[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he administration of football has always been a problem in Nigeria. All over the world, close followers of the game are aware of the potential the country is blessed with, both at the grassroots and youth levels. For example, the skills being exhibited by talents at school level are so encouraging.
We are aware that school competitions like the Principals Cup, inter-house sports and, indeed, National Sports Festival, are always events where coaches get potential national players.
At domestic club level, Nigerian players put up enough efforts to take them abroad because the system at home is suspect until recently when the League Management Company raised the standard of the league in the country.
The country has never been in short of talents, but how to administratively turn the talents to superstars is the challenge of leaders of sports over the years in the country.
We recall that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has, in the past, subjected the country to embarrassment. There was a case in the age issues in the registration of two players – Dahiru Sadi and Samson Siasia – in the past.
There was a case of a national U-17 team filling out for an international match and an official of the federation forgot the international passports of the team in Lagos and that was realised shortly before kick off in Ibadan.
There was also a case of the Super Eagles filling out for a match in Lagos and an official of the federation forgot the shorts of the players in a match against Burkina Faso. That was in 1991.
The tracksuit pants of the players were reduced to shorts and it was used for the encounter, which the team won 7-1 at the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos.
Last week, the negligence of NFF almost cost Nigeria a place in the final of the Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup. The disturbing news of FIFA deduction of point earned in the last match against Algeria hit us like a thunderbolt. It was so sad that the federation had no proper records and the officials are also not relating well with the world ruling body that duly sent a warning letter to the country not to field Shehu Abdulahi for the Algeria tie.
He picked up a yellow card in 2015 during the tenure of former coach Sunday Oliseh and received yet another one in the encounter against Zambia in October 2017.
We are aware that FIFA rules sometimes change, but the world football body is very organised, such that effective communication is prevalent between it and its affiliate federations all over the world. FIFA ruled that due to the ineligibility of Abdulahi, Nigeria’s 1-1 draw recorded against Algeria in the last match was changed to a 3-0 victory for the North Africans. Of course federation boss, Amaju Pinnick, promptly apologised and set up a committee headed by his vice, Seyi Akinwunmi, to find out how such could happen.
We are not interested in the probe issue, but we want to state that somebody must pay for this grave error that almost caused the country a ticket to the World Cup. The three points and three goals were enough to kiss the tournament bye if not for the good run of the team. On paper, the unbeaten run of Nigeria since 2010 has been truncated due to the negligence of the federation. It is indeed a big shame.
It is sad that FIFA wrote a warning letter to the country that Abdullahi was not eligible and, in a match of no consequence, the country was completely embarrassed. We want to also state clearly that there is no way FIFA will send letter to anyone in Nigeria without sending a copy to the Secretary General of the Federation. This is a failure of the secretariat of the NFF and it has little or nothing to do with the NFF president or the board.
The Technical Department of the federation is also supposed to have the records while the team secretary of the Super Eagles is also culpable. There should be a functional communication and record keeping system by the Federation and its officials. In modern age, all the necessary information should be in the computer and even before FIFA’s warning letter, the Federation should know.
The unbeaten record of about 37 games is gone officially due to the inadequacies of the federation. But for the good run of the team, Nigeria would have been thrown out of the World Cup.
This administrative blunder must not go unpunished or be swept under the carpet like many other blunders committed by the federation. The person or all those involved in this disgraceful ‘error’ must not go unpunished.
Nigeria is a big footballing nation and we cannot imagine that after the efforts of the country’s talented players and the celebration of the fans over the World Cup ticket won, the same ticket would be lost off the pitch. That almost happened and it’s time to get rid of the ‘dead woods’ in the Glass House of NFF.