Flogging a living horse

Flogging a living horse

By Clem Oluwole 

I hate flogging a dead horse. It is a waste of time and energy. But when a living horse pretends to be dead, it would not be a waste of energy flogging it back to ‘life’. Perhaps that is why I am taking you back to an issue which I have over-flogged in this column since the past two years… the issue of national and club assignments clashing.

Right in front of me is a report headlined ‘5 Rangers aces grounded’. The report said that Eagles’ age-long skipper Christian Chukwu, goalkeeper Emmanuel Okala, wing wizard Adokie Amiesimaka, overlapping defender Pat Ekeji and Sylvanus Okpala are to stay behind for the West African Football Union (WAFU) Cup semi-final this month.

This followed a letter written to the National Sports Commission (NSC) requesting that the five Rangers’ stars be allowed to stay back for the competition which is not even recognized by the African Football Confederation (AFC) – the highest soccer body in the continent.

And so the rest of the Eagles flew out to Brazil last Monday without the five. The big five, it was reported, will join them later for a tour that will last for two months.

Well, well, well… this is not the first time that we have failed to draw a line between a national assignment and a club affair. Is the unrecognized WAFU competition more important than our preparation for the Nations Cup which we are hosting for the first time? What is WAFU anyway? Where will WAFU victory lead us to?

In 1977, this columnist became absolutely disillusioned with Nigerian soccer when we allowed club affairs to override the national assignment and that consequently led to our painful exit from the race for the 1978 World Cup Finals.

A source close to the NSC was said to have hinted that Christian Chukwu was particularly downcast when he learnt of the big five dropping at the last minute. This is how a patriotic Nigerian should feel.

I understand Governor Jim Nwobodo’s concern over Rangers. He was until a few months back, the Chairman of Rangers International Football Club of Enugu. And I admire him for the remarkable contributions he made to make Rangers what they are today. Governor Nwobodo has pledged to lift the Rangers from their present doldrums and to start with, they must win the WAFU Cup at the expense of the nation.

The trip to Brazil is just a tour. Agreed. But it is a very crucial tour which needs the support of keen football followers like Governor Jim Nwobodo.

If Rangers win the WAFU Cup (we have not won it before), the glory of it cannot be compared with that of the Nations Cup which if we fail to win should earn our football administrators a block ticket to the Lagos lagoon… to drown.

Take Guinea for instance. That great soccer loving nation (President Ahmed Sekou Toure is religiously committed to football) had two of its menacing clubs in both the current Africa Cup Winners Cup and Africa Cup Championships. One of the two clubs, Horoya, were sent packing in the semi-final by Gor Mahia of Kenya. The Kenyans surprised African football followers with a 2 – 0 second leg win in Conakry, a feat which no African club had achieved before. The great Hafia tumbled to Hearts of Oak of Accra in the quarter-final of the Africa Cup.

No soccer followers in Nigeria today will pretend not to know a great deal about these two Guinean terror clubs – Rangers and IICC even know them better. And so the sudden exit of Hafia and Horoya should be a surprise. Perhaps, you would be expecting to read about President Toure sending members of the two great clubs to the dungeon. Hold it. That will never happen… I tell you. This is because the star players of both clubs form the bulk of Guinean national squad which have qualified for the forthcoming African Cup of Nations Finals. The Guineans were able to draw a line between club championship and national assignment. The Guineans take football more seriously than we do in this country which is why they took such a bold decision to draw a distinct parallel line. And so players of Hafia and Horoya in the Guinean national squad were not allowed to feature in the club championships.

This is why I shall continue to flog a horse that is fully alive but pretends to be dead.





(Culled from Saturday Commentary, first published on November 10, 1979)