OUR FALCONS ARE SUPER

In one of my articles titled “Weep Not, Oh Our Super Eagles” published in the Nigeriaworld on Friday October 28, 2005, I discussed the problems hindering our football. That was almost two years ago. However, the problem persists and is even getting worse especially in relation with our Female National Team, better known as the Falcons.

It hasn’t been a bad month of sporting success for Nigeria especially football. With the Super Eagle beating the Crocodiles of Lesotho earlier in the month to put an exclamation mark on their already secured qualification for the next year’s Nations Cup in Ghana, to the Golden Eaglets winning the Under-17 World Cup in far away Korea and the Falcons doing credibly well against their highly rated opponents in the Women World Cup in China.

All these achievements were as a result of a dint of hard work by our dedicated sports men and women. Their officials only take glories after these patriotic Nigerians have suffered many odds and came out tops.

But in this my write up, I wish to condemn the poor treatment meted to our Female National Team by their so-called officials. Before, during and even after their exit from the world cup, the falcons had always had one form of shabby treatment and another.

Their preparation for this important event, just like everything in Nigeria, was poor. Initially, the plan was start their preparation for the world cup in January. However, that could not materialize. It was only two weeks prior to their world cup campaign did they undertake a playing tour in Germany! Yet much is expected from them. After their so-called playing tour, two players, Kikelomo Ajayi (the team captain) and Vera Okolo were injured and couldn’t make it to China. Ajayi suffered a back muscle injury and Okolo had knee problems. The players were dropped from the roster and sent home to Nigeria. However, when they returned to the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, they were abandoned at the airport to fend for themselves. They were told that they would be met on arrival by some NFA official who would pay them their allowances and settle their transport fares. They waited at the airport there was no one to receive them. Finally, they met an official that was on a personal errand to the airport who cannot help their cause.

1999 was their best outing in the World cup. Even though they lost their first match against the host country, USA, by 7-1 after shocking them with an early goal; they held on and beat the highly rated Norway and reached the quarter finals in USA losing to Brazil after a grueling match that ended 3-3 after the regular time. They only lost during extra time!

The ladies have been relegated to the background in the scheme of things. First of all, the players and their coaches have to go cap in hands to be able to get their programs approved. The only female board member of the NFA, Ms Bola Jegede had to pay her way to China and was not refunded her estacodes. The board has only one female member and even at that, her travel with the team cannot be approved and she has to pay from her own pocket to travel with the team.

As far back as 1999 when they took part in the Third edition of the World Cup in USA, the NFA paid them $2,000 for their victory against Denmark. A draw in that competition fetched them $1,000 and their daily camp allowance was $100. Now, the same NFA is offering them $75 as daily camp allowance, $500 for draw and $1,000 for a win. Even at that, the ladies still did not get their due despite the fact that what they are being offered is way lower than what their male counterpart are paid.

In the ongoing World Cup in China, it was reported that the ladies were owed their match bonuses and camp allowances and was told that the person with their money was on his way to China. They protested and even went on strike and refused to train and threatened a no-show for their last group game against the United States unless their bonuses and camp allowances were fully paid to them. For that reason, they were called all sorts of names. They were called “greedy” “selfish” and “unpatriotic” by the officials.

The NFA media officer, Ademola Olajire was quoted as saying that the NFA decided to pay the girls so as to avoid “national embarrassment". He also said that the protest by the girls was unnecessary because the NFA had reached an agreement with the players before they departed for the tour of Germany.

The NFA Assistant Secretary-General (competition), Mohammed Sanusi, said that the association had identified the ring leaders and would punish them to serve as a deterrent to others. “We’ll not leave any stone in an effort to instill sanity in the Super Falcons and other national teams, the players embarrassed the nation and we want to stop such conduct.” Sanusi criticized the players for breaking a gentleman’s agreement with the NFA chairman, Sani Lulu, saying that the body had learnt from that.
Again an unnamed official of the Nigerian Embassy in Beijing reportedly condemned the Falcons. "It is irresponsible", there are Nigerians all over the world that do things just to keep the country's flag flying without asking for money……the younger generation must curtail their attitude about lucre. It is a shame that the players refused to train before the game because they wanted more money. Other more serious countries must not hear this. It is always a pride to play at the World Cup..."
This is sad. This is what our players go through every time irrespective of their level. No one should blame the players for the unorthodox method they employed in getting what belongs to them. What is shameful is the fact that the players should even beg for their entitlements. Just for asking for what is due to them, they are given bad names by the officials. These players have sacrificed a lot for their fatherland, and anyone that calls them unpatriotic is just using the term as a weapon of blackmail! They use that word “patriotism” as if it just a word as if those players don’t love our country.
In a country that values its sports, those officials that cause Nigeria these monumental embarrassments would have been made to explain their actions and even fired.
 
