any form of payment and he agreed. I found out
that whatever reports he gave to me helped the team to prepare for our
matches and his analysis on the opponents’ weaknesses were always
accurate and that is how we started working together.” Kalika has been
with Siasia to the U-20 World Cup, the U-23 team at the Beijing
Olympics, and also at the U-20 FIFA World Cup in Egypt in 2009.

Siasia has said he
would not be introducing drastic changes but begin by looking around to
identify young and talented footballers who would be given the
opportunity to prove their worth, both from within and outside Nigeria.

His plan as he put it is to have for now, a mixture of some of the
old players in the team who are still relevant and some young ones who
have shown that they have the special talent to make the team.

Newcastle United were humiliated 3-1 by League Two (fourth division)
Stevenage on Saturday as four top-flight teams were knocked out by
lowly opposition in the third round of the FA Cup.

Sunderland, West Bromwich
Albion and Blackpool also went out as the world’s oldest cup
competition maintained its reputation for upsets.

Arsenal almost made the tally
five but Cesc Fabregas came off the bench to score a last-minute
penalty to earn the 10-times winners a 1-1 home draw with Championship
(second division) side Leeds United.

Thirteen years ago Stevenage,
then a minor league club, took a Newcastle title-chasing team to a
replay in an acrimonious fourth-round tie before the top-flight side
eventually went on to reach the final.

Stevenage were deserved winners
this time round as new Newcastle manager Alan Pardew paid a heavy price
for resting several regulars.

Two goals in five minutes early
in the second half by Mike Williamson (own goal) and Michael Bostwick
gave the home team a 2-0 lead.

Newcastle then had Cheik Tiote
sent off for a reckless challenge. Joey Barton pulled a goal back in
the last minute before Peter Winn slammed the door shut with
Stevenage’s third.

“They gave us a lot of problems
with the pressure and physical side of their game,” Pardew told ESPN
television. “I felt we were running on empty, we had four or five
players who looked like they were shot (exhausted).

“I think there are a few in
there that need to understand what this game is all about. In the
Premier League it’s all well and good but a few of the young lads got
caught out tonight.”

SUNDERLAND SLUMP

Sunderland, flying high in
sixth position in the league and with a formidable home record, also
fielded a weakened team and were beaten 2-1 at the Stadium of Light by
Notts County who are struggling in League One.

Championship promotion-chasers
Reading won 1-0 at home to hand West Brom their sixth successive defeat
while League One Southampton overcame visiting Blackpool 2-0.

Bolton Wanderers, seventh in
the Premier League, needed late goals from Kevin Davies and Johan
Elmander to scrape past minor league York City 2-0 while Everton,
Fulham, Wigan Athletic, Aston Villa, West Ham United and Birmingham
City also progressed.

On Sunday, holders Chelsea
entertain Ipswich Town while Kenny Dalglish’s first game back in charge
of Liverpool could hardly be bigger as he takes his side to Old
Trafford to face Manchester United.

Last year Manchester United lost at home in the third round to Leeds, then in League One.

SNODGRASS OPENER

The Yorkshiremen looked on
course for another upset win at the Emirates in Saturday’s lunchtime
kickoff when Denilson tripped Max Gradel in the 54th minute and Robert
Snodgrass converted the penalty in front of 8,000 travelling fans.

Arsenal, unbeaten in 28 home FA
Cup games since Leeds won at their old Highbury ground in 1997, threw
on their big names in an effort to save the tie.

When substitute Theo Walcott was pulled back by Ben Parker up stepped Fabregas to stroke in a 90th-minute spot kick.

In stoppage time Kasper
Schmeichel saved brilliantly from Denilson before Nicklas Bendtner had
a fabulous chance to win it for Arsenal only to screw his shot badly
wide.

“I felt today our game was a
bit slow in our passing, we were not sharp in our decision-making, the
rest is credit to Leeds. They stopped us from playing,” manager Arsene
Wenger told the club’s website (www.arsenal.com)

“When Cesc comes on he has that vision so even if he is closed down he doesn’t have to run too much to make the game quicker.

“It was a very difficult game
because it was a real Cup game and Leeds were up for it, they played
well,” added Wenger. “It was important … not to go out today because
that would have been a shocker.”

This second Sunday
of 2011, I open my account on a note a few may consider curious, given
the somewhat misplaced perception that I am just a football buff no
more no less. Matters are not helped by friends who gave me the
sobriquet Football Aficionado! But here is something that may interest
you and may well be a talking point, which when thoroughly explored and
the findings adequately addressed, a major sport which put Nigeria
first on the World map in 1958, again in 1962, 1965 and for a long time
thereafter will return with a bang.

