Nigeria Content Online

This
year has witnessed a lot of memorable events, some noble, some not so
noble. It has been a year of breathtaking accomplishments and heart
rending defeats. In the midst of it, a few individuals and events stand
out. We bring you a few of them.

Paul the Octopus

Born in 2008 in
Weymouth, England, he was to become a star in just two years. In the
second half of 2010 he hit celebrity status.

Paul, an Octopus,
which lived in a tank at the Sea Life Centre in Oberhausen, Germany,
became a cult hero when it became known that he could correctly predict
the outcome of football matches involving Germany.

At the 2008 European
Championships, he had correctly given the scores of four out of the six
matches Germany played. However, it was at the 2010 World Cup in South
Africa that his star shone. There all his predictions, done by choosing
between two boxes containing food with the flags of two countries marked
on top, proved uncannily accurate.

Two of his famous
predictions were Germany’s loss to Spain in the semi-finals and Spain’s
victory over the Netherlands in the final of the World Cup. The
prediction against Germany attracted some measure of hatred among
Germans with some of them calling for him to be grilled. In reaction to
the calls, Spain’s Prime Minister, Jose Louis Zapatero joked that he
would send bodyguards to protect him.

Paul the Octopus died a few months after the World Cup, on October 26.

The Vuvuzela

One of the symbols
of 2010 was undoubtedly the Vuvuzela. At the World Cup, held in South
Africa between June and July, its unique billowing sound dominated
stadiums during matches. The musical instrument, which measures about
two feet in length, first caught global attention in 2009 when South
Africa hosted the FIFA Confederation Cup.

Originally, the
Vuvuzela was made from the horn of a Kudu and was used to summon
villagers in distant communities to a meeting. In 2009, this little
known instrument became a major attraction at football venues in South
Africa showing up globally at the Confederation Cup.

At the 2010 World
Cup, its appeal extended to the rest of Africa and other parts of the
world, particularly Asia and South America with their nationals that
attended the World Cup in South Africa, buying many as gifts for family
and friends.

In Europe however,
the Vuvuzela enjoys no cult status. In fact, it has a lot of enemies
with teams from Europe complaining during the World Cup that its noise
made it difficult for players on the field to communicate with
themselves and their manager on the bench. After World Cup, the Vuvuzela
was officially banned by UEFA, Europe’s football governing body, from
being used in matches organised or sanctioned by the body.

South Africa

The 2010 World Cup
in South Africa was a remarkable event. For the one month that it
lasted, the entire country was one huge carnival with players drawn from
32 countries around the world treating spectators to sublime football.

With twelve
breathtaking stadiums, which had wonderful atmospherics underlined by
the unique but ‘maddening’ sound of the Vuvuzela, the tournament turned
out to be one of the best organised in recent times.

The exit of hosts,
South Africa in the first round of the tournament did not do much to
dampen the enthusiasm of local spectators as they still trooped to the
stadiums to cheer other nations to victory.

For Danny Jordaan,
Chief Executive Officer of the World Cup organising committee and his
team, it was a vindication of sorts following doubts about the ability
of South Africa to host the tournament by a section of the European
media. The media argued that the crime levels in the country would put
the lives of visitory and players in jeopardy.

The tournament
proved also to be of economic benefit to the nation. In July Pravin
Gordan, South Africa’s Finance Minister, said the World Cup will add
about 38 billion rand to his country’s coffers representing about 0.4
percent of its real Gross Domestic Product.

Amos Adamu

In 2010 things
unravelled for Amos Adamu, former Director General of the National
Sports Commission and member of FIFA’s executive committee. Adamu, known
in Nigerian sports circles as Mr Fix It, got into trouble in late
October after it was revealed by English Newspaper, Sunday Times of
London that he and Reynard Tenarii, another member of FIFA’s executive
committee, had asked for money to vote for America in their bid to host
the 2018 World, which was eventually given to Russian on December 2.

Adamu insisted he
did no wrong but was eventually handed a three-year suspension from all
football activities by FIFA after the organisation’s ethics committee
concluded investigation into the matter. Adamu, who has said he will
appeal FIFA’s decision, stayed away from Nigeria since the incident and
only returned to Nigeria on December 17.

Harrison Jalla

Until the second
half of this year, the name Harrison Jalla was known only to a number of
football faithful including sports reporters. All that changed in July
when the former Flash Flamingoes Football Club of Benin player, who is
currently president of the National Association of Nigerian Footballers
(NANF) took the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to court over the
decision to hold elections into its executive committee without first
having elections into the state football associations, where the mandate
of chairmen had expired.

The court granted
his prayer but the NFF went ahead to hold the elections prompting
Justice Okon Abang of the Lagos High Court to declared it null and void.
Jalla’s persistence with the case drew the ire of world football
governing body, FIFA, which cited Jalla’s case as one of the reasons it
suspended Nigeria in October.

Jalla eventually withdrew the case in October following intense
pressure from football authorities and football fans. Consequently,
FIFA lifted the ban.