By Chief Dr. Amos Agwamba
Sports Analyst
Baring any force majeure 2021/2022 Nigeria Premier Football league season will kick off this weekend.
Though belated kick off the league is bedeviled with hiccups.
Firstly, is the non-payment of outstanding match indemnities of match officials; Referee Match Commissioner and Referee Assessors. Even though above match, officials have strengthened their preparation for the seasons football fiesta, through seminars, physical fitness exercises and drills to keep pace with the FIFA laws of the games of football and global practice, same cannot be said of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and League Management Company (LMF) to meet their expected roles. The morale of the above officials is at low ebb in view of non settlements of the outstanding bills before undertaking a fresh season.
Secondly, the poor state of the stadia and the pitches are another big blow and hindrance to the kick off of the league. The usual inspection of the stadium facilities and pitches seem to have been swept under the carpet. Most Nigeria stadia/football pitches are mainly grass turf whose maintenance has proven a difficult task for grounds men. The modern pitch in view of poor management of the grass turf is the astro turf (artificial/synthetic pitches) in view of the poor maintenance culture, most teams are forced to relocate their home pitches to more standard pitches.
Kano Pillars FC will move from their usual Sani Abacha pitch to Katongara as Rangers international will move to Nsukka Township Stadium as their temporary home ground in place of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Stadium. The same story is at play for Abia warriors who have made Okigwe, Township Stadium their adopted home pitch in place of Umuahia Township Stadium for many seasons. These adopted home pitches no doubt will reduce the spectatorship and role of home fans of the affected teams as they cannot afford the luxury of joining their home team and the foolhardy security risk in night travels after such home matches as well as financial involvement of hotel accommodation, which will be unaffordable to some.
Thirdly, the security situation on our roads both in the day and night travels is the biggest risk factor among the players, officials and fans. Last season witnessed attacks on some teams en-route match venues. The petrifying scenario is both hazardous nightmare and foolhardy. Players and officials who escape the horrifying situation will not like to be faced with such ugly and hazardous situations. It seems this problem has not been faced or addressed by NFF and LMC.
The fourth hindrances to enjoyable football season is the close door situation due to Covid 19 restrictions experienced last season and the recent Omicron variant which has reduced the turnout of spectators to our stadia.
Both NFF and LMC seem to be guilty of conspiracy of silence as nothing has been said or being done for the involvement/participation of the fans and spectators who have fun and excitement as well as contribute to the motivation of the players in view of their vociferous voices, songs and overwhelming rendition from their music department. Individuals who can present evidence of vaccination should be allowed to watch matches. The English premier league, Spanish Laliga or Germanys Bundesliga etc have full capacity at their stadia arena.
The fifth and very important problem is the registration and contract agreements of players, management/administrative staff to guarantee their commitment to the various clubs.
The non reciprocity of club owners or Government as the case maybe in meeting the pecuniary agreement with players, management etc is one of the greatest handicaps of Nigerian Football Club Management. A situation where players, club managers etc are owed many months of their salaries and allowances rank highest problem of Nigeria Sports development.
Sixthly the fire brigade approach of managers of our league in cueing into the global standard practices has led to our presently half baked teams to represent Nigeria in Confederation of African football programmes. Hence the early exit of our club representatives.
lastly, no government/individual can single handedly handle sports programmes and activities alone, Public, Private, Partnership should be aggressively pursued so that we can attempt to meet world standard and practice. Clubs should prioritize their marketing strategies so as to attract sponsorship. For us to have a result oriented football season we should address above problems/handicaps bedeviling our Nigeria Professional Premier League.
