Applaudable, but…
On October 3, the 1XBet Cup opened in Lagos, with 40 teams split into five centres of eight teams each. It will climax on November 10, when the winning team pockets N1 million as prize money, aside from grabbing the 1XBet Cup.
Oluwafemi Babalola, managing director of 1XBet, a sports betting company and sponsors of the new grassroots tournament, says it is his company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) to its Lagos market, though it’s also 1XBet’s effective promo, to the Lagos community, to further deepen its business.
Waidi Akanni, ex-Nigerian international and technical mind behind the project, talks of developing grassroots football in Lagos, to push Nigerian football to higher heights; and create livelihood for talented youngsters, which the tournament will expose.
Established Nigerian former stars: some now coaches, others administrators, others consultants or simply former internationals, buy into this structured Lagos dream; and crave similar tourneys for Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
This Grade A list alone shows the 1XBet Cup as an idea whose time has come: Austin Eguavoen, Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) technical director, George Aluo, chair of the Nigeria National League (NNL), Daniel Amokachi, Friday Elahor, Victor Agali, Friday Ekpo, Taiwo Oloyede, Franklin Howard and Wasiu Ipaye (all Nigerian ex-internationals of different generations), and Fanny Amun, an iconic coach that won one of Nigeria’s five FIFA U17 World Cup titles.
This bevy clearly shows the tourney birthed with the right midwives. What remains is for its organisers to deliver a breath-taking championship, and replicate such in years to come. That way, Lagos would have had a structured frame, from which non-league players can transit to higher leagues, and later, various national teams.
In this age of globalisation, best football talents ply their trade in the strongest leagues, anywhere in the world. Still, the 1XBet Cup should have, as priority, the rebirth of a buzzing local football culture, with choking stadia, where zestful crowds show up week-in, week-out, for their favourite clubs.
That wouldn’t be a novelty. Such electric atmospheres had produced the likes of Haruna Ilerika (aka master dribbler), his Super Stores and national team teammate, Yakubu Mambo, Joe Erico, Muda Lawal, Steven Keshi and Henry Nwosu — the last two, with Ilerika, former schoolboy sensations that later broke into the national team.
Such atmosphere also produced iconic clubs like Stationery Stores, Lagos ECN (later NEPA), ACB FC, National Bank FC, aside from rivalries — Stores vs NEPA, Stores vs IICC Shooting Stars, IICC vs Enugu Rangers, Rangers vs Bendel Insurance, Insurance vs New Nigerian Bank (NNB), etc — rivalries that packed stadia, and provided livelihood for talented youngsters and their families, not to mention rare fame.
Back then too, there was a Lagos Football Association (LAFA) league which provided a formal platform for grassroots clubs to compete, as a nursery for more visible higher leagues. The famous Principals Cup, among Lagos schools, was a similar nursery. In both, however, the government had a very strong presence.
But lo! Everything has collapsed. Still, the 1XBet Cup, with exclusive private sector input, holds an exciting key to a grassroots football renaissance. It wouldn’t be a bad idea, if the yearly tournament triggered a new Lagos State-wide yearly league, with solid and regular sponsors.
That, with NFF taking due notice, will not only help to nurture future stars, it will also tamp down youth restiveness. Gifted talent can soak themselves in productive football, instead of wasting away in drugs, crime and other vices.
It is from this socio-economic angle that the government itself must be actively involved. Not in direct involvement in organising tourneys, but in support infrastructure as befitting and well-maintained community playgrounds, providing playing surfaces and neighbouring stadia, with which tournaments can continue to expand and spread to more and more communities.
Governor Babatunde Fashola achieved a lot in providing community playing grounds — witness Campos on Lagos Island, Evans in Ebute Meta and a few others in Surulere. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu should seize the 1XBet initiative to resume that path to grassroots football redemption.
The Lagos community — and economy — will be far richer for it.
