I came across this article written by popular sports journalist and latter-day celeb, Colin Udoh, in which he summarily criticized 'deluded' Nigerian football fans for not putting their money where their mouth is. He accused fans of playing to the gallery whenever they claim to love the Super Eagles and blamed them for the "disgraceful World Cup ticket sales" and the "laboriously slow sales of the new national team kit".
Make no mistake about it, the article is an utterly nonsensical piece and I expect senior sport journalists to at least let Mr Colin Udoh know this, even if only in private. It appears to me that people take the growing popularity of cable tv viewership as evidence that Nigerians now have disposable income. The writer could not have been more wrong.
An average group match at the world cup reportedly costs €90, which is about N19,000 in local currency, higher than the meagre national minimum wage. So what the writer essentially did was to blame Nigerians for being too poor to afford the tickets, but in a rather nice way.
And the writer found a subtle way to make a case for Amos Adamu, banned by FIFA for ticket racketeering. Adamu, the writer seems to suggest, would have been justified selling the tickets illegally since Nigerians can’t legally afford them anyway.
There is also the issue of marketing. I did not know of the tickets being on sale until a day or two ago and, even though I don’t plan going anyway, it is an indictment on the Nigeria Football Federation’s marketing department. I spoke with a senior colleague who was at the last World Cup and the past two Olympic Games. He told me he’s been trying to buy tickets online but has failed the balloting system twice, and that he was disappointed to learn yesterday tickets had been available all along in Nigeria. This again shows that not enough publicity was done by whoever it was that had responsibilities to sell tickets in Nigeria. Or maybe they are used to Amos Adamu’s modus operandi they didn’t bother to do a rigorous marketing.
The writer also criticized fans for not buying the new Super Eagles replica jerseys. Again, I do not understand what he seeks to achieve with this accusation. There is simply not enough information as to the availability of jerseys for sale, and I know some people who have signified their intention to purchase one when they become available. A friend sent a tweet to Adidas’ twitter representative on the availability of replicas for sale. The response was that fans would be intimated as soon as they are available. Common sense would also suggest that sale of these jerseys will pick up towards the world cup.
Fans’ apathy towards watching football matches live at local stadia is caused by a multitude of reasons, the bulk of which is due to poor management by league organisers. Security is mostly poor at league venues. Two of my friends had their handsets stolen in broad daylight when they went to watch some FA cup games at a stadium in Lagos last year.
In any case, the writer chose a perfect medium to air his ignorance-filled diatribe. These days it seems the western media loves nothing more than a negative story about Africa written by an African, however untrue. Nonsense has found a safe haven.
The writer also criticized fans for not buying the new Super Eagles replica jerseys. Again, I do not understand what he seeks to achieve with this accusation. There is simply not enough information as to the availability of jerseys for sale, and I know some people who have signified their intention to purchase one when they become available. A friend sent a tweet to Adidas’ twitter representative on the availability of replicas for sale. The response was that fans would be intimated as soon as they are available. Common sense would also suggest that sale of these jerseys will pick up towards the world cup.
Fans’ apathy towards watching football matches live at local stadia is caused by a multitude of reasons, the bulk of which is due to poor management by league organisers. Security is mostly poor at league venues. Two of my friends had their handsets stolen in broad daylight when they went to watch some FA cup games at a stadium in Lagos last year.
In any case, the writer chose a perfect medium to air his ignorance-filled diatribe. These days it seems the western media loves nothing more than a negative story about Africa written by an African, however untrue. Nonsense has found a safe haven.
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