WRITING about Nigerian football and expressing an opinion these days have become very challenging indeed. Tempers flare up easily and passion runs very high.As these are obviously not the best of times for the game in the country and for all the national teams, it is even more difficult to comment without incurring the wrath of those whose responsibility it is to steer the ship away from rapids and other obstacles.Within the corridors of football administration our previous attempts to render candid opinion have been taken very badly and considered to be 'poisoned chalice'.Our expressions have made some persons very uncomfortable and we have been 'warned' to stand clear. So, we concur.Some two days after Nigeria's Dream Team V were beaten by Senegal's Under-23 team, and most Nigerian's are seeking answers to what has befallen their beloved sport, I am struggling not to allow my sentiments and emotions to seep into this piece and stir up trouble. I am carefully navigating through land mines by allowing the events around me to tell their own story.I am in London. I am having an absolutely delicious dinner in 805 Restaurant, a very posh, very classy Nigerian 'joint' on Old Kent Road. I am sharing a table with nine other Nigerians, young professionals in their various fields that are giving up their time and energy to support a reform programme for the educational sector in Nigeria through their civil society advocacy group in the United Kingdom called 'Every Nigerian Child Project'.We have just come out of a meeting with the Nigerian High Commissioner in the UK and some of his top executives. It has been a truly rewarding experience sharing time and ideas with persons with consummate passion for education, sports and the Nigerian Child.Expectedly, even as we discussed the very serious issues, my presence necessarily ignited discussion around Nigerian football, the national Olympic football team and the Olympic Games coming up next summer in London.The Ambassador, Dr. Dalhatu Tafida, veered into the subject matter, as we rounded off the meeting. We learnt that Nigerians in the UK were preparing seriously for the greatest mobilisation of their people to support the national contingent coming for the games, particularly the football team whose fortune was already floundering with the result of their first defeat in the qualifying group matches in Morocco.He was asking all the right questions - What is wrong with football in Nigeria' Why can't Nigeria build on the successes of the past to make the country's national teams consistently stronger' Why can't we go back to the grassroots and start to rebuild our sports properly again' Why, why, why' Unfortunately, I was not in any position to provide the answers.We had left the High Commission and are now settled inside 805 'washing' the success of our primary discussions. The conversation around the table again veers to football and the Dream Team playing their second match that evening in Morocco.I am listening to different views around me. The memory of Atlanta '96 floods back into my mind in nostalgic recollection. The interesting thing is that no one in that gathering is considering the likelihood that Nigeria may not qualify for the Olympics.They are really not connecting the matches in Morocco with the qualification for London 2012. Or it just does not sink. It is assumed already that Nigeria has qualified and that the matches are just a formality.Otherwise, I cannot understand the 'arrogance' of the conversation and the talk of preparations going on to welcome and support the team. I am hearing some very interesting statistics. There are, unofficially, three million Nigerians in the UK. They constitute the highest number of Black immigrants in the UK, and the highest concentration of Blacks outside of their country in the world.Nigerians will show the world what supporting a football team should look like. The people are investing heavily in the purchase of tickets for the football events. They do not know the other athletes in the Nigerian contingent and cannot be bothered. For Nigerians the Olympics start and end with their football team, period!There is an interruption. 'No!' It is a scream from one of the young men. 'Nigeria has lost again. Nigeria is down by 2 goals against Senegal'. The message does not sink in for a brief moment as the conversation around the table goes on. 'Nigeria is out of the Olympics Games', the young man whispers to no one in particularly. There is a hush.'You mean we have not qualified for the Olympic Games football tournament''I respond: 'Of course not. We are in Morocco playing group matches with Morocco, Algeria and Senegal. The top two teams in the group qualify for the Olympics'.The restaurant goes absolutely silent.People soon start to find their voices. There is a verbal explosion. The combination of pent up emotions, anger, frustration and despair is lethal. I cannot reproduce here what is being said. The questions are coming in a torrential flood. Most eyes turn towards me for answers. I stare also in apparent despair.The people speak out. 'I am selling my tickets'. 'What is going on with Nigerian football'' 'No one told us we have to qualify first'. 'Who is in charge'' 'This is the worst football season in our history'. 'Was Stephen Keshi not meant to be there to help Eguavoen'' 'But the NFF promised that this will be 'the team' and that no matter what happens Nigeria would be at the Olympics'. 'What went wrong'' No one has the answers.I am sitting, observing and absorbing it all. I am lamenting the impact of the turn of events. I am in London to prepare grounds for my work during the Olympics. All of that is gone now with the defeats in Morocco.Reporting, analysing, and/or commentating on Nigeria's national football teams is my means of livelihood. Nigeria has 'failed' in all competitions in the outgoing year. Should Nigeria not eventually qualify from Morocco it would mean that this has been the most barren year in the past three decades of Nigerian football - check the records!In the year 2011, Nigeria has not won anything, or qualified for anything! The Falcons and Falconets have both been knocked off the top rung of African football. The domestic Nigerian club champions could not make a major indentation on African football. Even age-group teams, with all our inauthenticity, have been humbled and their 'myth' destroyed. The Super Eagles have been grounded. In the New Year Nigeria will not be at the Nations Cup in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. Calamity!I am still sitting and thinking. One voice breaks into my reverie, suddenly rising above the cacophony of the rest. 'Nigerian football has been murdered'. It is a young lady. Her shrill expression sums up the feelings of everyone on that table. The words are caustic but they are true, and let no one say they are my opinion because I feel worse than that.The Dream Team was touted by the football authorities as the team of 'redemption' through which the football association was going to prove every critic wrong and shame all distractors by drawing the final curtain on its 2011 activities on a resounding note of success.The team was given everything the coaches asked for, camped for four months, assembled from amongst the best local players in the domestic league, trained better than every other national team during the year, assigned the services of the new national team coach to strengthen the technical base of the team, promised mouth-watering bonuses, supported by the presence of the largest contingent of officials to any competition this year, and pampered like no other national team in recent times. All to save face. That is the team that has just crash-landed unceremoniously even before it could take off the ground!Some still think there is hope. They think Dream Team V can still use some mathematical abracadabra and qualify. I pray it be so, so that our Olympic dreams may not be buried in the desert sands of Morocco by some of our people who refuse to be humbled by the truth, and who seek peace and progress without restitution and justice! They killed Nigerian football before, now they want to murder it again!
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