Editorial

After the Week 22 of the 2011/2012 Nigeria Premier League season game of soccer between the 3SC football club of Ibadan and the Gombe United football Club of Gombe had ended in a 2-1 victory for the latter, in Gombe recently, the fans of the hosts were not excited one little bit. On the contrary, they were angry that their club won the match and to show their anger, some of these fans(fanatics really) allegedly attacked their guests from Ibadan, stabbed a 3SC striker, Raheem Owolabi on his right arm and according to media reports, he lost so much blood that he fainted! His colleagues and other club officials were not spared as they also sustained injuries and were held hostage by the angry fans.

Indubitably, this is an ugly development for the game of football in Nigeria, even if sports buffs insist that the game remains the unifying bond amongst the various ethnic groups and interests in the country. It reflects badly on the administrative ability of the organisers of the league, and it is a sad commentary on the potential of the game to get to the next level in the country. If teams which lose in games that are played away from their bases are attacked and cannot feel secure, what will be the fate of teams that win? Can teams afford to give of their best if their safety cannot be guaranteed? If sporting encounters are allowed to feature violence that may result in deaths, how can spectators be encouraged to watch live games at stadia? And if spectators are scared from the stadia, how can the sporting events staged there be profitable?

Nothing robs sports of all its theoretical advantages like the violence which unfortunately sometimes attends an otherwise healthy rivalry between or amongst teams and participants. It takes away the glory and the excitements that are presumed to be the attractions of sports and leaves it as essentially a dreadful activity to be avoided by both sane spectators and even participants alike. And if on account of mindless violence, sports are shunned by even the participants, then its meaning is lost. This is the reason why serious organisers elsewhere take the issue of security as a matter of priority, especially now that infamy is gaining ground worldwide, and sports venues are targeted by terrorists as favourite spots to practise their orgy of violence.

It is sad that, as some sports buffs have observed, the 3SC contingent braved the successful onslaught of the Boko Haram in the North to attend to fixed sporting engagements by the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) only to be victims of some other fanatics called club fans. The security situation in the North, with the terrorist campaign there is enough reason for clubs to avoid the venues in those places, and those clubs that are courageous enough to honour engagements ought to be commended instead of being maltreated. Those who organised the league, the NFF, should have been proactive to prevent such mindless violence and gangsterism which occurred in Gombe. The unfortunate development will not only tar the image of the NFF, it will also threaten the growth of soccer in the country.

The NFF should not just investigate the violence thoroughly, it should penalise all those culpable of one lapse or the other, particularly the club that cannot control its fans. There are rules and regulations governing the operations of the NFF, and the authorities should ensure that the full wrath of its laws are brought to bear upon erring parties and even venue in order to punish those responsible for that ugly and needless incident and deter others who may be contemplating such in other venues in subsequent encounters.

Without the violence, the Nigeria Premier League is facing a lot of challenges hindering its growth and potentials. For it to contend with issues of safety and security is to render the league completely hopeless. We expect that the NFF will recognise this as a challenge to it to prove its worth. What it chooses to do will tell the direction in which the development of soccer is headed in this country.