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Permit me to quickly sound a note of warning. Let him who thinks he is standing beware lest he fall. This is absolutely necessary now, because of recent developments within the football fraternity in Nigeria. Yes, thank God for the court cases going on. Many Nigerians are happy and excited that the judiciary is doing a wonderful job.

The truth, however, remains that a lot of people are also totally against recent court decisions. They have become wounded lions, very dangerous to deal with.

They can also be likened to lepers, who only need to patiently wait for their enemies to fill their barrels with milk, and with just one leprous finger dipped into the barrel, render the milk entirely useless, not fit for human consumption.

Please take a close look at the warning statement again. He thinks he is standing, he may not actually be standing, but because of the spirit of deception, he thinks so. He may actually be standing, as it were, but on a bobby trap, a land mine or miry clay, and just one attempt to move from the spot will result in utter destruction. That is why the word of God sounds that warning. Beware!!! This message is specifically for those of us patriotic Nigerians, who have been engaged in the war against voodoo-ism, match-fixing, pride, corruption, moral decadence and injustice – to mention just a few of such vices that have eaten deep into the fabric of sports, especially football in Nigeria. To all of you who have been genuinely praying for the restoration of the lost glory of Nigerian sports, all of you who have shed tears, all of you who have lost a loved one – women who are now widows, children who are now fatherless, athletes who have been used and dumped or left to wallow in pain or penury, simply because of the gross ineptitude of greedy and insensitive sports managers and administrators, beware. It is not yet ‘Uhuru’. But there is an assurance of victory.

Looking into the future

In a column published in NEXT of December 29, 2009, I mentioned inter-alia, in the last two paragraphs of the column thus: “the year 2010 is loaded…the implication is that we are likely to experience a lot of distractions…there will be a lot of “ilabeism” (corruption). Bulging stomachs will get bigger. But there is good news for the lovers of sports in this country. The year 2010 will be the beginning of the end of the vices militating against sports in this great nation. Remember, it is the jubilee anniversary of Nigeria and God will surely rescue this nation from the grips of the enemies of Nigerian sports.

Darkness will never overcome light.

Well, to God be all the glory. Will any right-thinking Nigerian claim not to see God at work again in Nigeria? We do not need anyone to tell us that this is just the tiniest finger of the Almighty God at work. His tiniest finger, I want to repeat, for emphasis. Not even His hand. Meaning that we haven’t seen anything yet, because by the time real shaking commences, I am sure God-fearing Nigerians will all agree that POWER and WEALTH belong to God.

God and sports

It is likely that there may be a couple of people reading this piece and who feel like “come on, can we drop all this gibberish about God and focus on sports. Better still, on football. What has football got to do with God?” Such people are absolutely right. Some of the questions I have for such are: – what else should sports writers, critics and analysts do in order to save Nigerian sports from the horrible systemic decline we were experiencing in the country? What have football fans and genuine supporters of the beautiful game not done or said via the print and electronic media, in order to restructure sports in Nigeria? The truth is that it seems the more we criticise or expose the inadequacies in the way and manner football is managed in this nation, the worse matters become in the ‘glass house’.

Insensitivity of the highest degree has become the norm in this great nation.

Those in charge of sports administration are so insufficiently aware of the feelings of sports-loving Nigerians, hence, are unable to respond to them appropriately. When they do react, the reactions are either cosmetic or fake. This is why only God can rescue sports from the grip of enemies of our sports, especially football.

We, therefore, need the assistance of all God-fearing Nigerians to thank God for what He has started so that He can continue and conclude it. Apart from that, we call on our spiritual leaders to please help.

There is the urgent need for genuine divine intervention. Nigeria as a nation must seek the face of God for His mercies and forgiveness. There is need for national restitution. The battle is not ours. We must allow the One who created sports to fight the battle Himself and must not make the mistake of sharing His glory with Him.

The battle is just starting. It is not yet Uhuru, beware!!!

Defending champion, Jenson Button is trying to use the Italian Grand Prix to get back into reckoning after not being able to finish the Belgian race. He was the fastest on Friday’s free practice with Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel scoring the second fastest time.

