Is Nigeria for Moscow ’80?

Is Nigeria for Moscow ’80?  

By Clem Oluwole

By now one should be sick of our inability to take a firm stand over matters of principle. I have in mind the forthcoming Moscow Olympics.

In 1976, knowing fully well that New Zealand was in absolute fraternity with racist South Africa, we prepared our cream of sportsmen and women for the Olympics. Thousands of naira was spent to get our athletes ready. Virtually everybody including the officials proudly dressed in traditional outfit and all roads led to Montreal, Canada. Our soccer squad, the Green Eagles were already on a pre-Olympic tour of Europe, walloping every opposition. That was the year we would have captured the soccer gold medal!

Then suddenly, there was this shocking news… Nigeria and several other African countries joined by the Arabs withdrew from the Games because of New Zealand. A last minute ultimatum was given to Canada and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to bar the New Zealand or face a mass Afro-Arab boycott. But you know blood is thicker than water. The all-white IOC preferred to see the back of the Arabs and Africans than barring their brothers and sisters from New Zealand. That 1976 Olympics turned out to be a lackluster show but all the same, the whites liked it. And so tax payers’ money was wasted.

Later, the 1978 Commonwealth Games came up. Nigeria still knew very well that New Zealand had not changed its sporting policy towards South Africa in spite of all assurance that the country gave at the Commonwealth Conference held in London in 1977.

And so we again bundled our contingent into the planes to Algeria for the 3rd All-Africa Games en route to Edmonton for the Commonwealth Games. Most of our athletes reserved their energies at the Algiers Games for the more challenging Edmonton show. Thousands of naira in foreign exchange was carried to Algeria because the Edmonton contingent and its officials were to proceed to Canada straight from Algeria. There was a mounting speculation in Algeria as to whether or not Nigeria would go to the Edmonton Games. Then towards the end of the Algiers Games, the Federal Commissioner responsible for sports, Mr. S. O. Williams, flew in from Lagos. Sports journalists covering the Algiers Games were rushed to a Seaside Hotel at the outskirts of Algiers for an emergency press conference. We already knew what the theme of the conference was all about. And when the commissioner announced that Nigeria was pulling out for obvious reasons, I was not surprised.

And so everybody returned home after the Algiers Games. Some African countries like Ghana and Kenya did not see why they should withdraw at the last minute. And so to Edmonton they went. I am sure those who took estacodes for the Edmonton Games had returned their foreign exchange to the National Sports Commission and their various Sports Councils… another waste of fund. Let me quickly say here that I only made provision to go to Algeria because I knew for sure that the Edmonton trip would flop.

From the look of things, there could be a repeat of wasteful spending next year. And that is why I have decided to cry out 12 months before Olympic ’80. Right now, Nigeria knows that New Zealand still dines and wines with South Africa on a sporting table. France has joined the bandwagon. Remember a cream of tennis players from South Africa had just taken part in the finals of the French International Championship in Paris. Now the question is: what is our stand? Right now, a Nigerian delegation is going or has gone to Moscow to watch the Spartakiad Olympic rehearsal. That shows that we are going to Moscow come July next year. For sure, the USSR in spite of its stand against racism cannot stop either New Zealand or France from coming to Moscow. The Federal Government should tell us its stand now. There is no doubt that in a few months time, the National Sports Commission would come out with its usual clarion call for donations towards Moscow Olympics… only to be wasted. Needless to mention the disappointment and frustration our potential athletes would be plunged into at the eleventh hour.

The sacred cows

Last week, I dwelt a bit on one of the major weaknesses in our soccer – over-confidence. And there is ample evidence to show that we have paid dearly for it. In some cases – two of them recently – big, over-confident clubs have got away with it. You see, you cannot eat your cake and have it, according to an old saying. But some big shots – I mean clubs – have succeeded in eating their cake and having it. Do we call that a new adage?

Early this month, Rangers International Football Club of Enugu were received by Abakaliki White Angels in the current Anambra State FA Cup race. Typical of our big clubs when they are facing the so-called under-dogs, the Rangers went into the field like the arrogant and loquacious Goliath did against David. They got a rude shock when, after a goalless first half, the Angels slotted two goals past them. Defeat was imminent and to save their faces, the Rangers, led by their officials, protested against the second goal, claiming that it was scored after an infringement. The referee, handpicked following the non-appearance of the one appointed for the match, stuck to his guns. And that was 10 minutes to the final whistle. Play was held up but the referee called it a day when it was full time.

The fact that the referee was handpicked to handle the match is immaterial.

If it were the appointed referee that handled the match and defeat was imminent, the same could have happened. The Rangers probably ignored the saying that it is unsafe to dine with an unknown angel.

Predictably, an official of the Anambra State Sports Council, financiers of Enugu Rangers, later gave an indication of replay. There was, of course, a replay and the Rangers Proper thrashed the poor Angels by 3 – 0. And so the Rangers were back into the FA Cup race.

Let us get one thing straight. Rangers’ fans could view my comment as being biased… that how on earth could I belong to a class of people who would want to see Rangers of Enugu – Nigeria’s one-time continental idols – humiliated by an unknown side like the Abakaliki Angels? I am not being sentimental about the issue. But I hate to see people cheated. I think the White Angels have been cheated. And this is not the first time Anambra and even the former East Central State, have helped Rangers win FA Cup at all costs. Remember what happened last year when Rangers and Vasco clashed in the FA Cup?

What the soccer authorities are doing in that state amounts to killing football. Rather than wasting time and money organizing annual FA Cup competitions, I suggest that Rangers should be presented yearly as unopposed candidates for Anambra State in the National Challenge Cup. A club cannot become great overnight. It has to start from somewhere. Abakaliki White Angels could be no exception. If Rangers lost to the Angels out of their own undoing, I see no reason why they must be schemed back into the competition at all costs.

Rangers are one of the clubs in the country that everybody could be proud of as a Nigerian. But I hate the idea of nursing sacred cows.

Yes, that reminds me… how did the Stationery Stores of Lagos, knocked out 4 – 5 by the Mandilas Lions of Lagos in a replay, get back into that state’s FA Cup race? This is not the first time the Stores have been given such a sacred cow treatment.

I think we are now cut in the web of soccer hooliganism and soccer fraud. Cheer up, readers… may be a messiah will be born one day to redeem our football.

(Culled from Saturday Commentary, first published on June 23, 1979).