An old female
friend of mine now resident in Florida, whom I last saw or communicated
with some twenty-four (24) years ago got connected courtesy Facebook
sometime in December 2010 and we have been playing catch-up. On
Thursday morning she changed the gears and had this to say… ‘All you
talk about is football… so boring… What about boxing etc?’

And I replied thus:

“Well, you are
right but you cannot talk boxing with predominantly Nigerian network
audience on Facebook because boxing is dead in Nigeria today. The only
time you hear of it is when its officials are boxing over money or who
will go on a foreign trip because estacode is involved. The Shell Belt
Championship, our equivalent of the US Golden Gloves Tournament was
last held probably in 1989. There are no local promotions and promoters
since age slowed down ace promoter, Martins Osaile.

Even the amateur
ranks that boasted Commonwealth, Olympic and Africa medallists and
title holders is asphyxiated. We had a Nojeem Maiyegun who won bronze
medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, Fatai Ayinla, Eddie Ndukwu, the
Andeh brothers, Tony and Davidson, Joe Mensah, Isaac Ikhuoria, Obisia
Nwankpa, Peter Konyegwachie, Jeremiah Okorodudu, David Izonritei,
Richard Igbinegu etc who were either Commonwealth, African, Olympic or
world amateur medallists.”

Honestly, apart
from the stymied efforts of officials of the NBBF to prevent Obisia
Nwankpa from doing his job as boxing coach to the best of his ability,
local boxing has been a bleeding ulcer. And there are not many great
international boxing fans because local presentation of the sport is
not exactly attractive. My FB network can hardly pick any! Life is not
made easy with a plethora of World boxing controlling bodies which are
all guilty of throwing up title fights between boxers of questionable
credentials. So locally or internationally boxing is ebbing.

Boxing appear to
have gone full-circle, in Nigeria and abroad because quality is scarce.
Today, apart from Manny Pacquaio, Amir Khan of the United Kingdom,
Floyd Mayweather Jr. and the Klitschko brothers, international boxing
is experiencing a drought too and has not offered much since Mike
Tyson. That is the reason two former World heavy-weight boxing
champions Evander Holyfield well into his late forties, is still boxing
and fighting into his grave as did another boxing great, George Foreman.

Diminishing talent

Boxing today is
very lean on talent, extremely pale in colour and short on class.
Roberto “Fists of stone” Duran, the enigmatic Sugar Ray Leonard,
Marvellous Marvin Hagler, Thomas “Hitman” Hearns and Africa’s
contribution to that elite corps of boxers, Uganda’s John “the beast”
Mugabe represent an extinct class of quality boxers.

Add to that, the
greatest of them all, Cassius Clay, the “Louisville lip”, later
Muhammed Ali you can then appreciate what I am saying.

The colour truly
has gone out of boxing. There was the little man from Sheffield,
England, Prince Nassim Hammed in his near Zulu boxing gear that did
have great following too but boxing needs to re-invent itself to get
its followership back.

The critical point
being made here however is the fading glory of Nigeria’s boxing
characterised by management personnel without vision, passion or
commitment. Since the passing on of Air force Officer, Brai Ayonote,
Nigeria’s boxing has been unable to throw up a manager of repute. There
is nobody to lead the way. Pretenders returning less than average
results pervade the Nigeria boxing scene. A sport that could have done
Nigeria a lot more than football has done is suffering from abject
neglect even after producing four World boxing Champions in Hogan
Bassey, Dick Tiger, Bash Ali and Samuel Peter.

Going down memory
lane, Nigeria hosted professional boxing title fights between
1975-2006. These involved boxers like Custom man Joe Lasisi, Hogan
“Atomic bomb” Jimoh, Dele Jonathan and Bash Ali. Even Obisia Nwankpa
tested his kill for a World boxing title with Saoul Mamby. We have also
disappeared from the African boxing radar. I do not recall a Nigerian
boxer with an African title today.

Going forward, I
would like to see a re-organised Nigeria Boxing Board Federation and a
professional body stepping forward to re-invent the game in Nigeria.
There are possibilities from the amateur to professional ranks for the
Nigerian boxer. Let us re-jig the business by shaking up amateur boxing
and getting quality and strength together in at least twenty-two boxers
between the ages of 17-20 years first into a four- year development
programme under the tutelage of experienced coaches from Cuba.

The programme will
prepare and gear up its products for the African and Commonwealth
boxing events as well as the Olympic especially the one for 2016. After
the 2016 Olympics the best of them would be encouraged to step up to
the professional ranks to earn big money, honour and glory. But they
must be guided through a deliberate plan adequately funded. The
Nigerian boxing federation, NABA can institute a business enterprise
unit; engage professionals to manage this initiative for honour and
profit.