Maureen Madu and two others, Yinka Kudaisi and Faith Ikidi were sacked last year by their Swedish club for honoring Nigeria's invitation to play at the 2006 Africa Women Championship in Warri, Delta State. Mmadu and Ikidi later returned to Sweden where they signed a mouth-watering contract with another club. The NFA was dragging their feet to help them secure a new club and to pay their hotel bills after being sacked by their Swedish club. So how else does one show patriotism; if one risks a club’s sack to play for her country?
 
Sound familiar? Remember what happened to Sunday Oliseh, Finidi George, Victor Agali and Ike Shorunmi after the Nations Cup in Mali ’02. The players were denied their entitlements and they already agreed during the players meeting that they would confront their problems head on. During a meeting with the then honorable minister for sports, they outlined their problems and the players’ decisions. The team captain, Oliseh, and his assistant, Shorunmi and others were blacklisted for being disrespectful, greedy and pompous. They were called all kinds of names including labeling them "tired legs" and unpatriotic for asking for their dues.  The officials used the press to blackmail them telling all kinds of lies against them. Oliseh and Finidi had to retire prematurely from the national team, no thanks for the raw deal they got from the officials. How about their coaches, Amodu Shuaibu and Stephen Keshi to standing by their players? They were sacked from the National team even though they worked so hard to qualify Nigeria to the World Cup after Jo Bonfere, the expatriate coach, unceremoniously quit from handling the national team. Amodu made history as the first indigenous coach to qualify Nigeria to the world cup. What did he get in return? He was vilified by the officials and the then Sport Minister.

It is worse with the Super Falcons. They have served our country well and should be treated well. These ladies go through untold hardships even as they have on many occasions won laurels for their fatherland. Come to think of it, from the inception of the Nations Cup for the ladies, they have won it a record of five times! They are the only team to win it back to back to back. That’s a record on itself. They have qualified for and participated in every Women World Cup from its inception in China in 1991 all the way through China 2007, a record of five times. From the time of Ann Agumanu-Chiejine, Chioma Ajunwa, Florence Omagbemi, Luisa Akpagu, Omo-Lovebranch, Okunwa Igunbo, Eucharia Uche etc all the way through now, the falcons have performed creditably well in spite of being unappreciated and unfairly treated as against their male counterpart. Same thing with the Olympic Games, they have been to the Olympic Games two times and are poised to make it to the next one coming next year in China. They won two All African Games gold medals. They have won every available laurel in African football. It is also noteworthy that a veteran member of the Falcon team, “Golden Girl”

Chioma Ajunwa, won Nigeria’s first ever Olympic gold in long jump. She left football and its ‘wahala’ to concentrate on athletics that finally got laurels for Nigeria.

Having won every edition of the African Nations Cup, All African Games football and all other laurels, the falcons are still not taken seriously. They are still seen as inferior to the men. They are still regarded as a recreational team. Their game is seen as just for fun. Some chauvinistic officials still look down on them because of their gender. They still get disparate treatments from officials and got intimidated for asking questions about their well-being as in this case. Maureen Madu and her colleagues that play abroad are already blacklisted. She called it quits with the national team unless their condition of service improves and a foreign coach appointed for them. She argued that it is only foreign coaches that the officials respect. That is true. The officials do not give a damn about local coaches in spite of all they have done to show that given a level playing ground, they would perform better than their expatriate counterparts. Shuaibu Amodu has proved that and Stephen Keshi had shown that in far away Togo; that African coaches are equal to the task. Look at the Enyimba FC that won the Champions league back to back, a feat that has never been achieved by Nigeria, on those two occasions, it was two different indigenous coaches that made it happen. I do not want to talk about other coaches like Coaches Brodericks Imasuen, Fanny Amun and Tella, that all won the FIFA U-17 World Cup for Nigeria in 1985, 1993 and 2007 respectively.

