The Tyranny of Quota

Dictionary definition of quota says “the limited number or amount of people or things that is officially allowed”. Quota system may be desirable in various aspects of the society, but certainly has little or no place in sports.

Take for instance, the 13th edition of FIFA Under 17 World Cup currently going on in Nigeria. FIFA and the LOC have so “quota-raised” the venues to the damaging extent that the tournament is the loser for it. 52 matches will be played and here is how the matches have been distributed. The Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, which is notoriously unpatronised by fans, have 9 matches including the opening and final and Nigeria’s first two matches in the group stage.

On the Opening Day, and despite two matches, participants in the various dance sessions were more in number than fans on the terraces, an ugly sight which forced FIFA to openly berate the poor attendance.

Lagos, the home of football in Nigeria, host eight matches, including the two semi-finals and Calabar the city where the British first introduced football to Nigeria in the early 1990s, similarly host eight matches, including one quarter-final. Enugu, the football cathedral east of the Niger, were allocated seven matches and to complete the southern quota, Abeokuta host three matches including one quarter final. Altogether the south have a total of 26 matches. What about the north?

Kano, the first northern city to make a bold statement in Nigeria football, by winning the Challenge Cup in 1953 (though with southern players) have been given seven matches to host including one quarter-final and Bauchi, the Mecca of sports in the north, host three including one quarter-final, just like Abeokuta. Altogether the north also have 26 matches.

So the thinking of FIFA and the LOC fell in line with the archaic mindset of the British colonialists which did not place premium on merit and class but on the expediency of satisfying tribal, primordial and state interests. Abuja may be the capital of Nigeria, but what sense does it make to allocate the territory with nine World Cup matches when the total number of spectators will not be up to one fifth of those that will bombard Lagos, Abeokuta, Enugu, Aba or Kano? With the championships already half way through, most of the state governments, who are owners of the various stadia, are trying to save face, by bank rolling tickets for fans FREE. It will be interesting to know, at the end of Nigeria 2009, how much was collected as gate takings in all the 52matches. If it is up to the gate takings in one English Premiership match, (Chelsea vs Manchester United). I will be damned.

Africa may have been indoctrinated into believing that sports begins and ends with football, yet on the economic plane the continent is not doing well. Egypt who hosted the FIFA Under 20 World Cup, highly successfully, in terms of organization last month, had problems getting the five stadia used, filled. What they did to avoid embarrassment was to bombard the terraces with soldiers, dressed in sports gears. Why can’t our LOC think of that. But then, there may be the thorny issue of how do they ensure proper quota among the soldiers, to the drafted to the stadia!

Gateway stadium: Set to glow

The FIFA Under 17 World Cup began nine days ago, and today it enters the third round group matches stage to determine the 16 countries to remain and the 16 to pack and go. History is also being made in Nigeria as Ijebu-Ode become the first to host World Cup match as other seven avenues in Nigeria are state capitals, and Ijebu Ode is not.

Foresighted Ogun State, comprising four principal provinces, Abeokuta, Egbado, Ijebu and Remo have internationally standard stadia in three, including the Gateway Stadium, Ijebu-Ode. I was at the Ijebu-Ode Gateway Stadium during the National Sports Festival Gateway Games 2006, and watched all the track and field events held there. Beautiful and highly satisfying. And Nigeria 2009 provides an opportunity for one to watch football at the modern stadium.

Gateway Stadium, Ijebu-Ode was one of the earliest venues that FIFA visited, inspected, combed, evaluated and re-evaluated before giving their pass mark, and since then, the owners, the Ogun State Government have been unrelenting in ensuring that they deliver. While some other venues across the country remained inadequate, even up till today, Ijebu-Ode recorded all system go, months ago, and are raring to go. Authorities were proud to announce that Gateway International Stadium Ijebu-Ode “is the only stadium in Nigeria with three astro turf football pitches all located within the stadium premises”.

