Between Kalusha and our Nigerian stars

On February 2 as I entered the Sekondi Stadium for the Ghana/Nigeria quarter final match at Ghana 2008, right behind me was Kalusha Bwalya. We exchanged greetings and before he could finish telling me he was waiting for Daniel Amokachi, “The Bull” himself passed through the VIP entrance and joined us to saunter into the main bowl. Both of them looked elegant in designer suit. I was in Nigerian tee-shirt and jeans.

This week, Kalusha Bwalya grabbed headline across the sporting world, as he won election to become the new President of the Zambia Football Association.

By contrast, Amokachi, according to media reports, did not even get shortlisted by the NFA who are looking for a national coach for Nigeria. So here is Kalusha Bwalya, an ex-international who has risen to the pinnacle in his country, and Amokachi, another distinguished ex-international, who is rejected for a paid job.

The pathetic difference between Bwalya and Amokachi can be extended to cover other Nigerian ex-internationals, who with their past service to the country, and experience, should have been entrusted with higher responsibilities, but have not.

In this category there is Segun Odegbami, who had tried on more than two occasions to head the NFA, Barrister Adokiye Amesiemeka who was chairman of Sharks Football Club of Port Harcourt, and has turned his back against the F.A.

There are other eminent Nigerian ex-internationals who can mount the rostrum of leadership, such as Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi, Dr. Felix Owolabi, both currently serving in the NFA and NFL. Others like Chief Layiwola Olagbemiro had served in the NFA and moved on, while ex-internationals like Christian Chukwu, Kadiri Ikhana, Sebastine Broderick-Imaseun, Emmanuel Omiunu, etc chose coaching.

Why is it that no Nigerian ex-international has ever headed the NFA? Is it a conspiracy by non ex-internationals or that the ex-internationals boxed themselves into unfavoura-ble situations?

What did Kalusha Bwalya do for Zambia football that Segun Odegbami did not double for Nigeria? Either at club or national level Kalusha Bwalya, unfortunately cannot boast of winning any glod medal, whereas Odegbami’s trophy chest is bulging with African Cup Winners Cup, African Cup of Nations gold, African Champion Club silver, two Olympic Games appearances and management of two top clubs-IICC Shooting Stars in the 1980s and Gateway of Abeokuta a couple of years ago.

So in terms of participation and experience Odegbami lacks nothing, except perhaps the duality he got himself embroiled in. Kalusha Bwalya’s career is purely football – as a player, player coach, Vice President and now President. One of the things held against Odegbami was his dabbling into business with the NFA and the NSC, and when it comes to business and contracts award, you are talking about money, and money sometimes causes friction.

The rise of Kalusha Bwalya should spur other footballers and ex-internationals to aspire to leadership positions in their country, at local, state and national levels. As an ex-internationals Bwalya knows where the shoe pinches. He will treat Zambian footballers with respect and, provide for them to perform at optimal level.

I have been wondering – why are Nigerian ex-internationals not in the saddle of their sports administration? Apart from athletics and cricket, I cannot recall any Nigerian ex-internationals heading boxing, cycling, canoeing, hockey, gymnastics, judo, handball, rowing, tennis, shooting, swimming, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, yachting.

The fact is that majority of those in the various sports associations are not well grounded in the sports, which to them is another source of livelihood. To reverse this trend, it behoves all our sportsmen and women to empower themselves with good education so that they can take over from the gold diggers who are now running our sports especially in the states. No one will donate you with leadership, you should work towards it, and prepare yourself, just like Kalusha Bwalya of Zambia has done.

BBC: Bekele not “running machine”

Some of us who have gone through broadcast journalism lionise the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC London, as the institution remains the epitome, the paragon of useful information, education and entertainment which electronic media stand for.

The high standard of professionalism from its headquarters, the Bush House, London (not to be confused with George W. Bush of USA) is legendary.

But I wonder what happened last Monday on its programme, Fast Track, when the presenter described the world’s greatest distance runner, Benenisa Bekele of Ethiopia as a “running machine”.

The presenter, one Faraz Mungazi, an African, was reporting the World Cross Country Championships held in Edinburgh last Sunday which Bekele won for the sixth time in succession.

Bekele succeeded another Ethiopian great, Haile Gabrsellasie, on a day Ethiopia made a clean sweep of the four gold medals.

How can you describe such a legend as a “running machine”?
When the BBC presenter used the expression as a teaser, I thought it was a slip of the tongue, but when he repeated it in the main body of the story, I was shocked.

If Bekele were a Brit, all the British media would exhaust all the superlatives on him and even invent more. But to call Bekele a machine is to equate him with an unintelligent mechanical robot.

To refer to a runner as a machine is derogatory and is not a compliment which Bekele deserves. My shock was astounded because throughout the one hour programme, no one from the Bush House called the presenter to order, as it would have been done some decades ago.

So is professionalism falling at the BBC? I hope not, but people like Mungazi should avoid using words that belittle icons like Bekele.

Hooliganism: Lagos’ shining example

English football fans are well known or notorious for their over-enthusiasm at international football matches and they are the undisputed world champions in hooliganism.

They are not usually vicious, but having become intoxicated with alcohol, their behaviour would turn nasty and sometimes violent. The law has never spared them.

In England itself and anywhere in Europe, whenever the English ruffians show their hands, the law enforcement agents pounce on them, arrest and prosecute them and many have been jailed and banned from stadia.

The tide of hooliganism is receding among England fans and is being replaced by racism by other European countries.

But here in Nigeria, the wave of violence in our various stadia is frightfully alarming, as there were at least three soccer deaths in Aba and Uyo last year, and ugly scenes across the Federation.

In some parts of the country, it is well known that football fans brandish guns to frighten match officials and intimidate their opponents, in other parts, daggers, machetes, bow and arrows are the weapons of terror. For fear of being attacked, sports writers have chosen to close their eyes on all these because the hooligans seem to be operating above the law of the land.

But recently the Lagos F.A took a bold step by deciding to tackle the trouble makers within their area of jurisdiction, Lagos State. For the first time, as far as my memory goes, football hooligans were rounded up, at the instigation of the Lagos F.A. and paraded by the Police ahead of their prosecution.

For this, I believe we should commend Lagos, which the Nigerian Football League (NFL) has already done, and recommend other states F.A. to follow suit. All those rough necks that ignite chaos at football venues are all well known to the citizens and since majority of football fans are law-abiding, the few dangerous elements should be exposed and cast away.

But the main problem is that some of the violence at our stadia are, most times, sponsored by the clubs themselves with the tacit support of the state authorities. There are some states where football has been politicised and hoodlums enjoy protection from their political godfathers.

I met one of the progressive State Commissioners of Sports recently at Ghana 2008 and he confirmed how party politics has intruded into sports administration in his state to the extent of frustrating all their efforts to combat hooliganism.

One other worrisome aspect is the “importation” of violence across the border. Some clubs “import” thugs to foment trouble in other states, so that a match will be abandoned, and subsequently claim board-room judgment.

Thankfully, the NFL are alive to their responsibilities and with the support and cooperation of the Police and the State F.A. throughout the country, there must be improvement in security at our stadia.

Lagos F.A. have taken the lead, by showing the way and others should please emulate so that it will be safe for you and I, the whole family to enjoy football at our various stadia across the Federation.