Golden Eaglets: Lessons In Corporate Sponsorship And Sports Development

By

Joseph Anwana

joeanwana@yahoo.com

Behind every sports endeavour, there is corporate leverage. This may be a truism in some other parts of the world, where sports is big business and corporate entities see it as a matter of business strategy to support sports in order to reap the socio-economic benefits derivable from sponsorships. In Nigeria, the story is different, what holds true for us is, “after every sport achievement, there are corporate philanthropists jostling to outdo each other”. For corporate sponsors in Nigeria, the strategy is to “identify” with a winning team, which aligns with the maxim, “success has many friends, and failure is an orphan”.

The hard earned victory of the Coach Yemi Tella tutored U-17 team at the just concluded Korea 2007 has again exposed a situation that at best can be described as an irony of corporate participation in sports. A careful observer will notice that Sponsorship of sports in Nigeria today has little or nothing to do with developing talents,

The most popular form of corporate involvement in sports in Nigeria today is at the level of running adverts during live telecasts of matches and sporting events. This way they get to use up so much air time to try stuffing their products down our throats that we don’t get to see the team list, line up for national anthem, and even kick off of the matches.

The second and most ironical aspect of corporate involvement happens once in many years when we get to taste glory and through much determination attain a conquest after much deprivation. A team that had gone cap in hand unheeded before a tournament will suddenly attract a pool of “willing” unsolicited and generous corporate donors. They lay ambush at the arrival lounge of the airport for a team that left the country unheralded. Indeed everybody loves gold, but no one wants to invest in the mining process.

The present low patronage of corporate bodies in developing sports and facilities added to the problem of poor administration of sports in the country is responsible for the slow pace of sports development in the country. It can also account for why we struggle for so long before achieving one international breakthrough. Just try to imagine those your favourite club sides and sport stars in Europe and elsewhere without their corporate support. Or imagine sponsors waiting for an AC Milan, or Real Madrid to lift the champions’ league trophy before riding on the waves of public sentiments and the euphoria of victory to make belated financial contributions in order to cash in on Public Relations gains. But that is the situation we are in Nigeria.

We had to wait for 14 years to taste glory again at the U-17 level because each time, preparation is not always adequate due to financial difficulties. It is obvious that government alone cannot continue to fund sports. This accounts for the poor level of infrastructure and sporting facilities. We cannot forget in a hurry how Samson Siasia struggled to raise the team that won silver at the U-21 World Cup, Holland 2005, maybe we would have gotten Gold with the right support. We can vividly remember how Ladan Bosso could not get his team to go on Training tour before Canada 2007, the Flying Eagles could not make much impact in Canada, and there was no grand reception thereafter from any corporate body. The recently concluded All African Games and  World Athletics Championship in Osaka, Japan, all ended in fiasco for Nigeria, and the story is the same, the teams could not prepare well due to lack of funding.

Nigerian born Samuel Peter is poised to take on reigning Champion Oleg Maskaev in a world heavy weight boxing championship bout come October 6, 2007 at the Madison Garden Square in New York. The will be Africa’s best shot at the crown, but so far, I don’t know how  many corporate bodies have indicate interest in supporting “Aspiration 2007”. Will they wait for Samuel Peter to arrive with the belt before rolling out their usual drums?

The NFA boss, Sanni Lulu confirmed that even this victorious Golden Eaglet team was almost paralyzed while in Korea due to lack of funds. Today, the once struggling and abandoned Eaglets team has landed with the trophy, and everyone is pulling a PR stunt just to cash in on the glory. When will this hypocrisy end?

Coach Yemi Tella defied the odds to deliver not only a trophy, but the future of Nigerian football. I must pay tribute to this man who has proved that we can always conquer the world if we are determined. He meticulously picked his boys and groomed them with a high level of discipline. This success can always be repeated across all levels if sport administrators and corporate bodies are serious about investing in sports development.

We must be grateful to the few youth sports development facilities and academies in the country presently, which have contributed immensely to the success of our recent outings in age grade football tourneys. I just wish many more corporate bodies will fancy the idea of at least sponsoring one club side, national team, athlete, or even developing a sporting facility. That is the only way to ensure that sports continuosly brings us glory and consequently good PR and marketing edge for the sponsors.

We must draw valuable lessons from the feat attained by the Golden Eaglets in Korea. A local coach assembled a bunch of raw talents from our backyard and instilled confidence in them, and today, we celebrate them as World Champions. Three times we have triumphed at this level under local coaches. I make bold to say that our local coaches are good enough if we give them the right support. Our best players may not be in Europe, they may still be plying their trade on the streets of Lagos, Kaduna, Warri, Port Harcourt, and other Nigerian cities. Most times we populate the national teams with European based rejects and under-performers who are just fortunate to get to Europe. This trend is the reason we fail in most U-21 and U-23 engagements. We must look inward to discover our future stars if we want to retain the glorious moments.

Yemi Tella also refused to allow the team to be used as a launching pad and rehabilitation centre for the less talented younger brothers of established “big” players. Invitation to national teams based on family names and connections was one of the reasons behind our stalemate in youth football after 1993.

Finally, we will like to lift the U-21 trophy come 2009 for the first time, and I believe, this Golden Eaglets can graduate to deliver that trophy for us. These boys still have more than 15 years of football in them, corporate bodies must roll out their billions now, and the NFA should ensure that the boys are not enslaved with misleading European contracts that will impede their careers. I must sympathize with those making wild statements about age cheating, and the durability of these players. I am particularly impressed that most of these players are actually Football academy players, rookies with amateur and semi-professional sides, and even Secondary School student in the case of Sheriff Isa. The Europeans presented players already playing top flight football with the biggest teams in Europe, Bojas of Barcelona, Toni Kroos of Bayern Munich, and many others. Who says Nigerians cannot play good football at 16 years of age? Kanu, Oruma, Babayaro of the Japan 93 fame are still in top flight today, which gives me hope that this very talented squad will stand the test of time.  

An average Nigerian kid is a dreamer, and could achieve early enough if aspirations could find expression in tangible opportunities. With proper development plans, facilities, grooming and funding, Nigeria will always rule the world.

It should be unequivocally stated that there is nothing wrong with identifying with and rewarding our heroes, but who made the heroes? Probably that explains why we have very few of our sports men and women hitting the heroic mark. Let all hands be on deck to ensure we spot our heroes  as early as possible, and they are given the chance to live their dreams and bring glory and honour to our dear fatherland.

Joseph Anwana

Ex Pepsi Football Academy Player, presently a Chartered Accountant.