Journalists and broadcasters who are fortunate enough to be accredited will marvel at the quality and up to date facilities at hand. While watching a match live at the stadium on your TV monitor screen, you can watch matches going on simultaneously at other seven venues in the Federation. As one who has been exposed to such hi-tech in the past at the World Cup and Olympic Games this is a welcome development in Nigeria.

As is expected in modern times, the Ogun state authorities have stepped up activities to leverage on their new achievements. They intend to make the Gateway International Stadium, Ijebu-Ode glow. With Governor Gbenga Daniel in charge, ably assisted by his sports-loving Chief of Staff, Dr. Yomi Majekodunmi, and with indefatigable Sports Commissioner, Bukola “Ozogula” Olopade, taking care of affairs, and from the LOC sub-seat Chairman Rotimi George-Taylor, Media Committee chief, Felix Okugbe, all should be well.

In a lighter mood, those who chose Ijebu-Ode as the venue of the crucial third round match featuring USA and UAE, have a robust sense of humor. A prominent Ijebu monarch has been reported as saying that the Ijebu hailed from the Wadai stock in the Arab world, and by bringing the United Arab Emirates to face the Americans in Ijebu-Ode, the Ijebu will root for their ancestors.

However as the first set of Nigerians to embrace western education, becoming the first doctor, first judge, first engineer, first architect etc. and recipients of education in the USA, there will no short supply of American supporters among the Ogun state indigenes. So the stage is set for the Gateway Stadium Ijebu-Ode to step into the global arena as it hosts USA vs UAE today and two more matches on Wednesday and next Sunday. I have booked my “ticket” for today’s match and I look forward to an exciting day. Rain disrupted World Cup matches in Abuja, Enugu and Calabar. The Ijebu have a reputation as experts in making and stopping rainfall and so if there is rain in Ijebu –Ode during a World Cup match, it will be an aberration!

‘Very good with both legs’

Question: Technically how did you build your team?
Answer: First every player must be ready to play more than one role. Second you must be very good with both legs. Third, I look out for endurance. Fourth, you must be physically fit.”

The interviewee quoted here is Sebastine Brodericks – Imasuen (Sports Day 24 October) on his experience, winning the inaugural Under 16 FIFA Youth Championships in China 1985. The interview revealed the mind-set of Nigerian football coaches, of which Broderick-Imasuen is a classical example. Most Nigerian coaches have been fed with stereotypes, which the English coaches rammed down our throats in the colonial days, and which some of our modern coaches are still encased in.

How can a coach, in these time and age say that to build a team, every player must be “very good with both legs.” Was Maradona of Argentina good with both feet before FIFA and the rest of the world acclaimed him as one of the best footballers ever (along with Pele)?

Was left footer, Patrick Noquapor “very good with both legs” when on October 27, 1957, dazzled the Ghanaians in Accra, with two crack goals, making President Kwame Nkrumah to praise him as the “remarkable number eleven”? Was left footer John Barnes “very good with both legs” at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico when, on introduction into the England/Argentina semi final, almost turned the table against the Argentines? Was leftie Tostao of Brazil “very good with both legs” when he was the playmaker for Brazil and the official ball supplier to Pele during Brazil‘s historic World Cup victory of 1970?

Has Broderick-Imasuen ever seen Abedi Pele of Ghana, Abdul Rasak of Ghana, Mohammed Polo of Ghana, Adolf Armah of Ghana, Faras Ahmed of Morocco, Yusuf Fofana of Ivory Coast play? Was any of them “very good with both legs”? Now let’s come back home. Dejo Fayemi, Stanley Okoronkwo, Edwin Nnamoko, Felix Owolabi, Haruna Ilerika, Henry Ogboe, Chibuzor Ehilegbu, Humphrey Edobor, James Etokebe and Emannuel Amunike. Was any of them “very good with both legs” before they became popular and productive in football? Here we are talking about left footed players created by God to become world wide phenomena in football.

The right foot of such players are only to assist in walking, the left foot is enough to destroy an opposing team. Left footed players are rare but if there are two or three in a team, they are potential match winners. English football remains where it is, because of their disdain for left footed players.

(To be continued)