Button needs a strong win to keep his title defence alive and he showed that intent with a time of one minute 23.693 seconds on the Milanese circuit. Red Bull’s Vettel was a mere 0.097 slower.

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton was third quickest for McLaren and Renault’s Robert Kubica came in fourth.

2008 champion, Hamilton leads Red Bull’s Mark Webber by three points in the standings with six races remaining. Vettel is third, a further 28 points adrift, with Button fourth and 35 points off Hamilton’s pace.

McLaren are favourites

McLaren are clear favourites to win in Ferrari’s backyard, with their car expected to be far more at home on the fastest circuit on the calendar than the Red Bull, which will be better suited to races to come in Asia.

Ferrari, with double world champion Fernando Alonso making his Italian race debut for the sport’s glamour team, filled eighth and ninth places with Brazilian Felipe Massa slightly slower than the Spaniard. Ferrari should be buoyed by the fact that the FIA announced no further penalties after Massa was told to slow down for Alonso to take the Bahrain race.

They were fined $75,000 and the FIA announced no further penalties in their hearing on Thursday. No one actually believes team orders can be eradicated. If a team want their drivers to finish in a particular order, there are plenty of ways of doing so without it ever becoming public.

There was a healthy turnout of fans for the first session and it is expected that it will be a full house today. Amongst the crowd on Friday, there was a banner declaring love for Formula 1 great, Michael Schumacher. That adulation did nothing to help the 41-year old German who was out of racing for three years. Schumacher, now with Mercedes had the 10th fastest time while team mate Nico Rosberg came in fifth. Rubens Barrichello, winner at Monza last season with Brawn GP and also with Ferrari in 2004 and 2002, had to park up his Williams half way through the session with mechanical problems.

Vettel said today’s race “will be tight”. He added that, “the gap between cars will be very small. It will be difficult but we are there and we will fight.”

Fight they must, as Lewis Hamilton will not be brushed aside easily in today’s race and the final five races.

The Nigeria Rugby Football Federation has plans to take the game to greater heights in Nigeria.

It aims to do this by training a new crop of rugby players: the youth.

Akin Akintola, chief operating officer of the federation, said they would build structures that would last beyond now:

“For you to build a structure, you have to lay a foundation and that is what we are doing. The 14 million naira grant provided by Promasidor is for the iTRY Cluster Programme and it came at the right time. The I TRY Cluster Programme is an outreach which seeks to basically encourage youngsters in schools to get involved in the game. What we would be doing is that we would send in coaches we trained with support from University of Stellenbosch.”

The University of Stellenbosch has for 150 years been rugby stalwarts in South Africa, helping to integrate Black South Africa into the game through an initiative – the Matie Academy. This initiative went out into the community and made rugby attractive for everybody. They started with just three academies, but in the last five years, they have had over 500 academies in Stellenbosch and its environs. This same Academy, led by its CEO, Russell Carlse, was invited by the NRFF for regional coaching and referees’ workshop and seminar in May, where about 40 participants were trained.

Youth first

The iTry Cluster Programme begins on the 26th of this month, with coaches from the coaching and workshop seminar sent to the schools.

“The coaches would be sent to about 10 schools in Lagos and the Class 7 kids (JSS One) would be trained in the techniques of rugby for the next five weeks, after which all the schools would play each other for nine months. Next year, we would start with the JSS one students again, till at all levels there are rugby players all over secondary schools,” Jide Afolabi, the coaching institute coordinator, said.

While the efforts of the federation appear laudable, there is the belief in some quarters that they are not moving fast enough. Only last week, some players staged a protest stating, amongst other things, that the federation was slow in taking steps to have the ban placed on Nigeria’s participation in international rugby competitions by the International Rugby Board (IRB) lifted.

But Akintola faulted this view, noting the federation has been active, trying to sort out the issue:

“We have been in contact with the International Rugby Board and the Confederation of African Rugby (CAR) on the issue. We even met with them in May to discuss the matter and we have another meeting scheduled for October, also concerning the ban. They have expressed understanding of the process by which we came in, but they would have preferred a more workable process and we are working towards that. We have asked the international board for time to work things out.”

