Nigeria Content Online

It
is indeed refreshing to see peace returning to the rugby family in
Nigeria. Two years of conflict between two key members of the family
-Friends of Rugby and Racing Club came to an end on Thursday.

The disquiet in the
fraternity had commenced in 2009 after the National Sports Commission
(NSC), which felt that some sports in the country would fare better if
they were allowed to be run by private individuals, had gone ahead to
concession them; one of the affected being rugby.

Friends of Rugby, a
body comprising individuals interested in promoting the game and which
lost out in the bid, accused the then Secretary General of the
federation of masterminding its defeat. At any rate, Racing Rugby Club
went ahead to form the leadership of the new board.

Also interested in
moving the game forward, members of the new board of the NRFF,
comprised largely of young and intelligent men, threw their energies
into the effort. But it clearly wasn’t going to work out because as a
rule the international Rugby Board (IRB), which supervises rugby
globally, does not recognise concessioning but elections as a means of
changing the leadership of a national federation. It promptly clamped a
ban on Nigeria from participating in all competitions organised by it
in addition to withholding grants to the country.

That was the state
of affairs until the National Olympic Committee (NOC), through Tunde
Popoola, its Secretary General, waded in January. The warring parties
agreed in principle to come together to form a new board through the
holding of elections, which would begin at the zones. That process has
run its course leading to the meeting last Thursday, where results of
the elections from the different zones were collated and a formula for
sharing of positions in the federation agreed upon.

This is clearly
sweet music to the ears of those of us who have craved a settlement of
the crisis. The cost of conflict has been high. Our inability to take
part in high profile rugby competitions because of the subsisting ban,
robbed us of the opportunity raise our profile in the game. The fact
that the ban happened at a time the awareness of the sports was
growing, with more and more young men embracing the sport either as
players or spectators, made it even more unfortunate.

Getting back on track

Thankfully, we have
put that behind us. Now is the time to make up for lost time. We must
commend officials of the old board, led by Kayode Oguntayo, for the
maturity they showed in agreeing to hold elections. It shows them to be
really committed to the growth and development of the game. The impact
they had on the sport in the brief period they held the fort has been
visible to all, particularly their push to capture children in
secondary schools through the Cowbell iTRY programme. If sustained, the
programme has the potential of bringing about growth in rugby even
beyond the grassroots, which they are focusing heavily on at the moment.

Kudos must also go
to the Kelechi Mbagwu-led Friends of rugby. They did not allow their
loss to Racing Rugby at the bidding to derail their Lagos Union Rugby
League, which has helped in keeping our players busy.

That said, the
point cannot be overemphasised that the two parties must resist the
temptation to lapse back into a war of attrition. They must keep faith
with the agreements, which ushered in this new dispensation. There are
bound to be minor disagreements at this time; it is perfectly normal
for that to happen after all they have been engaged in conflict for two
years. The thing to do is show enough maturity to understand that no
one can have his way all the time. The overriding consideration at this
time should be how to re-integrate Nigerian rugby back into the
mainstream of global rugby from which it has been ostracized for the
last two years.

Aside our players getting a feel of international action, grants
from the IRB, no matter how little they are, will certainly go a long
way in easing the financial burdens of the NRFF.