Nostalgia fills me
up when I recall from the pages of history, Hogan “kid” Bassey MBE
originally Okon Bassey Asuquo, born in Calabar 3rd June 1932. He was
Nigeria’s first world boxing Champion. He turned professional while
still at school, winning and then losing the Nigerian flyweight title
in 1949. He became Commonwealth Champion and in 1958 became World
Flyweight Champion. Yes, he lost it on the eve on Nigeria’s
independence in 1960 but he was World Champion in boxing and Nigeria’s
first.

And Dick Tiger,
Nigeria’s second World boxing Champion and until Samuel Peter’s very
short reign. Dick Tiger CBE, born Richard Ihetu August 14, 1929 hailed
from Ubahu Village, Amaigbo,

Anambra State. He
was a very active fighter, full of energy, and capable of beating
bigger men. His boxing career record was: fought 81; won 60; lost 18
and drew 3. He was a two-time undisputed world middleweight title
holder. He became World undisputed Light-Heavyweight Champion. Tiger
won his first middle weight title in 1962, and was a popular fighter at
the famous Madison Square Gardens, New York.

Such was the texture of Nigeria’s boxing those days of yore. God
Almighty is not going to come down to do it for us. Somebody has to
step forward to do it. That somebody is not going to be me because I
have my hands full already with youth football, American Football for
Lagos State and miscellaneous interests in sport. Until next week
folks…the labours of our heroes past shall never be in vain.

The
year 2011 has started but the state of the National Women Football
League in still in confusion and uncertainty. Women’s football started
in Nigeria in the late 1970s, but it was not until the 1980s that it
really became a fixture of the local football scene. The pioneers
included Simbiat Babes and Jegede Babes and it was from these teams
that players were picked for the first women’s national football team
in 1990.

Whereas the
national women’s teams have been doing well in international
competitions, the local league that is supposed to serve as the
reservoir for the teams has been rendered comatose because of a lot of
negative happenings between the administrators, club owners and the
players.

Mere shadow

The League has
since become a shadow of its former self as the neglect from the
football body and various bickering has plunged the body into the
doldrums. Neglected by the mother body, the Nigerian Football
Federation (NFF) and differing voices on who is in the best position to
administer the League, has culminated in the women’s league sliding
into a comatose state.

The call for equal
representation In the past, there has been agitation for better
treatment of women in football but these calls it seems have gone
unheeded by the football federation. Henritta Ukaigbe, a prominent
female football commentator said: “In times past, there have been
agitations to make the female league more viable but it seems that
right now, the game is going to be further neglected or even
forgotten.” For the women’s game to get better there must be adequate
representation by the real stake-holders in decision making process in
administering the game. One way by which this could be achieved is by
having representation in the NFF. The elections held in August 2010
produced a board shorn of any woman. To make certain of this
representation, the NFF board has set aside a date for fresh elections
on January 28, 2011.

The news apparently
sounds good, but it is not satisfying to those who manage the women and
who own the clubs. The Women Football Club Owners is against one of the
guidelines set by the NFF. The said guideline stipulates that only
women could contest positions on the Women Football League Board. This
is not good news as it means that male club owners who are directly
involved with the women are not eligible to contest.

Unfair guidelines

According to Peter
Oguche, Chairman of Oguche Babes of Lokoja, such a guideline is
baseless. “No woman is funding a female football club today in Nigeria;
the club owners are all men therefore the NFF should not dictate to us
that the board must be for women only.” Another club manager, John Zaki
of Tin City Queens further buttressed the point being made by Oguche.
“For some time now, no women have been involved in the management of
football at the league level. Before there was Jegede Babes and
Omidiran Babes which were owned by women but now the clubs are no
longer functioning. If there are no women owners at the league level,
how are they to know what the problems actually are?” Speaking on the
same board representation, Ogochukwu Atube, a club less female player
said, “It does not matter if the people representing us are either men
or women. The important thing is that we have fair representation that
would benefit the players and develop the league.” A postponement to
eternity The club owners seem to be happy that the league has been
postponed and hope that all modalities will be put in place for the
commencement. According to Eddington Kuejebola, proprietor of Ufuoma
Babes, he said:

“It is to make sure
that they have all modalities in place so that there will be no
logistics problems. It can be recalled that about two years ago, it was
reported that the league secretary, Danlami Alalana, said that some
clubs would be face relegation if they did not appear for their
matches. And it is because of this statement that most of these clubs
withdrew from the league.” Though it seems this time that the NFF has
acceded to the request of the club owners but instead of putting a time
frame on the extension, the NFF has decided to postpone the start of
the league indefinitely. This further goes to confirm the apparent
pessimistic view with which the NFF views the female game in the
country.