One step at a time

Akintola added that the ban on rugby does not affect the development programmes of the federation planned for this year.

“We set this year aside specifically for the men and youth. Next year would be for the women and universities. We want to take rugby into the universities because as at now, only Obafemi Awolowo University in Ife has a team. For the coordinators of the men senior rugby, Martin Crawford and Yinka Marinho are to ensure that four 7’s tournaments are played every year.

“So far, they have done well. We have had two of such tournaments this year – the first was held at Ilorin and was called Cresta 7’s, where Addax RFC won, while the second was held in Kaduna by the Kaduna Rugby Club, and was won by Racing RFC. We are looking forward to the remaining two.

“The other project is the iTry Cluster Programme, which is to start in about three weeks. There are other reach out programmes, aimed at sensitising the public about the game of rugby”, Akintola said.

He said that another achievement of the NRFF this year is the establishment of the men’s national team.

“Black Stallion is the name of our national team and when we wanted to form the team in January, we sent letters to all clubs so that from there we could pick the best players. Now, we have a team of local and foreign-based players and they train together every quarter. Their first training was in Lagos, the second was in Kaduna. The two other training would take place in Kaduna and Lagos respectively,” he added.

The rescheduling of the National Sports Festival from this year to February next year, has not affected the enthusiasm of members of the polo fraternity, as preparations are in earnest for an unforgettable sporting festival in the Niger Delta.

We confirmed that the delay in the completion of a new sports complex and concerns over preparedness by some states that are yet to complete registration formalities, necessitated the shifted date, but the polo family in the Garden City say they cannot wait for the games to begin.

Officials of the Port Harcourt Polo Club, on whose ground the polo event will be staged, say that the game will be given a befitting debut as a scoring event during the festival.

Shehu Bob-Manuel, the club’s Vice President, who confirmed their readiness to host the event, said the playing turf and the facilities at the Port Harcourt GRA Polo Ground are being given a face-lift ahead of the national sporting fiesta.

“We are proud to be part of history as the second polo club in the country to host the polo event during the festival and we are not leaving any stone unturned in ensuring a most memorable Rivers 2011 Festival,” Mr Bob-Manuel said. Port Harcourt’s polo captain, Tony Isodje added: “Port Harcourt Polo Club has for decades been hosting the best polo tournaments in the country and we are fully experienced and prepared to host the polo event that would be the talk of the festival,” he stated.

As part of the preparation, the multipurpose Lulu Briggs Gymnasium built by the club was completed last year.

Debut at the festival

Polo made its debut as a non-scoring event last year at the Kaduna Sports Festival, following efforts by officials of the Nigerian Polo Federation (NPF) and the Kaduna Polo Club, who prevailed on the then Minister of Sports, Sani Ndanusa, to include the sport in the festival.

That debut at the Murtala Mohammed Polo Ground gave spectators a whiff of what to expect in Port Harcourt, when polo joins other events to light up the Niger Delta during the 17th National Sports Festival.

Under the auspices of the Nigeria Polo Federation (NPF) led by former Kaduna State governor, Lawal Kaita and its Secretary General, Mohammed Baba Kyari, that Kaduna introduction marked the first time polo would be included in the programme of the 36-year-old sports festival.

Interestingly, polo, reputed to be the oldest competitive sport in Nigeria, has been played as far back as 1904 – long before other popular sports like football, cricket, rugby, basketball, entered into our public life.

To celebrate the long-awaited arrival of the sport into the country’s sporting mainstream, a special tournament was staged by the Kaduna Polo Club under the auspices of the Nigeria Polo Federation (NPF).

The inaugural event attracted teams from nine states: Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, Rivers, Oyo, Katsina,

Trophies

Nasarawa, Zamfara and the FCT, which vied for two trophies, the Governor’s Cup and the KADA Cup, during the four-day tournament.

