Home Is Not Home For Nigerian Football

By Odiko Godwin

A saying goes, "There is no place like home". But if we try to associate that(saying) in context with what is being experienced in Nigerian football(especially league football), then, "Home shouldn't be the only place to call home."



Match Day 35 of the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) saw all home teams recording wins. A team winning at home isn't bad; if actually they showed that in their performance on the pitch and off it.

The stat here suggest away teams don't attack as much as the home teams

But most often, we read and see the atrocious steps clubs in the NPFL take - just to ensure a win at all costs.

You see a club win a game at home resoundingly against a lesser side, and yet go away against that same(lesser) team and lose woefully. This is not to say shocks are not permitted in football, but, when those shocks become often - it becomes a bizarre norm.

Teams go for away matches; bearing in mind they'd be glad with a point - regardless of the opposition they are going to face. And this alone can make any avid football fan - lose interest in such game or league - where such takes place.

There are plenty advocates of the Nigerian league football (myself inclusive) - wanting to attract followers for our league, but overtime this issue tends to rubbish efforts.

The English Premier League and other European leagues for example have that massive following today because you don't often see Man City win Burnley at The Ethihads and, go to Turf Moor to lose woefully. And more often we see lesser clubs getting wins at home of the 'Big Boys'.

It is often that way in England and other foreign leagues - because the performance of a team on the pitch should most times determine the outcome.

That's not to say things are perfect with the aforementioned leagues, no. But, there is this drive at attaining perfection - which makes those leagues command massive following.

Referees too make silly calls, but not as frequent as the ones we see and read about here. And even when those referees make those blunders, it's not as ridiculous as the ones our Nigerian referees make.

How often do we see fans rush into the field of play because a decision has gone against them(even when those decisions are really treacherous)? But here, especially at home grounds, fans are often quick to jump at the referee and match officials for a decision not called in their favour.

While many might argue that the league body still got plenty to do in curbing this menace, every individual that goes to a stadium to watch a game, has to go with a consciousness that - you don't always get the desired results or decisions in a game. But when it happens - he or she must learn how to conduct himself/herself in a right manner and wait for the appropriate bodies to react to such awful decisions.

The appropriate league bodies too have to ensure they put the right things in place to ensure a league - that's attractive to all. Get more games televised, punish erring teams and officials seriously(with lengthy bans and huge fines maybe), but the punishment has to be severe. And make it mandatory for home teams to provide adequate security: which could be in form of stewards - who are always focused on the fans and not the game itself on Match Days.

In achieving all that, it won't be long before the fans start trooping to the stadiums to see league games, and many wanting to see a Nigerian league game on TV over foreign league games. And as we saw with the CHAN Eagles against Benin during the CHAN qualifier, our teams will not travel to games with a defeatist mindset.

But until all those are achieved, home, is not sweet home for Nigerian football.

Photo credit: Twitter (@LMCNPFL & @BurnleyOfficial)