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The game of rugby
in Nigeria has come a long way. It has made some progress from the
period when little was known about it to the present where it has a
thriving league and has become part of the National Sports Festival.

Looking at what is
happening now, it is difficult to imagine that just under ten years
ago, the vast majority of Nigerian sports fans hadn’t the faintest idea
what the game was all about. This was due principally to the fact that
even though the game had been in existence in the country for more than
two decades, it had not been given the decisive push that would make it
visible enough to attract the attention of the public.

The efforts of
individuals like Ntiense Williams, Kayode Oguntayo and Kelechi Mbagwu
have been instrumental in giving the sport a new lease of life. Their
decision, a few years ago to come together under the auspices of the
‘Friends of Rugby’ to transform the sport, proved pivotal in attracting
the interest of young men and women who now fancy the game.

Concessioning trouble

Sadly, these modest
gains are in danger of being eroded. The ‘Friends of Rugby’ has
splintered with Oguntayo and his associates in the Racing Club pulling
away leaving Mbagwu and Williams to continue with the original idea.
Oguntayo and associates now run the Nigeria Rugby Football Federation
(NRFF) courtesy of the concessioning of the sport by the National
Sports Commission (NSC) last year.

That concessioning,
done with the aim of further improving the lot of the game, is proving
to be a double-edged sword. While it has managed to sweep away the
ineffectual board of the federation and the incompetent secretariat
whose ineptitude stank to high heavens and put in place individuals
with sufficient knowledge of the game, passion and administrative
acumen, it has caused acrimony within the rugby family.

Matters have been
made worse by the ban on Nigeria’s participation in international rugby
tournaments by the International Rugby Board following Friends of
Rugby’s protest of the process that threw up Racing Club as winners of
the concessioning move.

It is not
encouraging that the men who have the will and resources to engineer a
revolution of the sport are at each other’s throats. I have known
Williams for years and can vouch for his passion for rugby. That
Nigerian journalists have come to embrace the sport and give it more
coverage is the result of his persistence. Mbagwu for his part has
spent his personal funds to ensure that the game does not die. So has
Oguntayo.

Indeed, my first
encounter with Oguntayo and his team inspired me to think that perhaps
in the hands of these young men rugby would be safe in Nigeria. Their
awareness of issues pertaining to the sport and their technological and
organisational savvy were a welcome departure from the drab and
mediocre world of past rugby federations, to whom planning and
organisation proved to be rocket science.

Calling truce

We must move
forward. In the interest of the sport, truce must be called. The
warring parties must bury their egos and work together for the
development of the game. There is too much at stake for us to allow the
present scenario to continue to play itself out.

One of the reasons
the IRB slammed a ban on Nigeria was because it was not too convinced
that the process that brought the present board into being was wholly
transparent.

The present
leadership of the NSC should find a way to work out an arrangement that
sees the estranged comrades close ranks and take Nigerian rugby to the
level. New Sports Minister, Ibrahim Bio, has shown, in the few weeks
that he has been in office, that he is not wanting in either courage or
vision. A united rugby family will bring a breath of fresh air to the
scene and encourage former and present Nigerian rugby players in the
Diaspora, to explore ways in which they can form a synergy with their
brothers at home to propel the game forward.