Four states competed in the high-goal Governor’s Cup, which was eventually won by the Kano State, just as six teams jostled for the low-goal KADA Cup that saw Lagos State out pacing Zamfara in the hotly contested four chukkers final.

The Kano team, which paraded Tajudeen Dantata, Bashir Mangal, Bello Buba and Ali Birjawi defeated the quartet of Babangida Hassan, Dawule Baba, Mamudi Isyaku Rabiu and Husseini Kabir in Katsina State colours 4-3, to lift the high-goal trophy.

The elated Tournament Manager of that ground breaking event, Mohammed Babangida, who played for the FCT alongside the Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, thanked the Sports Minister for being part of the tournament and for granting polo official status as a scoring event at the national sporting fiesta.

Babangida described the introduction of polo into the National Sports Festival as the first step taken by the NPF to engrave polo into the annals of Nigerian sports, and promised polo enthusiasts the most exciting time at the next and subsequent sports festivals.

He said the plan was to see Nigeria polo represented in the 2016 Olympics when the sport makes a comeback into the Olympic realm after a 74-year absence.

“It will be a great dream if we could actually achieve that and with the kind of leadership we have presently in the NPF, the idea is to take polo beyond the shores of Nigeria and show to the world that Nigerian polo has matured,” he said.

Tiger Woods returned to one of his happy hunting grounds on Wednesday riding the momentum from one of the best weeks of a turbulent year into his title defense at the BMW Open.

With his divorce finalized, a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup squad confirmed and his game pointed in the right direction, Woods’s world seemed to be slipping back into a familiar orbit on a sunny day at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club where he has been a winner five times.

“It’s always nice to come back to a venue that I’ve won but also I’ve won it multiple times and in different ways,” Woods told reporters. “I can always kind of go back to that no matter how I’m playing. I can still figure out a way to get it done.” Winless after 11 starts, Woods arrives at the third stop on the FedEx Cup playoff playing his best golf of the season.

He finished in a tie for 12th at The Barclays and tied for 11th at the Deutsche Bank Championship – where he had three straight rounds in the 60s for the first time this year.

The good vibes continued to flow on Tuesday when U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin made the world number one a wild card pick for the squad that will take on Europe at Celtic Manor in Wales from October 1-3.

New swing coach

Woods was even in a bit of a playful mood when he met with the media on Wednesday until asked about working relationship with swing guru Sean Foley and if he was paying him.

“That’s none of your business,” snapped the American.

Pressed further, Woods came as close as he has to confirming the Canadian as his new swing coach saying: “He’s coaching me.” With Foley’s help, Woods appears to be getting his game back on track, but three consecutive rounds in the 60s is a modest achievement for a golfer who not long ago considered winning three straight titles routine.

Still, Woods has seized on every positive as a sign of something to build on.

His next target is the Tour Championship in Atlanta and the world number one is projected to need a top-five finish at the BMW to clinch a spot in the elite 30 man field.

But Woods, who will be going up against all 11 of his Ryder Cup team mates at Cog Hill, said he is encouraged by his recent progress and feels he is headed in the right direction.

“Obviously, the confidence is coming up, I’ve put a lot of hard work into it,” said Woods.

“That’s been nice to see the progress, to be able to go out there and hit the golf ball the way I know I can, know the fixes and understand the concept.

Nigeria will, on October 1st, mark her 50th independence anniversary. It promises to be a grand event with many activities already in place to make the day memorable.

Nigeria’s foremost recreation club, Ikoyi Club, will not be left out of the activities commemorating the country’s golden jubilee as they plan to stage the annual Nigeria Cup golf tournament.

It will be the 14th edition of the golf tourney, which started in 1997, and has since gone on to become one of the most eagerly anticipated events in the country.

“This is the 14th edition, and it coincides with the independence anniversary of our country, and has turned out to be the flagship of the golf tournaments in Ikoyi Club,” disclosed the vice president of Ikoyi Club’s golf section, Frank Gboneme, in an interview with NEXT.

