Our growing craze for
foreign leagues is dangerous
By Sun News Publishing
Sunday,
March 2, 2008
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Photo: Sun
News Publishing |
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With the gradual fading away of the luster of the Nigerian
soccer league, the growth of cable and DSTV in Nigeria, the
influx of Nigerian and African players abroad, coupled with
the growing influence of the English Premier League and the
European Champions League in the last two decades, soccer
loving Nigerians soon find out that they can hardly do without
the excitement of theses foreign soccer craze.
One cannot imagine how crazy and obsessed we have become about
these foreign leagues. We have gone gaga. Virtually every
Nigerian is a fanatical football fan of one club or another.
This cuts across gender, age, social status, religion. Virtually
everyone is involved. In fact it has grown to a Olympian height
of fanaticism.
Everywhere you go, you hear people, old and young, exchanging
greetings in the following phrases: "Chelsea for Life",
"Man U for Life", "Gunners for life",
"Liverpool for life", "Barca for life",
even "Wigan for life" whereas such people cannot
profess their religion or their God the way they profess their
clubs. Why can’t they say "Jesus for Life"or
"Christianity for life"?
NO they would rather be ashamed of doing that one that is
even more significant to their lives. Some of us might have
been provoking God with our obsession and craze over foreign
clubs, who knows. I do know that He is a Jealous God and would
frown out something we have elevated to take His prominence
in our lives.
They proudly display their club’s emblems, sourvenirs
and mufflings in a more fanatical way than the English people
themselves. How come we love and show fanaticism towards these
clubs more than the English or European people themselves?
How have we got to this "NeoColonialism", relegating
Nigerian football and other critical issues to the background?
Our churches, schools and other social groups must be feeling
the effects of this ugly development. Let Arsenal vs Man U
or Liverpool vs Chelsea be fixed on Sunday morning, our church
leaders will be amazed at the low turn out of members that
day. Some of us are ready to die for their clubs, we get so
emotionally attached that we can hurt any opposing fan.
Besides, this wave of foreign soccer fanaticism is creating
new vistas of friendships, fraternities and foes, that I fear
if not curtailed, would snowball into secret cults.
It may lead to violence in future. Already, we have been seeing
fans hurt others because of this fanaticism. I am not less
fanatical than these crazy Nigerians, but I draw a line. I
am first and foremost Insurance FC of Benin fan, AC Milan
plays second fiddle.
The Northern and Southern Africans watch and follow their
local teams before paying less attention on the foreign ones.
Something we can emulate if only NFA would allow NFL to raise
the standard of our league.
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