Pius Ayinor
7128
Pius Ayinor
I have asked this question for the umpteenth time. Is the Glo/CAF African Footballer of the Year award purely an entertainment event or one to celebrate football on the continent?
From what I have observed in the past six years, it is actually an arts and entertainment programme. But it is not meant to be. I started this article the Thursday night the event was held in Abuja but I have trained not to write when angry and so I decided to let the heat cool off and then I continued. And I also remembered that the FIFA edition was going to hold on the following Monday and I decided to again observe how they handle their show.
The emphasis on musicians and giving many of them time to perform makes the event to stretch beyond necessary time. We are also mindful that it has never started at the pre-advertised time. Journalists are usually told 7pm a month to the event and then on the day of the event it suddenly becomes 9pm. This one that was held on January 7 was not an exception except that it started at 9pm unlike some that started at least an hour behind schedule.
Music is good, it adds colour to the event, no doubt about that, but it should not dominate and make it look like a Nollywood event. I like the FIFA version that lasts just about an hour and the sessions are briskly handled with just two or three entertainers. I’m mindful that it’s an African programme but we don’t need to bring artistes from every African country to reflect that. We can either rotate the invitations; we can limit it to the countries of the major contenders or just one from each region.
This last edition was not just painful because of too much music, it was also so bad that even the footballers themselves were denied the spotlight. I had a chat with Austin Jay Jay Okocha the night before the show and he confirmed to me that he would be there. And he was there in person, not represented. I had imagined that programmes like the African Footballer of the Year award should have our retired great players handing the prizes to the current players. The idea of government officials and the likes taking the place of footballers is not fantastic. Wouldn’t it have been the most fantastic idea for a former winner Abedi Pele to stand on the same stage with his son Andre? But we missed that opportunity.
And then a childish Yaya Toure messed up the after party. In 2013, he won the award ahead of Mikel Obi, when Nigeria won the Africa Cup of Nations. He was quick to forget that as he complained that he should have won it instead of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. African players insult their federations, their Africa-born national coaches and make disparaging comments about officials and opponents in ways they can never try in Europe. They are quick to abuse their coaches when they are substituted but are completely speechless when they are forgotten on the bench for 20 matches in Europe. Yaya, you have to work hard to impress me again.
I am hopeful that with the likes of Odion Ighalo steadily on the rise, Nigerians will soon return to the big podium. A few more like him and we are talking of the Super Eagles of the 90s again. Nigeria is such a blessed country with so many athletes across the world. I am moved when I see Nigerians like the Ogwumike sisters in the WNBA and the others like them. And I know that when we begin to manage our sporting programmes and athletes well such superstars will rather camp in Abuja with the Nigerian team than look to New York, Tokyo or London.