Gbenro Adesina
Former Super Eagles star and the acting General Manager of Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) Ibadan, Dimeji Lawal, today revealed some challenges facing African football, saying corruption is the major problem responsible for the inability of the continent to perform excellently in football.
Dimeji, who made this known on a radio programme said that football has gone beyond having 22 players on the football pitch, stressing that the failure of African leaders to do the needful is responsible for the failure of the continent in world football matches.
His words “I think apart from these, corruption is one of the greatest problems affecting football and sports administration in Africa and this is even affecting our league. All these can only improve when we change our mindset.”
Speaking on Shooting Stars Sports Club, Demeji noted that the club is not only preoccupied with the effort of not being relegated to the Nigeria National League (NNL) alone but aspiring to get a continental ticket.
Speaking further on the current position of 3SC, “I feel relaxed and better; the energy we bring into it is already yielding results. When people complain about the team’s poor performances, I took it upon myself to discuss it with the coaching crew, and they always assured me that things would get better.”
He explained, “Football is a process and does not require a haphazard approach. We are just a new team in NPFL. We need to understand the terrain and build a team that can compete globally. There is a big difference between the NNL and the NPFL. It took Manchester City under Pep Guardiola sometime before the club started competing globally with top clubs.
In this part of the world, we are used to the fire brigade approach and in football; there are three results which are: draw, loss or win. We want people to support us at all times; we are investing our energies to win at all times and we aim to get a continental ticket and not to get relegated.”
The sports icon appealed to Governor Seyi Makinde to fulfil the promise he made to Shooting Stars Club and called the well-meaning Nigerians to also support the Club.
Speaking on how he ventured into football, Demeji said, “I grew up around Cocoa Research Institute area (CRIN) where playing football is seen as a top priority. My father was also a footballer while my late mother was an athlete for the then Western State. Sporting activities run in our blood, even my brothers played in Atletico Madrid. My big break came in football when I signed for Femo Scorpions in Eruwa and I was paid around N4000.”
Speaking on the vacant position of Super Eagles coach, he said, “A good coach can come from anywhere, what I want is that they should hire a good and technically sound coach, it does not matter his origin or where he is from. It is always good to have a round peg in a round hole. If an ex-footballer is allowed to head the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), I am sure he will be able to handle the affairs better because of the experiences he has gathered during his playing days.”
The former Eagles player further stated that Nigeria could come up with a formidable Super Eagles team by developing and paying more attention to grassroots football teams in the country.
“Many of our football fields have been turned into mosques, churches and event centres. Also at the top, the Nigeria league has to be properly scrutinized because if the league gets better, we have more hungry players who are willing to play than the foreign-based players. Sometimes, the foreign-based players have nothing to lose if they do not perform well for their country. In Nigeria, do we give local coaches the same opportunity as we give foreign coaches? Why should we discriminate against an indigenous coach? NFF should support indigenous coaches to get results”, he added.
