Honourable Fatai Adesina Adeniyi, chairman, House Committee on Sports in the Oyo State House of Assembly believes Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) have become a brand which can attract investors within and outside Nigeria. In this interview with Tribunesport’s crew of NIYI ALEBIOSU, OLAWALE OLANIYAN and MOJISOLA ADEWUNMI, Adeniyi, a former board member of 3SC, also speaks on the way forward for sports in the country and how the team can be run successfully without relying solely on government. Excerpts:
WITH the state of sports in Oyo State, what do you think is the way forward?
Firstly, we have to really appreciate the importance of sports in the sense that an idle hand is the devil’s workshop. Sports is an avenue to empower youths meaningfully. We all heard of the menace of the so-called ‘one million Boys’ lately. So, if most of these boys have been engaged in sports, I believe we would not have anything like the ‘one million Boys’ in the state. I call on well-meaning individuals as well as corporate bodies to support sports development so that our youths can channel their energy to sports instead of thuggery and others social vices.
Any time sporting activities are going on, you will see a lot of youths moving in that direction. To develop sports, private and public schools must have infrastructure in place, they need to have sports fields.
Nowadays, most of the sports fields have been turned into party arena. Stadia are rented for parties and not even for sporting activities. I want to appeal to the Ministry of Education to help matters and be firm on this trend. Before any school can be registered, the ministry must ensure that such school has a pitch and facilities for other recreational activities.
As a lawmaker and the chairman of the house committee on sports, what are you doing to give sports a new lease of life in the state?
Immediately I was appointed the chairman, house committee on sports, I visited some schools to know the standard of their recreational facilities. I was at Wesley College, Loyola College and thank God, we have brought football back to these schools. Wesley College alone has produced a number of professional footballers like Okiki Afolabi, Demola Kudaisi, Ganiyu Oseni, Tope Orelope of late and in the past, their products also include Eddy Ayoola, a.ka. Ejo, of the then WNDC Shooting Stars and Musibau Olayiwola of the defunct Water Corporation FC. Part of what we are going to do this year is to come up with a motion that our stadia should be used for sporting activities only. We also want to see whether Physical and Health Education (PHE) is still part of school curriculum in our various schools because the era we are now is to catch them young in sports. Also, we want to invite the team from the Ministry of Youth and Sports during the budget defence and find out what they are doing with stadia in Eruwa, Ogbomoso and Oyo town. The truth of the matter is that without infrastructure, sports cannot develop and we want to advise them to organise regular competitions in order to discover fresh talents. In the past, we used to have Principals Cup but I don’t know whether we still have it or not. We used to have inter-house sports games then. Edith Agoye was discovered in Ibadan here, ditto Dimeji Lawal and so many of them who later became professional footballers. Even in 1983, Shooting Stars won the national league title with a number of secondary school players like Gboyega Yusuf, Tosin Adebambo and Wasiu Adebayo. We are now asking why are we not having grass-roots talents again in Shooting Stars? We have adopted a method to continue to loan players from other clubs and when they get better offers, they leave without 3SC getting anything in return which is not profitable. These are areas we want to look into this year and evolve a better system to keep the team afloat.
It seems school sport has been abandoned in the state?
I have asked this question too and it is either the Ministry of Youth, and Sports is not really going to the grass-roots into discover talents or set up programmes? We need to charge the Ministry of Sports to do more in the area of talent discovery. Gone are the days when we used to have inter-house sports, inter-collegiate sports, Academicals Cup and so on. Then I put the blame on the coaches too and managers who always go after big names or ready-made stars instead of moulding grass-roots talents to become stars. I recall that the late 3SC defender, Ogbein Fawole, among, others, were discovered during the ‘Oluyole ‘79’ National Sports Festival. There are many untapped youngsters out there waiting to be discovered if the relevant organs play their roles as expected.
What is your take on Nigeria’s absence at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Gabon?
It’s sad that the Super Eagles also missed the ongoing AFCON like the 2015 edition. This is a country that is blessed with a lot of young and enterprising players. I think Nigeria’s inability to qualify for the tournament was due to both management and organisational problems. I advise the Super Eagles new coach (Gernot Rohr) to look inward, we need a long-term programme to achieve the desired results. If you look at the era of Clemens Westerhof, it was not as if he is a superb coach but he was able to work in the country for five years to discover talents who got offers in European clubs and raised Nigeria’s profile in football. So I want Rohr to look inward, thank God there is CHAN (Africa Nations Cup Championship) which is for local talents alone, that serves as a platform to discover talents from the domestic league for the main Super Eagles squad. Then, there is the need for the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to put its house in order.
What is your committee doing to develop other sports in the state?
In fact, a few hours ago, I met the chairman of the boxing association in the state and when we resume, we want to invite chairmen of all sports associations to the house to deliberate on plans to develop other sports too. But if you look at our own functions, we can only provide an enabling regulations to promote all sports, the real thing lies with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Youth and Sports which we have now partnered with to see how we can develop sports. We are also looking at the National Sports Festival coming up this year and see how the state can perform well at the Games.
Look at the Government College, Ibadan, they are good at cricket and hockey, we can discover talents for the state’s team from this school. Yejide Girls Grammar School are good at basketball, so their products can be discovered and groomed to represent the state in future competitions. The house committee on sports had in the past honoured Yejide Girls Grammar School and even sponsored them to a national basketball championship in Delta State where they finished second. I want to call on the Ministry of Youth and Sports to focus more attention on all sports. There is nothing stopping us from developing swimming in the state, that would increase chances of the state at winning more medals at the National Sports Festival, our focus should not only be on football alone.
How do you think 3SC can become financially buoyant?
I will subscribe to the idea of privatising 3SC. Just this morning, I asked some 3SC fans if they knew that the governor elect of Ondo State, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu was one of best supporters of 3SC? In fact, during the maiden edition of the CAF Cup in 1992, he formed a supporters club for 3SC called ‘Improvers’. He was using his money and connection to finance the group and ensured that 3SC won the CAF Cup that year. That is to say that if 3SC is privatised today, a lot of interests will come in and it would help the team to be financially buoyant. People need to be involved in the running of 3SC, we are no longer in the era of the team being solely dependent on government for sustenance. I have discussed with the deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the need to support 3SC, people will be willing to assist the team financially if there is structure in place. 3SC is a brand and should be a public liability company. I was in South Africa sometime ago, some people I met during my visit were asking of the state of 3SC and I was taken round some stadia in that country. These people said 3SC is a brand that they expect it to be in the same class on the continent with Zamalek, Al-Ahly, that is to tell you how 3SC is well loved,
even outside Nigeria.
How can 3SC and Crown FC fare this season in their league campaigns amid paucity of funds?
I believe lack of funds is normal, you can’t get everything you need in life 100 per cent but I’m of the opinion that 3SC will perform better this season with the calibre of coach (Fatai Amoo) they have. Based on the list released by 3SC for the match day one fixture, we have young footballers who want to make names and this aspect is the most important thing in football. Amoo is a very good coach and I have absolute confidence in him because he believes in young talents who can deliver at any given opportunity with proper motivation. Then, Crown FC surpassed expectations last year in the Federation Cup and thank God I was in Kaduna with some journalists for the game against FC IfeanyiUbah, they were ‘robbed’ of victory. For a team to be in NNL and reach the semi-final of the Federation Cup, beat Rangers, Katsina United, Niger Tornadoes and Wikki Tourists is a no mean feat. Football is not about big names or stars, it is about planning and teamwork. So with proper planning, both teams would excel this season and I pray Crown FC regain promotion to the Nigeria Professional Football League at the end of this season.
Discussion about this post