“I dare say that it is the biggest community cup in the whole of Nigeria today. It is already a brand name, and the final always takes place on the Saturday before or immediately after Nigeria’s Independence Day.”

That obviously explains why the tournament is called the Nigeria Cup, and as Nigeria’s independence day celebration will take place on a Friday, it means the final of this year’s Nigeria Cup will come up on Saturday, October 2, at the club’s all-green golf course.

Origins

But what brought about, in the first instance, the concept that later became known as the Nigeria Cup?

Gboneme, an amateur golfer, explains further.

“Prior to the time the Nigeria Cup came to be, so many other community cups were already in place,” recalled Gboneme, with reference to the likes of the French Cup, the Taiwanese Cup, the British Cup, the American Cup, as well as the Japanese Cup tournaments, which were contested for by participants, mostly club members.

“At a time, our people felt that ‘we are the hosts and we don’t even have a Nigeria Cup’, so they came together and in 1997 they were able to put up this tournament which has continued till today,” he said.

Big money for the pros

Although the Nigeria Open started as an event strictly limited to golfers at the exclusive Ikoyi Club, it has, over the past couple of years, opened its doors to guest players, as well as professional golfers, who now have a separate tournament for themselves, which runs side-by-side with the amateur tournament.

And for their efforts, a whooping two million naira, a hundred percent increase from last year’s kitty, has been set aside as prize money for the professional players taking part in the weeklong tourney.

“This year, we have decided to increase the prize money from one to two million naira,” Mr. Gboneme continued.

“It’s also a way of encouraging future Nigeria Cup organising committees to increase the prize money at future events, so as to entice the best golfers in the land to take part in it,” he said.

Something for the kids

In addition, the Nigeria Cup will also encompass a tournament for children under the age of 15, which will run alongside a golf clinic. They will also be engaged in creative art classes.

This session is being organised in conjunction with the African Art Resource Center, which will, amongst providing other services aimed at developing the creative skills of the participants, enlists the services of over 20 renowned artists to tutor the children.

The qualifying round preceding the actual tournament comes up next Saturday, but the main draw doesn’t get underway until the week leading up to the nation’s independence anniversary.

There will also be an evening of classical music, which will also take place on Wednesday, September 29, while two days later, on independence day, there will be a cultural night with fireworks to precede the final, which comes up the following day.

Following the final, a gala night will hold “at the Civic Center, where we believe everyone will have a better environment to interact,” said Mr. Gboneme.

Can Nigerian football survive the present throes of crises it is embroiled in? Will there be light at the end of the tunnel once the whole crisis blows over, if indeed it will?

These are tough times for the beautiful game. From every side football in the country is buffeted by crisis.

In the last one week members of the football fraternity have been treated to the spectacle of the court annulling an election that should not have held in the first place as well as an appeal against that decision. More importantly, there have been witnesses to shocking revelations of how the former leadership of Nigeria’s football governing body, the Nigeria Football Federation under impeached president, Sani Lulu, allegedly played Father Christmas with the funds of the federation.

To squander public funds on family members, cronies and friends, as these men are alleged to have done, is very unfortunate. To think that all these purportedly took place at a time funds were desperately needed to develop the game gives serious cause for worry.

It is fitting that they have been made to face the law. They will have an opportunity to defend themselves and prove to Nigerians that these grievous charges are not true. For, if indeed they are true, then we must question the state of mind of individuals we entrust with public property. We will question what would drive individuals to connive and pass off repainted buses as new ones and pocket millions in taxpayers’ funds or even to lavish $259, 080 as allowances on 68 individuals not entitled to such allowances.

The whole saga raises fundamental issues, one of which is the need for checks on individuals who hold public office. I recall that years ago when former chairman of the Nigeria Football Association devised statutes for the association, Abdulmumini Alao one of Nigeria’s most brilliant and forthright journalists had warned that the statutes were a potential time bomb in that it conferred too much power on the chairman of the association. He advised that something be done to whittle down his powers so that in future no individual could hold the game to ransom. His plea was not heeded and the result is what we are seeing today.

