The Advocacy of Football
There were no stories of missing allowances and mis -booked flights. In fact, the management of the team by the NFF was most probably the most incident free outing we have had since the days of Clemens Westerhof in 1994
If as some people say “football is a religion” then the World Cup must be one of the greatest fellowships ever. The 2018 World Cup had plenty of drama. To start with, the host nation, Russia, was at odds with some of the world powers. The tournament was prefaced with accusations of state sponsored assassination attempts by Russia, sparked by the Novichok poisoning affair, which led the British Government to preclude the Royal family and its government officials from attending the World Cup. Other issues were simmering in the background. Displeasure over the annexation of Crimea, the alleged meddling with the internal electoral process of the United States and a general distrust of the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin by some of the nations which make up the G7. All these vexations painted the backdrop against which the 2018 World Cup was to be held in Russia. For a while, it looked like the World Cup in Russia might flop.
Football however (and not necessarily FIFA) rose above all this and took charge of its business. It became its own advocate. With thirty-two countries represented, the “beautiful game” played at this level was an interesting spectacle of brotherhood, a stellar comity of nations, and a fascinating display of colour , character, grit and athletic ability. At other times, bearing in mind that football is a contact sport, it became an annoying show of simulation and an exaggeration of imaginary injuries from robust tackles. All to gain an advantage and ultimately to win. Surprisingly, the “major football nations” left the competition early. Nigeria won in the fashion department as the Nigerian jerseys, adjudged to be the best, sold out within hours of being launched. Nike must have made a ton of money from the sales. But then we crashed out of the competition early. No disgrace. In retrospect, it was really a good outing for us. There were no stories of rancour and discord in the Super Eagles Camp. There were no stories of missing allowances and mis -booked flights. In fact, the management of the team by the NFF was most probably the most incident free outing we have had since the days of Clemens Westerhof in 1994. However, our progress to the knockout stages came down to management of the last few minutes of the game. In the final ten minutes of the game with Argentina where all we needed was a draw, we did not do enough to hold onto our slim advantage. So now it is back to the drawing board for us. We live and learn. With this experience, I trust that our scenario planning for the future will be better.
The use of VAR moved football into the 21st century. Nationalism was at its peak. Each participating nation’s supporters did their utmost eccentric best to cheer and galvanise their national teams to victory. Painted faces and all manner of attires by the fans were the order of the day. Some travelled as long as sixteen hours by train to follow and support their teams. The Croatian President flew economy class to Russia to support her national team. The English started a trend with waistcoats and tagged their semi-final game with Croatia, “waistcoat Wednesday”. Ecstasy or heartbreak as grown men and young boys cheered, or shamelessly bawled their eyes out depending on the outcome of the game. In football, ego has no place and whether you win or you lose, you are expected to leave everything on the field of play. Perhaps that was why the team bus carrying the Brazilian National team was pelted with eggs on their return to Brazil. The fans were vociferous and became the 12th man on the field. It was interesting to see the people of Iceland perform the “thunder claps” in an attempt to spur Iceland on during her game with Nigeria. After Nigeria’s victory, someone posted that those thunderclaps served only to invoke “Sango”, one of the mythical deities from the South-west region of Nigeria known as the god of thunder. The gold medal in this department however , must go to the Japanese who were seen picking up their trash and cleaning up their stands in the stadium after each game. An exceptional show of humility, discipline and respect for your hosts not usual with football fans. Such behaviour can only speak to the discipline in their society and the respect they have for themselves. We should all learn from them. Well done Japan!
Back home in Nigeria, we seemed to be on a different planet. Our reality was different. The political wranglings, the reconstitution of political alliances and the vicious onslaught of cattle herdsmen made the headlines on a regular basis. The ugliness of the politics which punctuates our lives once every four years was a sharp contrast to the World Cup, which enlivens us once every four years. The politicking is starting to heat up, as the gubernatorial elections in Ekiti have revealed. With all the violence and loss of lives on a regular basis, one must wonder about the true value of life in Nigeria.
Here again, football related on-goings in far-away Thailand, advocates an answer. The Wild Boars, a young football squad of 12 players aged 11-16 and their 25-year-old coach who had been missing, were found nine days later by two British Cave divers, Rick Stanton and John Volanthen about three miles deep inside the Tham Luang Cave, on a ledge completely surrounded by water. What happened thereafter was simply amazing. Teams of divers, doctors, military personnel and other volunteers immediately came in from all over the world and worked with the Thai Government, all with one goal in mind, to rescue the Wild Boars Football Team and their coach. Race, religion or creed was not an issue. They worked in unity through the linguistic, cultural and religious differences. All that mattered was the saving of human lives. In a sense, football here again became an advocate of sorts and successfully galvanised people. The will of the young footballers to survive gave hope to all and fueled the determination of the volunteers to rescue them. The world witnessed another coming together of people from different nations to save the young football team. It was a World Cup winning performance. It was excellent teamwork that most of the teams in the World Cup would have died for. And whilst sadly, a Thai Navy Seal died in the process, the premium placed on human life was instructive, as indeed was the lesson that we all owe it to humanity to save lives, within the compass of our abilities.
Two salient points were underscored by the Thai cave rescue mission. The first was that lives matter and when human life is at risk, we must all come together to try and save the lives at risk, no matter what. The second point is that when people work together for good, good things result. The rescue mission was successfully carried out without fear of herdsmen or like terrorists attacking the volunteers. Considering the Boko Haram issue, if that cave had been somewhere in Nigeria, would the world have rallied like that?
In any case, the World Cup is now over and football again made a very strong point in respect of the immigration debate raging across the world, especially Europe and North America. France won for the second time by leaning heavily on its age-old colonial policy of assimilation. Congratulations to France. For the rest of us, our daily excursion into Russia, by courtesy of DSTV has ended. We must now turn our attention back to our country, Nigeria, return to our lives and pray that all goes well.