The Falcon players were reported to have been forced out of their hotels at the instigation of their official, and forced to fly home despite the fact that there was a typhoon warning that people should stay where they are to avoid the dangers of the imminent typhoon.

But gone are the days when female football is just for entertainment. In this 21 century, women football is for real. These ladies are professionals! They don’t have any other job other than to use their God-given talents to fend for themselves. The government and its officials in the National Sports Commission and the Nigeria Football Association should understand that. Some of these ladies are the bread-winners of their families. We have to change our attitudes towards them. They have come a long way. To my mind, the Falcons played much better in this year’s World Cup than even in 1999 when they made it to the quarter final. They played much better than the number one rated United States team; and outplayed them in every department of the game. They should be commended for their excellence in the field of play after all they have been through. I wonder what would have happened if the players were given an uninterrupted six months camping and well-motivated. They should have won the cup for the first time for Nigeria!

For the records, since the inception of the Nations Cup, the Super Eagles have only won it twice, in 1980 and in 1994. It has been more than 13 years since the men last won the championship. The men’s team has been to the World cup for only 3 times, US’94, France ’98 and Japan/Korea ’02.

However, when the then Green Eagles won the Nations Cup in 1980, they were idolized. All the members of the team were given houses, Volkswagen Beetles and National Honors of Member of the Order of Niger (MON). Streets were named after them and they wined and dined with the then President Shehu Shagari. Similar thing happened when the Super Eagles won the Nations Cup again in Tunisia in 1994. However, when the Falcons won same championship for five times, even to organize reception for them was like pulling tooth of a lion…..impossible! The government and officials kept postponing it indefinitely. Some of them left to various foreign clubs in frustration.

One would imagine what would have been the case had it been the Super Eagles that won these laurels and receive same treatment. I do not intend to minimize the exploits of the eagles or to begrudge them. They earned it and like I said in my articles about the eagles, nothing given to our sports men and women can be too big for them. They earn everything they get from the government. They risk their life and their careers for us and they are the only positive things that people from other countries know about our country.

After all, if the Speaker of the House of Representatives and her Deputy can use N628 million (about $5million) to renovate or refurbish their official quarters, why should we quarrel about a mere $75 camp allowance for our heroines? If president after president, government officials, ministers and governors siphoned the treasury of the country and their various states and receive a pat on their hands, why can’t we look after our sports men and women. Here we are talking about billions of dollars down the drain. It is ridiculous! Our official always cares about themselves. The girls’ morale is very low right now after all these. If you see the way they played, you can see that they love to win and that they were disappointed that they did not go far in the tournament.

The official should care about the players’ welfare on and off the field of play. For instance, I learnt one of the top Falcons Players, Mercy “Merciless” Akide-Udoh, had a baby few weeks ago. I can guarantee you that none of the officials has called to find out how she and her baby are doing, let alone send her a congratulatory message. The injured players, Vera Okolo and Kikelomo Ajayi, that were dropped from the China-bound team, I am sure that none of the official has tried to check on them to see how they are faring. Even some of their active players that are having one form of problem or another; no one has asked them how they are doing and try to encourage them.

I think that it is time that this madness comes to an end. The National Assembly should set up a Panel of Inquiry to find out what happened in China and those officials found culpable should be sanctioned by the government. The government should appoint as sports ministers and NFA officials, those people that have actually played the game to the highest level and those that actually have the interest of the game at heart.

I don’t know why people like Segun Odegbami, Kojo Williams, Emma Okocha, Owolabi, Barrister Nwabufo Obienu and the rest of them should not be appointed sports administrators and even Sports Ministers. The reason why we are still having these problems is that those that run our sports have not played the sports to the highest level and do not understand the mentality of players because they have not been there themselves. Until we do that, our sports will continue to suffer from incompetence of these officials.

 

By Chukwudi Nwokoye