The charges against Lulu, Amanze Uchegbulam, Taiwo Ogunjobi and Bolaji Ojo-Oba by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the ongoing battle in the courts over the August 26 elections into the executive committee of the NFF are results of the failure to heed that advice.

If the NFF congress had done the right thing at the time, Lulu would not have been presented with an opportunity to tinker with the statutes to the extent that he has; he would not have manipulated the system to prune the number of voting delegates at NFF executive committee elections to 44 from 101 in the hope that majority of those delegates 37 of them who happen to chairmen of the 37 state football associations and Abuja (who he is alleged to have bought over by sponsoring them to the World Cup in South Africa) would return him to power.

As it is, his plan backfired but we are left to pick the pieces. We are presented with a situation where erstwhile comrades have become sworn enemies because rather than pursue the growth of Nigerian football for which they congregated in Abuja in the first place, they pursued private agendas.

It would be foolhardy of us to think that sole responsibility for the rot in our game should rest squarely with Lulu and his associates now facing the law. In varying degrees we are all culpable – from board members who looked the other when Lulu drunk on power ran the federation like his private company; journalists who benefitting one way or the other from the federation glossed over glaring inconsistencies between the mandate given to the federation and their actual performance, and the Ministry of Sports which is statutorily empowered to supervise the NFF shirked its responsibility.

That said, we must find a way out of the present situation we have found ourselves in.

One way to begin is to take a critical look at legislation regulating sports in the country and determine whether they need revision or outright abrogation. The Decree 101 of 1992, which in 2004 transmuted into NFA Act of 2004 remains the document giving government control over the NFF or NFA as it rightly ought to be called given the fact that Lulu’s unilateral change of body’s name has not been backed up by law.

If the law must continue to be in existence, and it appears that the men who have run football in the last four years are not interested in its abrogation, then they must be willing to be bound by its provisions. It does not make sense to receive public funding under the law and then refuse to be accountable for such funds when the time comes.

Our football administrators have played a double game in this regard. They have tried to play Nigeria off against FIFA. They profess loyalty to government in order to induce it to finance their activities while at the same giving FIFA the impression that they are legally an independent entity in whose affairs the Nigerian government is meddling in. Clearly, this cannot continue to go on.

When Birmingham host Liverpool at St. Andrews today, they will be in an unusual position, looking down at 13th placed Liverpool from their higher perch in sixth position.

With a new crop of transfer talent such as Alexandre Hleb, Birmingham will hope to erase the disappointment of the 2-2 draw with 10-man Bolton.

Birmingham has become an organised team under Alex McLeish and look set to frustrate Liverpool. The reds have not been that spectacular this season and struggled to beat West Brom 1-0 in their last match but it is hoped that they will return to winning ways. Liverpool’s win over West Brom came about courtesy the goal from Fernando Torres, who was rested for Spain’s 1-4 loss to Argentina on Tuesday so he should be up for the match.

Liverpool will be without striker Dirk Kuyt who sustained a shoulder injury and would be out of action for about a month. That and the departure of Javier Mascherano will put a lot of pressure on Steven Gerrard and recovering Torres.

Joe Cole will also not be available as he would be sitting out the third of the 3-match ban given him in his opening game with the Reds when he was awarded a red card against Arsenal.

The last four meetings between Birmingham and Liverpool all ended in draws. However, with Gerrard and Torres as well as the likes of Danny Agger and Glen Johnson at the back, Liverpool will hope to win this game and move up the league table.

Serie A

Sampdoria will make it tough for Juventus

Juventus will be coming into today’s game fighting hard after a first day loss to Bari. The one-time giants hope to be in contention for the Serie A title this season and they have worked towards that by beefing up the team. In the last six years, both teams have met eight times but they were an equal match for each other with two wins each and four draws. Juventus is more likely to take the home advantage and win, especially as Sampdoria has a low percentage of away wins.