Uncertainty reins

Macbeth Esezobor,
proprietor of the Macbeth Queens football club when spoken to last week
dismissed the starting of the league saying, “Do not be surprised if
the league which they announced would begin in January does not start.
Another person expressing this same lack of confidence is a football
player, Ogochukwu Atube, “We (the players) have been put in a state of
limbo.

We don’t even know
what is going on now. I think I would go and do something else, the
people at the helm of affairs just want to kill the game.” The need for
sponsorship For a League to be tagged a professional one, there is the
need to have sponsorship. However, in the past six years, the league
has suffered from a lack of sponsorship. “At the time we had the
sponsorship of Pepsi, female football was very exciting but now
everything is really boring”, says Atube. Tewogboye Oyewole, proprietor
of Tewo Queens decried the inattention that the women have faced at the
administrative level.

Ayo Omidiran,
proprietor the defunct Omidiran Babes of Oshogbo, also said that the
structure which holds the league needs to be strengthened. “A
professional league without sponsors is not really professional. It is
even worse than an amateur league. When the sponsorship problem is
resolved, then the other solutions to the various challenges will fall
into place.

“For some time now,
the club owners have been responsible for the funding of their
respective clubs and the NFF being the administrators of football in
Nigeria should know the amount of money that is required to keep a club
afloat.” So with all the pessimism and uncertainty relating to the
female league, it is actually correct to say that women football on the
local scene is gradually being squeezed to death.

“There is a limit
to what tolerance can take but you can’t overstretch understanding.
Anger and frustration shouldn’t always find an outlet in the bullet,”
preaches Idris Adam, a 26-year-old resident of Angwan Hausawa, in Tudun
Wada, Jos, the Plateau State capital.

Adam is Fulani; he
is a Muslim with many of his good friends being Christians. Like him
scores of Muslim youth in Tudun Wada, a vast community inhabited by
Christians and Muslims, have been able to shame
ethno-politico-religious detractors seeking to turn the state into a
battle ground of sorts.

The youth in Tudun
Wada have found a common ground on which friendship, mutual respect and
peace can reign on the plateau. That platform is football.

Adorned in football
jerseys of different clubs in Nigeria and outside, Muslim and Christian
youth gather everyday of the week, at the football pitch by the Federal
secretariat complex in Tudun Wada, from as early as 6.30am to mid-day.
Sweating it out together, sharing in each other’s pain and joy, they
simply forget for a while that Jos is a city divided against itself.

“Honestly, it is
the game of football that is helping to bring peace in Tudun Wada,”
says 29-year-old Michael Samuel, a midfield player popularly known as
Boyi. “Football has united the youth in this community. We have grown
up playing together, eating and drinking together. We know each other
so well that it is hard for us to hurt each other.” On December 25,
2010, about 12 hours after scores of mostly Christian men, women, and
children were killed following the Jos Christmas eve multiple bombings
affecting Gada Biu and Angwan Rukuba areas, Boyi, and two fellow
Christian footballer friends, Steven Moga and Musa Gambo, went to the
football pitch.

“There was a lot of
tension in Jos. But the three of us came together to the field because
we were concerned that if no Christian came, they (Muslims in Tudun
Wada) would feel probably we Christians are planning for them,” Boyi
said.

Their action made a
difference, as Adamu Yakubu, a Muslim in his late 40s, and the head
football coach in the area got them and the Muslim youth together,
reminded them they belong to a football family of friends, working
together, not against the other. He asked them to stay close to their
homes, be vigilant and prevent the crisis from extending into their
area.

Football as balm

“It’s through
football that we’ve got ourselves united. I keep telling them our
security is everyone’s responsibility. We don’t just allow strangers to
come into this place because we know its people from outside that are
causing problems, not the Christians and Muslims in here,” says Yakubu.

Indeed, dialogue
and understanding through football has been a key strategy adopted by
the youth in Tudun Wada since the Jos 2008 crisis to promote peace
amongst themselves.

For Bala Ibrahim, a
business man from Gombe State but born and brought up in Jos, any
determined government seeking ways to achieve peace in the state,
should invest more in getting the youth involved in sports,
particularly football, as the game has proved probably the only
unifying tie, which all Nigerians, irrespective of tribe and religion,
have in common.

