Press play 2014 European Champions final between Real Madrid and Athletico Madrid.
In local restaurants in Lagos Nigeria, screening gatherings are made conspicuous with big screens beaming the match live to an audience of both young and old. These people have been following the competition since its group stages from the year before – this is the moment they have been waiting for. Those that cannot afford cable satellite or that have been affected by power outage will find solace in this kind of gatherings common in most parts of Africa. In the prevailing circumstance, this is the ultimate moment in their football calendars.
So what happened to the local and national leagues?
The game of football (soccer in some parts of the world) is undoubtedly the most popular sport in Africa likewise the rest of the world. For several decades, the game has produced great African talents that have gone to dominate the sport both locally and internationally. As Africans, we are proud of the talents of Yaya Toure, Austin okocha, Didier Drogba, Kanu Nwankwo, Samuel Eto and a host of others.
Watching those players excel in their chosen careers has brought joy to the hearts of many Africans and evokes a sense of pan-Africanism among blacks in the diaspora.
So what is the reality of the effect of this trend on the local football industry across Africa?
It is no longer an issue that the various European leagues such as English, Spanish, German and the ever dominant European Champions league have completely taken over local leagues of various countries in Africa. African football industries are losing talented players to European clubs at a much faster rate and younger age than we have ever experienced. All over Africa, national football leagues are being made redundant and unattractive for viewership due to lack of top quality players. Revenues that are supposed to be generated from match ticket sales and advertisements have been adversely affected by this worrying trend.
Considering a country like Belgium whose national football league is far smaller compared to giants like the EPL, La liga, and the Bundesliga. Then, the Belgian football association is constantly promoting their league as one of the best in Europe. They simply did not allow the dominance of the big three leagues in Europe to overrun their own league. Ironically, nowadays the English premier league and co have completely taken over the local league in most African countries.
Nowadays kids all over Africa are growing up with extensive knowledge of European football clubs and stars but with little knowledge about their local leagues. It is sad that these kids will mature into adulthood without any knowledge or memories about their local games.
This is the time for any government with concern for its citizens to look into this trend and formulate policies that will revert it. An industry that jeopardises the future of its own local industry should be discouraged or at most controlled. This is a no brainer. It is a sad reflection on us as a society when our young adults are growing up with an empty knowledge of the history of the local league in the country in which they lived all their life. What do we gain by supplanting our rich culture with a foreign one? Why must we allow the history of our game to be dictated by a foreign industry? The young adults of Nigeria and other parts of Africa deserve better.
Ok some people will argue about the significance of this critique, considering the amount of money being pumped into the local economy from TV advertisements of these foreign games.
My main concern is about the future of our own local football industry. People visiting Nigeria from other parts of the world will notice this misnomer and laugh at us, quietly.
Some of us are fortunate to have teenage memories of the Challenge cup tournament in Nigeria with the intense rivalries between Abiola Babes, Iwanyanwu Nationale, Stationary Stores, IICC and Rangers. These were periods when we were proud of watching our national football games.
It may take a while before this kind of scenario can be recreated again or it won’t ever happen again, but it is important that our little ones grow up with a solid history of the football industry in the local context.