La Liga

Sevilla hope to maintain momentum

Deportivo are also going away from the Riazor and their hope is to get a victory – something they have not done in the last six games away from home- the worst for the club in the last 38 years. They have been studying the playing tactics of Sevilla and they hope to get the upper hand on this team. But Sevilla is second in the La Liga with one win and they will be seeking a home win against ninth-placed Deportivo. And their chances look good, having won Levante 4-1 in their opener.

Ligue 1

Marseille seek to bounce back against Monaco

After the loss of coupe De France in 3-1 defeat to Lens, Olympique Marseille (OM) would be seeking a win over Monaco as a consolation. At left back, is Taye Taiwo who is a favourite in Olympique because of his powerful shots. The left back who was earlier rumoured to be leaving France for England before the season began, is hoping to win more with his club this season. They hope to improve on their sluggish form before the start of the Champions league season. On the other side of the divide is Nigerian youngster, Lukman Haruna, a midfielder who represented his country at the World Cup and is seen as the future of the Super Eagles, would be seeking to help his club to victory. Haruna should make a first league start after a bout of injury.

He has to be able to get past Taiwo, a prolific defender who would be at the helm of defence, Taiwo has already scored two goals in four matches making him the highest goal scorer in his club. Marseille would however be coming into this game with a win and it should be a motivation for them to win more. On the other hand, Monaco began the league season better with one win and three draws. That is however not to say that Monaco will find it easy; it is sure to be a tough game. Currently in 10th place, Marseille have four points while Monaco are seventh with six points. The defending champions will be seeking to close that gap and with Taye Taiwo scoring every other game, it is a distinct possibility that Marseille may just come out victorious.

There is battle raging for the soul of Nigerian football. It is a Manichaean struggle between the forces of good and evil.

At one end of the battle are gladiators seeking maintenance of the status quo and at the other are those seeking change. It is a long drawn battle the end of which cannot be ascertained as of now.

What is clear however is that things are not likely to remain the same within the football community in Nigeria. Since the crisis intensified following the decision of Sani Lulu, former Nigeria football Federation (NFF) President to amend the statutes of the federation, new alliances have been forged and long standing relationships fractured as combatants seek to advance their causes.

At the moment, Nigerian courts have become the theatres of war for members of the football family.

Since the NFF flouted an order, by a Federal High Court in Lagos, that elections into the executive committee of the federation should not hold pending the determination of issues before it, events on the football landscape in the country have proceeded at a dizzying pace.

Since that election, the spurned High Court has annulled the elections and Maigari and Abdulkareem Mustapha, chairman of the electoral committee that conducted the election, have challenged the decision at the Appeal court in Lagos.

It appears that the matter may not end with a ruling by Nigerian courts. Segun Odegbami, one of the candidates who withdrew from the elections in deference to the court and who feels the world football governing body FIFA has meddled in the affairs of the NFF against the provisions of its (FIFA) own statutes has said he will drag FIFA before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to seek redress.

Statutes of trouble

When former Nigeria Football Association (NFA) chairman, Ibrahim Galadima decided in 2004 to give the federation statutes, to regulate its activities and give it a modern outlook, he could not have foreseen the consequences of that action and could not have imagined that in six years time, members of the football fraternity in Nigeria would be embroiled in a free for all.

In drawing up the statutes, which were approved by FIFA and adopted by the federation, Galadima was driven by a desire to grant the federation autonomy from the sports ministry. At the time he was having troubles with Musa Mohammed then Minister of Sports and he looked to FIFA for solution. The story of how FIFA eventually hung him out to dry is well known and would not be dwelt on here.

Having a desire to be autonomous was one thing and following due process was quite another. Sani Lulu, who succeeded Galadima hit upon the idea that changing the name of the association to federation and the title of chairman to President will put a seal of finality on the matter. And so in 2008, he transmuted from chairman to president and the NFA became a federation. He promptly notified FIFA of the change in status.

However, there was a snag. The new dispensation acknowledged by FIFA and Africa’s football governing body, the Confederation of African football (CAF) existed only in the imagination of the people in the football federation. Legally, the NFF could not and does not exist because the enabling law giving government control over the NFA remained in force.