“Like Boyi, I
visited him in his house on new year’s day. I drank, ate chicken,
cookies and his wife even gave me chin-chin for my wife. I am a Muslim
and he is a Christian, but he also comes to my place. Our friendship
has developed because we play football together. Football is the answer
to attaining peace,” Ibrahim says.

As the Tudun Wada
youth lined up to take a group photograph for this report, Christians
with Muslims, hands over each other’s shoulders, Adam’s words echoed a
piece of advice for other youth:

“Because of crisis,
for 11 years, we have not seen any tangible dividends of democracy.
This is the right time for us all to bury the hatchet and gain what
democracy has to offer,” said Adam, who hopes to study law some day.

Africa’s youngsters
yesterday began their quest for honours in the African U-17
Championship; Rwanda 2011. The tournament which runs through January
22, 2011 also serves as the continent’s qualifiers for the FIFA Cadet
World Cup and for the umpteenth time, Nigeria is missing in action.

It would recalled
that the Golden Eaglets failed in their bid at qualifying for the event
after being knocked out of the race by the cadet team from the
Democratic Republic of Congo, the tie which they lost 3-1 over two legs.

The country was
also in a similar situation in 2008 as it failed to make it to the
Algiers 2009 edition under coach Alphonsus Dike who after winning the
first leg 2-0 in Port Harcourt surprisingly lost 0-3 to Benin Republic
in the return leg and thus crashed out of the qualifiers only to
qualify for the World Cup by virtue of being host.

For many, the
continuous ouster of the U-17 national team from the African tournament
is unacceptable going by the abundant talents that abound in the
country and the exceptional performances recorded in the past at this
stage both on the continent and in the world. Nigeria and Brazil have
the highest number of FIFA U-17 World Cup titles (3) and the Golden
Eaglets have two African titles to their credit.

Playing by the rules

While accepting the
responsibility for his team’s failure, coach of the Golden Eaglet’s,
Monday Odigie, says he still prides himself for daring to do things
differently by sticking to strictly football players who were under 17
years of age.

“Tournaments like
the U-17 is a developmental programme in which talents are to be
discovered and nurtured, it shouldn’t be all about winning. That, I
believe, is the only way we can find capable replacements for our aging
players. My ambition was to qualify the team but as it turned out, we
were not able to make it at the long run,” he said.

He continued: “For
the very first time, we had a team of players majorly drawn from
secondary schools and academies across the country and there was no
single player playing in the league as it used to be the case before. I
would have been happy to see them showcase their talents at the Africa
Championships like their other mates.” he said

Looking ahead

Already, Odigie
revealed that he has submitted his new set of programmes to the Nigeria
Football Federation and only expecting their go-ahead to begin
preparations in earnest for future engagements.

“I am always an
advocate of early preparations and that I believe is the key to
succeeding. We have seen and learnt from the mistakes of the past and
we would want to guide against that in our future endeavours,” he said.

Despite the earlier
setback, Odigie maintained that he would stick to playing by the rules;
which is to use only players still within the specified age-limit.

“If you know me
well, you would see me at different locations where youth tournaments
are been played like the Principals’ Cup, Shell Cup etc, those are
examples of tournaments where one can get genuinely young talents and
that is what we will be doing not just going for old players all in the
name of getting results,” Odigie reiterated.

Previously touted
to assist Super Eagles coach Samson Siasia, Odigie says he has been
using his time to better his knowledge of the game with refresher
courses here and there.

Defending the crown

Meanwhile, as the
ninth edition of the CAF U-17 Championship finally kicked off in Rwanda
yesterday, Lamin Sambou, Gambian U-17 coach, says he has no doubt his
team will retain the African crown. The Baby Scorpions are the
defending champions of the biennial cadet championship, and following
an initial triumph on home soil in 2005, Sambou says his charges are
ready for the challenge backed by a 10-day training camp in Egypt.

For the Baby
Scorpions trainer, the preparations in Egypt has placed them in a good
stead to complete a hat-trick of triumphs, making them the first-ever
country to achieve that feat.

“This is a strong
team in all departments. I have been working with these boys day and
night and I know what they are each capable of giving for their
country,” Sambou was quoted by West Coast Radio, a local radio station.

“We have great confidence in our team and our chances in Rwanda,” he added.

The Gambians will
begin their defence against Congo today; play Mali 72-hours later
before engaging Cote d’Ivoire on January 15 for a place at the next
round.

Knowing very well
that a place at the last four automatically earns them a spot at the
FIFA U-17 World Cup slated for Mexico later in the year, Sambou assured
that his charges will go all out to realize that dream.

“We will certainly qualify,” he declared in a confident tone. In the other match for today, Cote d’Ivoire will take on Mali