Saving Nigerian Domestic Football Leagues
Segun Odegbami
THERE is a recent scramble by sponsors to unscramble their relationship with the different national leagues.
For the second season running, the Nigerian Premier League does not have a major title sponsor. The battle for the most prized possession in domestic Nigerian football at a time in the country, fought between MTN and Globacom, two telecommunication giants, has evaporated into thin air.
Football failed to fulfill its promise of unprecedented followership in the country’s domestic league reflecting the same level of fanatical followership of the European leagues.
The LIVE television coverage of the European leagues has created almost 5 million viewing centres (and still growing) all over the country and a viewership of over 50 million per match.
The same thing cannot be said of the domestic league. stopped its sponsorship and coverage of LIVE broadcast of selected Nigerian Premier league matches in order to get away from the endless shenanigans in the game’s organization and administration.
NTA, Africa’s largest television network, is handicapped by limited technical as well as financial capacity.
So, with television out of the picture, the Premiership becomes worthless to any sponsor, particularly where the grounds are also not thronged by spectators the way they used to be in the early days of the modern game in Nigeria when match venues were major weekend social event centres all over the country.
Even the second-tier of domestic Nigerian football, the Nigerian National League, NNL, that also celebrated its first major sponsorship deal last season by Nigeria’s biggest betting company, has been hit by the sudden withdrawal of the sponsor for ‘unknown’ reasons.
Since the withdrawal everyone can now see why it was done. has switched its interest and now sponsors the reality TV show,
That speaks volumes.
Even sponsors of the most attractive sports brand in Nigeria, the have been threatening to pull out of their deals with the NFF as a result of the present rather unfriendly atmosphere around Nigerian football.
The NFF leadership is going through difficult times with the EFFC on its tail. The leaders are being hounded by the EFCC following a stream of petitions by individuals accusing them of all manner of fraudulent deals and deeds.
Naturally, the sponsors, by extension, cannot be immune from the side effects. They have also been entangled in the mess, harassed by the same dreaded agency of government and asked to provide evidence or information about their sponsorship deals with the football body.
This is not good at all for sponsors.
The risk is that they will pull out, and leave the NFF prostate and unable to attain the financial independence it requires for the game to grow to the zenith.
Amongst several issues that have plagued the domestic game two stand out.
The first and major one, of course, is the exit of LIVE television coverage. No football league can succeed financially without television money. It is the oxygen that gives life to the game globally. Without it football will ‘die’. That’s what is happening now to Nigerian domestic football.
The game is on its death throes.
The second is even worse because till now not many people still appreciate the full impact of quality of turf on television coverage, technical development of the players and the game itself, and the power to attract people to grounds to watch matches.
The full extent of damage done through the years by the conversion of major football grounds from grass fields to astro-turf and artificial plastic surfaces is now just dawning on even the most experienced stakeholders.
Many years ago, led by a top ministry of sports official without a solid grounding in football, the game’s administration was taken over by a ‘Mafia’ within Nigerian sports. They misled several State governments by selling the idea that artificial surfaces were a better alternative to grass in this part of the world, cited FIFA’S approval of the surface as justification, and fed fat on the project by doing the ‘destruction’ themselves or through surrogates.
The consequences of those decisions many years ago are here for everyone to see and measure.
The leagues have not grown in stature or quality.
Technically sound and talented players with expressive skills on the ball have become rare commodities.
Matches are no longer as attractive to either spectators or even television as they used to be, because of the low quality of players and low standard performances.
The spate of serious injuries to players has increased tremendously, prematurely terminating many football careers.
The migration of players abroad has increased to torrential levels. These are the ills associated directly with a bad pitch for football matches.
Last Sunday, I decided to go and confirm my worst fears by watching a promoted big Premier league match in Lagos.
It was my first live domestic match in many seasons (outside of television) of Nigerian football. I wanted to also experience the atmosphere around football grounds these days even though I knew Agege Stadium, where I went, may not be typical of the best of what is offered in a few other places like Kano and Aba where football (not minding the quality of play) would be followed by some of the most fanatical supporters of football on earth, undoubtedly, here also in Nigeria.
It was a Premier league match between MFM FC and Bendel Insurance FC.
On the night, apart from the different beautiful jerseys that both teams wore, and a flattering final score-line (2-0 to MFM) that did not actually reflect the quality and standard of play, there was nothing to separate the two sides.
I am thinking even as I write this that I may have watched one of the worst displays of modern or ancient football I have ever seen. Had I paid to watch that match I would have gone back to the organisers and demanded a refund of my hard-earned money! That was just how bad the match was.
Neither side could do anything with the ball that was played more in the air than on the surface of that rubber pitch. Players could not string together passes.