The controversial Decree 101, which came into force in 1992 after the merger of Decrees 10 and 11, becoming an Act of parliament in 2004 after the transition in 1999 to democratic rule, remains in force even up till today. About five years ago moves were made to repeal the act to pave way for individuals interested in running the game to do so without government involvement. Nothing came out of that move.

In the interim, FIFA was given the impression that given the change in nomenclature that the NFA had managed to free itself from government control.

“It is perhaps as a result of this deception that FIFA repeatedly threatens Nigeria with sanctions anytime they feel that government is interfering in the activities of the FA,” said Harrison Jalla, President of the National Association of Nigerian Footballers (NANF), a body which took the NFF to court over the tinkering with the statutes by its former boss, Lulu.

“The 2004 NFA Act makes the NFA a parastatal under government. That act has not been repealed and until that is done and the Nigerian Football Federation is recognised by law, there will no such thing as NFF because it is unknown to law,” Jalla.

After another late show against Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday, the Flamingos will be expecting at least a draw in their last group match against Chile. A draw will guarantee them first place in their group.

The girls have shown their superior fitness in their matches, with a stronger finish in their matches against North Korea and the hosts. But the penchant of conceding sloppy goals continues to dog the team as they let in another easy goal in their game against Trinidad and Tobago.

Limiting mistakes

Eucharia Uche, the coach of the national team, Super Falcons is not too mindful of this fact.

“To teach concentration to young players is a very important task but is not easy to achieve. They easily get carried away and crucially their lapses in concentration have coincided with conceding goals,” she said.

“The coach may need to explore introducing peculiar drills that will help his wards stay concentrated for the duration of their matches.”

John Zaki, a former FIFA referee said the Flamingos coach is yet to find a way for the team to get goals. “The forwards consisting of Francisca Ordega and Ngozi Okobi are two very speedy players but they have not been well utilised. We are still playing ‘hit and hope’ football. The coach has to devise a way to make good use of their speed.”

In the match against Trinidad, the girls had 23 shots against seven for the Soca Princesses. They also played 13 corner kicks and 66% possession but had only two goals to show for all the superiority over the Islanders.

The journey so far

The Flamingos qualified for the quarter-finals of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup thanks to a winner four minutes from time by Loveth Ayila in their game against Trinidad and Tobago. The host nation was saved from embarrassment by their goalkeeper, Linfah Jones, who made many crucial saves to keep the scoreline respectable.

That result combined with a 3-2 opening win against 2008 champions North Korea gives the Flamingos six points and has seen them emulate their seniors, the Falconets; they are now three matches from a final appearance. And as it stands, Ayila’s goal means Trinidad & Tobago must now defeat the Koreans in the final group encounter to avoid elimination from ‘their’ tournament.

Though Nigeria’s coach, Peter Dedevbo said he is “very impressed by the Trinidad and Tobago team”, they must now impress their game on their opponents, North Korea as they seek to progress to the second round.

Germany are record breakers

The tournament has been set alight with the avalanche of goals from Germany. They followed up their 9-0 trouncing of Mexico by putting ten past South Africa, with all but one of their goals coming before the interval. They are definitely World Cup favourites and it looks like folly to try and stop them. They are strong, very fast and keep their shape consistently.

Bantswana were hammered 10-1 at the Dwight Yorke Stadium in Tobago thereby setting a record for the largest win in the history of the women’s U-17 finals. Kyra Malinowski also scored four goals to bring her tally to seven with the Germans having signalled their intent through scoring 19 goals in two matches. FIFA officials will have been pleased to see the young South Africans join the crowd to support Mexico against South Africa. After their heavy loss to Germany the team took their seats at the Dwight Yorke Stadium trying to urge a Mexican side to win and help keep their own hopes alive in the competition. They joined in with the crowd’s chants of “Me-xi-co” but their support was all to no avail as South Korea won by 4-1.

Korea Republic have thus advanced to the last eight and the Asians destroyed any Mexican resistance with some lightning counter-attacks and will now fight it with the Germans for top spot in the section, while South Africa and Mexico having nothing but pride to play for in their farewell game.