Spain’s economy, a growing one like Nigeria’s, relies greatly on the volume of cash generated from the sports sector. FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, Villarreal, Valencia are not all about football. They have basketball clubs, volleyball clubs, athletics clubs etc, which are professionally run. But football serves as the fountain where others seek succour, considering its followership as the king of sports.
Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues spent a record £5billion on players this summer despite Premier League clubs, usually the continent’s most active shoppers, slightly reining in their spending, Deloitte has revealed. I’ve chosen Spain, being a developing economy like ours, to illustrate how the citizenry’s passion for soccer can be exploited to fund other sports without ‘killing’ football, which provides a big chunk of the cash. Nigerians love soccer as much as the Spaniards, but their administrators are driven by the landmarks for growth they put in place than what comes into their pockets, the bane of Nigerian administrators.
Ajunwa ran towards the little girl, took the flag and completed the lap of honour – fulfilled. Nobody thought Ajunwa would win the triple jump, with football crazy officials opting to travel that day to watch the Dream Team I in training ahead of its next game. At that time, Nigeria was a pariah nation due to the jackboot era of the late Sani Abacha. Yet, American newspapers splashed Ajunwa on their cover the next day. Ajunwa dominated the airspace, granting interviews.
At the meeting with the governors, the minister should appeal to them to see the clubs as business concerns capable of increasing their states’ GDP and creating jobs, if the administrators know their onions. A club, which is properly run, can be effectively used to mobilise the people and keep youths off social vices.