Daily Independent Online.
*
Wednesday, July 21, 2004.
The craze for victory at all cost
Stories By Emeka
Nwani
Senior
Correspondent,
Lagos
Sam Phillips (not real name) is the team
manager of one of the top league clubs in the country. He is well connected in
football circles.
He believes nothing can work in Nigerian
football if certain things are not put in place. He also believes that for his
team to win, he must be seen to be working by winning all his matches whether
at home or away.
In spite of the fact that he did not
prevail on the coaches to recruit good players, he must win all home games.
And that means he must buy his way to
winning so that the owners of the club will be happy with him. He details one
of his assistants to be on the look out for the match officials.
As soon as the officials enter the city,
they are taken to their hotel to rest. And in the evening, the team manager
visits them to brief them on how to handle the match the next day.
“We need the match because the three
points are very vital to us. No matter what it takes, I am ready to pay as long
as you help us because our opponents are very strong.
“In fact they have a very dangerous
striker and I would want you to harass him so that he would not concentrate on
the game.
“That would make him lose focus and
then they will play in the defence throughout the game,” the team manager
will instruct the referees.
The man at the centre will also tell the
team manager that he should tell his players not only to play well, but also to
fall down in their opponent’s vital area so that he can give a penalty
when no goal comes.
The smiling team manager goes home to
relax, satisfied that he has expended enough money on the officials excluding
their match indemnities to win the match.
The match kicks off the following day and
it soon dawns on the home team that they cannot score any goal unless the
referee decides to behave funny.
At the end of the first half, the team
manager who is now agitated tells some miscreants to harass the referee.
As the harassment is going on, the man who
is behind it all will come and drive the area boys away. He will then enter the
match official’s dressing room to beg them to tilt victory to his side;
most times promising to double the money they would get at the end of the
match.
As soon as the second half starts, the
referee aided by his two assistants will throw their conscience into the mud
and ensure that the home team wins by any means.
This is the scenario that is currently
going on in the league as the season is winding up. Every team manager in the
country is guilty of this offence.
In most cases, they allow the referees to
blackmail them into giving them a lot of money so that they can win the game at
home.
Team Managers are gradually turning football into a game
where only the rich clubs win matches.
And judging by the current trend, where no
away victories are recorded, the referees are smiling home with lots of money
from these corrupt team managers because their clubs must win.
Spectators who go out to watch matches come
home dissatisfied with the level of development in the Nigerian league.
This is because before the match starts,
they can determine who will win. The Nigeria Football Association seems not to
be bothered with what is happening.
They are just interested in making sure
that the league ends. All they know is that one team must win the league
shield.
And it seems the ugly situation cannot be
checked because the home team takes care of match officials.
A team manager of one club told Daily
Independent on condition on anonymity that until every stakeholder in the game
turns a new leaf, the problem will continue.
“There must be a turn around. Coaches
now tell their team managers to bribe referees. They call it tactical. Imagine
some players of a Premier League club telling a referee inside the pitch, why
he has not given them a goal after the officials gave him more than N150, 000
naira.
“The team officials had assured the
players that all they need to do is to put in a little effort because they have
adequately settled the referee.
“They lost the game 1-0 and the
officials have not explained what happened and whether the money actually got
to the referees, although it was an away game.
“It will be hard for any club to get
an away point from now till the end of the league because team managers have
raised a certain amount of money to pay off the referees for good
result”.
