War against hooliganism

War against hooliganism

By Clem Oluwole 

Good morning folks. Long time no see! I have been away on leave. And I must tender my unreserved apology for taking leave of this column unceremoniously. It was due to circumstances beyond my control.

Let me seize this opportunity to thank my numerous readers who, through direct or indirect contacts, have expressed concern over the unannounced disappearance of this column.

As I have always said, all work and no rest makes you a dull folk. I am happy to be back and I hope we shall be having pleasant weekends as usual.

Now, let us get back to business. During my leave, a destructive wave of hooliganism swept across our soccer circle, causing severe injuries to its victims but luckily there was no loss of life. And in a swift reaction, the Nigeria Football Association (NFA), Lagos has taken a number of measures to stem the tide.

Prevention, they say, is better than cure. The preventive measures taken by the NFA are reassuring but again like the saying goes, there are many ways of killing a cat. Nigerians, being what they are, will find a way to circumvent the measures and fulfill their vengeance mission(s).

For the benefit of my fans, some of the hard measures the NFA has taken are:

“Acts of hooliganism are to be made accountable to the club whose fans committed the act. In addition, the host club will lose the match even if it won as well as getting the red card for the rest of the competition and losing all the points accruing to it.

“The state FAs are to be severely penalized and the club will forfeit its centre. Matches involving the club will be taken to another centre of NFA’s choice. State FAs are to provide adequate security BEFORE, DURING and AFTER the match for visiting clubs.”

Like I said earlier, these measures are reassuring but I have my fears. I am not being skeptical though. In the short term, the measures are good enough but in the long run, the NFA should face the task squarely by preaching the gospel according to the spirit of sportsmanship.

Last week, while delivering a lecture on ‘Sports Administration and Hooliganism in Nigeria’ to participants from the Faculty of Health and Physical Education, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, who were attending a two-week course at the Citizenship and Leadership Training Centre, Shere Hills, near Jos, I attempted to pinpoint some of the root causes of sports hooliganism and ways of minimizing it.

Five major causes I highlighted were lack of the spirit of sportsmanship, ignorance of the rules by players and spectators, poor knowledge of the rules of the game on the part of match officials, dishonesty on the part of officials and poor organization.

To minimize it, I made the following suggestions:
Mass education of players and spectators on the rules of the game to avoid misunderstanding between them and match officials.
Refresher courses to be organized regularly for match officials to update their knowledge on the rules of the game and severe penalties handed down to any of them caught or found to have indulged in acts of dishonesty.
Friendliness before, during and after competitions such as players embracing themselves or helping up fallen opponents could ease tension on the field and among the spectators.

My suggestions could be viewed by a revolutionary sports critic as very mild.

Like I said, there are many ways of snuffing life out of a cat. Take for instance a recent newspaper report credited to the secretary of Ondo State Sports Council who accompanied the Akure Housing FC to Benin.

The Ondo chaps upset bookmakers by leading Bendel Insurance by a lone goal up to the closing minutes when Bendel got a disputed face saving penalty which fetched them the equalizer.

The scribe, Mr. Tunji Olateju said: “Thank God we did not win the match; otherwise we would all be dead on the pitch.”

The Housing boys though contested the penalty but to put it in the words of the Housing Coach, Mr. Adedeji: “Who knows if it would have meant our extermination if we did not allow the penalty?”

After the match, the report added, the Housing boys remained on the pitch for an hour guarded by 30 policemen.

Eventually, the report continued, the Akure chaps left the field under heavy security. Then the Housing boy’s ordeal resumed when their 60-seater bus was ambushed by an angry mob along Ekenwa Road. The windscreen of the bus was smashed and six players and Mr. Olateju were physically assaulted with their shirts torn to shreds.

Two other players had battered foreheads to show for having the temerity to draw with the darling club of Benin fans on their own soil.

Remember the Mighty Jets of Jos had a similar experience when they played Bendel some weeks ago. Their crime, according to reports, was that they led the soccer gods by 2 – 1 until about 19 minutes to go before the Bendelites put three goals past the Jos lads… that was after the Benin fans had succeeded in instilling fear into the match officials.

Take it or leave it, supporters of two clubs in this league, Bendel Insurance and IICC, have the inclination to manhandle players of lesser visiting clubs who dare to beat or draw with their darling teams. To them, it is an insult to attempt to beat these clubs. Remember, the Nigeria Standard FC of Jos got beaten up after losing 3 – 1 to Shooting Stars about a month ago in Ibadan. Yes, the IICC, falling down by a lone goal until 20 minutes to go, eventually won after the fans had succeeded in intimidating the match officials by throwing missiles at the linesmen and the visiting players when play was in progress. The same went for the Sharks who lost 4 – 2 to IICC also in the series but got thoroughly beaten up by the tempestuous IICC supporters.

