Legendary Nigerian goalkeeper, Peter Rufai has shared his thoughts concerning the state of local football. The former player was discussing about a new signing for Zimbabwean club, Yadah FC who was given a new car upon his signing. And he likened it with the state of Nigerian football currently.
The 60 year old said the gesture shows that footballers should be treated with concern and respect, which is exactly what the club did. He then proceeded by saying that Nigerian football should be leading the lines, but such is not the case.
He closed by suggesting that the national league should go the private line and allow corporate bodies come in to run the league.
Rufai, in his exact words said:
“You see what Yadah FC has done for this defender is to show that yes, there is indeed football players in Africa deserves such, you know, concern, and respect because if you come to think of things this way, if you know what football is doing in every country”.
“It shows that it’s unfortunate that in Africa, not every nation, not every country is respecting and appreciating what sports, let me use that word sports, and football in particular is doing for that nation. So the individuals who run clubs, who are club owners, who understand the importance of football in their country and what football is doing to the community, to the state and to the nation at large. These are the people you see who come out like this to do such things”.
“If you look back home in Nigeria, you see people like Adenuga, you know, you see people of Adenuga doing similar things in sports, you know, and I can go on and on and mention some of these men who do this and who comes to appreciate athletes. So, things that things Nigeria should be leading the forefront, so that other African nations would be emulating. But as it is now, it seems that Africa is the one leading, you know, when it comes to appreciating what footballers are doing”.
“And another thing that we need to do in our football is to run the football with corporate bodies run the business. By the time it is run in that way, you have every position, you have everything in order, you have the structure, you have the management, organogram, and everything is followed, then the public, corporate bodies will begin to respect the structure. The corporate body will begin to come in supporting such acts”.
“If clubs will be run in the corporate design. All these things will be put in place because every corporate body in Nigeria, they have their structure, they have their target. Every club will have their target. Because by the time you begin to run every club, corporate skills, corporate design, you will see that clubs will begin to have different targets”.
