If you conduct a vox pox of who the real enemies of Nigeria football are, many would say the referees as the major culprits.

Some would even say that the referees are the ones that are hindering the speedy development of the game in country, they will accuse them of  not being the killers of the game, but also killers of the coaches. They will accuse the referees of causing undue hardship and heartache to the Coaches who would toil all days to prepare a team, only for the referees to decide the fate of the team within one hour, twenty minutes or thereabout.

Some would accuse the referees of collecting gratifications and favouring their choice teams. They would insist that the performance of these referees are the main reason why Nigeria referees are snubbed in international tournaments.

Be that as it may, the  real enemies of Nigeria football to BOX 18 may not necessarily be the referees but, the CLUB MANAGER/ADMINISTRATOR. These are the enemies of Nigeria football. These are the people who are vested with the responsibility of administering the clubs in an internationally accepted standard towards speedy development of the game in their clubs, and the country in general.

The Club Managers  have multitasking responsibilities and must be versatile since they are incharge of carrying out different strategies within the club.

Their roles in the team includes the  management, organization, motivation, and planning to get the best out of all the players and officials in the team and achieve an evolution individually and collectively.

In terms of profile, not everyone can dedicate himself to this profession, as it does need enough passion for the sport. It’s necessary to have specific training or knowledge before leaping over as a club administrator.

The club administrator must possess  some salient  characteristics  which includes, Motivational,Intuitive, Self-critical, Strategist, Responsible and Discipline.

All these are tenable in a sane clime. But here in Nigeria, where anything goes, political thugs, miscreants, hooligans, illiterates are handed the responsibility of managing the clubs. Because 99 percent of the clubs are government owned, and these people are connected to the corridors of power, they are empowered with enough cash, and they have enough of it to throw about. They discard the conversational things they are supposed to do, and ventured into things that are aimed at bringing the game to disrepute.

It is a known fact in Nigeria that for you to run a club successfully, you must have certain atom Of madness in your blood. A complete gentleman can never be a club manager in Nigeria.

These Club managers in Nigeria,  will prefer to recruit half baked players without required skills, engaged half baked coaches, thereby bringing various antics into play to get results. They induce the referees to turn in results to their side, even when their players are not wonderful. They engage their colleague miscreants to harass the referees, intimidate the opposition teams, and ensure they get the needed results by all means.

In the on going 2023/2024 League season in Nigeria, we have heard where the referee committee of the NFF step down referees from the league for their actions in league matches, but the results of matches are allowed to stay. But, we have not seen the"real enemies" of the game been punished. The trending video of the NNL Matchday 17 between Jigawa Golden Stars and Sporting Supreme of Abuja is the highest level of embarrassment and disgrace to Nigeria football. Box 18 continued to wonder what level of intimidation and inducement that can make a referee to do such a disservice to Nigeria football. The referee and the player have been punished, but the real enemies have been left to continue their damage. 

We will continue to witness all these ugly incidents until such a time the real enemies of the game are dealt with accordingly. If not, we will continue to beat around the bush, and other countries will continue to leave us behind.