LMC also guilty of bringing NPFL into disrepute

Ask an average Nigerian football fan his impression about the way the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) is being administered, unless he is a professional sycophant, he will surely express disappointment in the league organisers. The League Management Company (LMC) which came into existence in 2012 under highly controversial circumstances is charged with the responsibility […]

Ask an average Nigerian football fan his impression about the way the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) is being administered, unless he is a professional sycophant, he will surely express disappointment in the league organisers.

The League Management Company (LMC) which came into existence in 2012 under highly controversial circumstances is charged with the responsibility of administering NPFL, the elite division of the Nigerian football league.

Nearly 10 years down the line, it is becoming increasingly clear that the body is finding it difficult to improve the fortunes of the domestic league. It is an open secret that the NPFL is still grappling with teething problems when it should be rubbing shoulders with some of the top football leagues in the world.

It is imperative to reiterate here that considering the shoddy organization of the Nigerian league, it is absurd to associate it with professionalism. Most Nigerians know and have accepted that what we have on our hands is nothing more than a glorified amateur league.

We all know that in climes where football leagues are truly professional, things are not done haphazardly. Those in charge explore all possible opportunities to make money because football is big business. The clubs are also well structured as viable commercial enterprises. They operate as business ventures that are after profit. To achieve set goals, existing rules and regulations are strictly adhered to by all.

Unfortunately, the Nigerian league is like an amoeba. It is without a definite shape or a well-defined calendar. It can start at any time and end when those in charge feel it is time to end proceedings. Feeble attempts made in the past to harmonise the NPFL with European leagues have ended like water splashed on the back of a duck.

These and so many other inadequacies have left football loving Nigerians with a league that has clearly failed to meet their expectations. After waiting patiently for the glory days of the domestic league to return, the fans have found joy in foreign football leagues like the English Premiership, Spanish La Liga, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A and French Ligue 1.

Interestingly, Nigerian football fans are so obsessed with their new found love that they seem to know almost everything about their foreign clubs. They have the list of the players on their fingertips and can tell you how much each of them cost the clubs. If there is any new development in the club, they are among the first to know. Nigerians’ knowledge of European football clubs is truly amazing.  

However, these same Nigerians may know next to nothing about the clubs that are competing in the NPFL. In all fairness, their apathy can’t be blamed on anyone else but the clubs that have refused to up their game. They have consistently failed to arrest and sustain fans’ interest or support. Sometimes we blame the fans for being too enthusiastic about clubs that are millions of miles away from them but they surely know what they want.

Amid the dangerous drift towards foreign leagues by Nigerian football fans, the LMC has continued to falter in its responsibilities. Instead, at every given opportunity, the league organisers quickly accuse the clubs of bringing the NPFL into disrepute.

Once a club is found to have breached the rule books, it is said to have discredited the league. As a matter of fact, each time punitive measures are being meted out to any erring club, the LMC hammers on the need for such offenders to avoid acts that are capable of bringing the league into disrepute.

However, when viewed critically, it is the LMC that is doing so much to devalue the local league entrusted in its care. We all know that when you point an accusing finger on someone, the rest of the fingers point back at you. However, as it is said in local parlance, he who breaks the calabash hardly sees the crack.

For instance, the LMC recently brought the NPFL into disrepute when it wobbled and fumbled while mediating in the case between Gombe United and Plateau United. The ‘Savannah Scorpions allegedly attacked Plateau United after their week 14 match in Gombe. For the same offence that Dakkada were banished to play three home matches in far away Benin City, Gombe United was asked to play only one home match behind closed doors.

In addition, the LMC frowned at Plateau United for making public the video that captured how they were brutalised by irate fans of Gombe United. Surprisingly, the victims of hooliganism were warned not to disgrace the league by using unapproved channels to seek redress.

Without doubt, the decisions ridiculed and cast a huge doubt on the integrity of those who presided over the case of Plateau United versus Gombe United. Moreover, when it became an open secret that the LMC benefitted from the same video clip to impose the light sanctions on Gombe United, it was even more difficult to understand why they reprimanded Plateau United.

So, going by its sentimental handling of the offence committed by Gombe United, the LMC has only added to its long list of failures that have brought the Nigerian topflight into disrepute. We already know that after close to a decade of the existence of the LMC, the league has no known sponsors. And even the half-hearted efforts made in the past to get the NPFL on television have failed to yield positive results.

Consequently, despite continued efforts by the league organisers to convince Nigerians that the NPFL is one of the best in the world, it is presently not on television. Even smaller leagues in Africa are watched live on television but ‘almighty’ NPFL is nowhere to be found. What a shame!.

The LMC owes referees their indemnities but is in haste to condemn clubs that are not paying salaries. Why cast the first stone when you are a bigger sinner?

It is wrong for the pot to keep calling the kettle black.