The Church of sports needs reformation, by Bamidele Johnson
Many of us, including those now criticising the gifts given to the Super Falcons, would gladly accept the same benefits if offered, regardless of our genitalia. Some others silently wish their daughters or nieces had been part of the team. The Super Falcons deserve what they got. I wish every member of the squad and coaching staff the very best in life. Their efforts and achievements deserve recognition, and I hope they continue to shine, both on and off the field.
However, I also hope that those who argue with almost religious fervour that footballers and sportsmen deserve to be nannied by the state for life will pause to remember the rewards the Falcons are currently receiving. They are not the first to be rewarded for sporting success and they will not be the last. Athletes before them received incentives that were appropriate for their time. Those rewards might not have been as loud or lavish, but they were not less meaningful within the context of their era.
What I find troubling is the creeping belief, now widely accepted and rarely challenged, that those who play football, or engage in sports with mass appeal, are somehow more valuable than teachers, nurses, doctors, traffic officers, railway technicians or sanitation workers. These are people who sustain the daily functions of society, yet their work often goes unnoticed and unrewarded.
There is a dangerous imbalance in how we perceive contribution. Football, in particular, has developed a titanic sense of entitlement. A player who made one international appearance against Lesotho in 1998 is recommended for treatment reserved for a war hero. If a sports person did not end up in the employ of the government, who should pay him salaries or severance benefits, he or she cannot be the responsibility of the government post-service.
But we expect the government to continue to house, feed and honour him eternally. The media is the guiltiest party in reinforcing this inflated self-image, turning sporting effort into near-spiritual sacrifice.
I have a journalist friend who holds this belief with evangelical passion. To him, sports people are the backbone of the nation. I disagree. Every job, every honest trade, deserves dignity and recognition. The vulcaniser who uses eba and fufu to mend tyres on a dusty roadside is as essential to the community as the striker on a national team.
Our national values must reflect a broader sense of fairness. Sports have their place. Athletes deserve to be celebrated when they excel, but we must stop behaving as if only the loudest, most televised efforts are worth rewarding. All labour has value. All professions matter. And if we are serious about national development, then dignity must be extended beyond the football pitch. The FA in England is not paying Paul Gascoigne’s hospital bills, for example.