In a situation like this, the best cannot be expected from visiting players and officials handling the matches. As a team, you must deliberately lose a match once the handwriting appears on the wall or is it on the scoreboard? And if you don’t value your life by closing your eyes to the boldly printed handwriting, the referees would open them by ensuring that you lose the match to save his own life and yours too… what an unpleasant favour!

Right now, the NFA has taken positive steps to arrest the situation. The steps taken so far, which also affect all the participating clubs even in Division Two, are laudable. I am sure supporters of IICC and Bendel Insurance would not like to see their beloved clubs banished to other centres. Similarly, those of Sharks, Jets and the Nigeria Standard would want to watch their home matches at home and not away. Neither would they want to see their clubs suspended from the competition. I will also recommend to the NFA that any player or players who precipitate an act of hooliganism should be ruthlessly dealt with… possibly a life ban clamped on them.

A source close to the meeting held between six warring clubs and the NFA on Monday told me that the steps taken by the association were the toughest. Agreed. But I hope the association would be able to enforce them without fear or favour. All clubs in both top and lower cadres of the league are equal no matter how old or young.

But dear NFA, I have one genuine fear… that is if club A is playing a home match and supporters of a rival club based at the same centre cause trouble under the guise of being followers of club A with a view to getting club A penalized under the new measures, what happens?

Lest I forget, if the nasty experience of the Akure boys along Ekenwa Road is anything to go by, the host FA should be made to ensure that visiting clubs are escorted to safety.

All told, let us keep our fingers crossed. But I am already getting disillusioned with the home-and-away system of our league reintroduced after 1971 when the competition began. I think I favour the zonal arrangement where clubs are grouped on neutral grounds. It saves one’s skull, at least.



The return of Tiko



And so soccer Father Tiko is back. He dumped us sometime ago, remember? Now he has been persuaded to return to the fold to work with an association which has become completely disenchanted with him and everything that made Tiko what we know him for.

I must confess I admire Father Tiko for his achievements in Nigerian soccer. I had the privilege of critically watching him prepare the Eagles for the 1978 World Cup race on a number of occasions and I was full of admiration for him because he commanded the respect and confidence of his boys.

But gradually, he lost the respect because some of the star players had godfathers in the NFA circle. These same boys who ordained him as ‘Father’ then began to look down on him. Some of the star players were made indispensable in the team because Tiko must give them the jerseys on a match day. At that time, even a blind person could give you the lineup of Tiko’s squad. He forgot that this is Nigeria where if you start well you must be prepared to lose your life to remain on top. Nigerians do not appreciate trying moments.

Father Tiko was a thick skinned gentleman. He resisted the pressure to quit the stage while the applause was still on because he knew where the fault lay. Then suddenly, he succumbed. All seemed to have been forgotten about him when he suddenly reappeared on the stage.

I am not intrigued about the disappearance and reappearance of Father Tiko. Like I said earlier, I still admire Tiko but he might not find his task easy. If Tiko is one of my fans, he would know that I am one of his admirers. But he should not enjoy being made indispensable by whoever persuaded him to return here because he will never enjoy serving this country anymore especially when his services are considered unwanted by some people. Unless Tiko has a nerve of steel, he can’t work in an environment where he is unwanted by the majority. And only a boss also with a nerve of steel can employ a man to work in an environment where he is no longer needed. This is why Tiko should have stayed away.

But let us face one fact. Tiko has been an unfortunate man… a brilliant start and a disastrous ending. The crisis in Nigerian soccer began in the wake of our chain of successes in the race for both the 1978 World Cup and the last Nations Cup. Everybody in our sporting circle wanted to be part of the success of carrying Nigeria to a World Cup Finals tournament. The Commissioner for Sports, the National Sports Commission and the Nigeria Football Association all took over the Eagles and Tiko was virtually reduced to a toothless bulldog or a robot. And as the saying goes, too many cooks spoil the broth. Suddenly, the Eagles failed and all the other cooks disappeared, leaving poor Tiko alone to eat the unpleasant meal. This, in my view, is the plain truth. Even if we secure the services of Mennotti, the Argentine coach who led that country’s team to win the 1978 World Cup, and refuse him a free hand, he will fail woefully. I bet you he will.





(Culled from Saturday Commentary, first published on June 9, 1979).