Nigerian football: Interests, marginalization, and struggle

Abstract

Nigerian football has achieved a long line of success at both continental and global levels. A significant part of that has occurred through its local clubs and players. However, while player labour has sustained Nigerian football in many ways, the increasing capital interests of administrators have created a situation of marginalization and domination, which not only leads to player flight but also has threatened the sustainability of the league itself. Using critical theory, this paper exposes the structure of power, interests, and marginalization that define local football in Nigeria today. In so doing, it also identifies player resistance in a struggle for emancipation. Administrators have used several instruments to affirm power including withholding of wages and bonuses and denial of free agency. In the struggle for emancipation, players have chosen strikes, petitions, violence, and flight. Ultimately, the paper argues that adoption of a discursive public sphere as advanced by Habermas may place the conflict on a trajectory of fairness and repair in order to emancipate players from the current unsustainable situation.

Keywords:

• critical theory
• football
• Nigeria
• labour
• power

Notes

1. Nigeria's football is run through various league levels that include amateur divisions one to three, Nigerian National League (NNL), and the Nigerian Premier Football League (NPFL). Each of those leagues is regulated by a board elected from management cadre of the clubs.

2. The focus of this paper is strictly local Nigerian football and excludes discourse about conditions at the national team levels.

3. Prior to the establishment of the African Champions League for clubs, Nigeria won several editions of African continental cups for clubs including the Cup Winners Cup (Ibadan Shooting Stars, Enugu Rangers, and Gboko BCC Lions) and the CAF Cup (Ibadan Shooting Stars and Benin Bendel Insurance). The Cup for African Nations awards medals to the top three finishers in the competition.

4. NFA and NFF throughout this paper refer to the apex organization that administers football in the country. It was established as the NFA in 1933 (Though some argue that the date of 1945 is more appropriate) and later became the NFF.

5. See, particularly, Hofstede's (2001) work on organizational culture in Nigeria and issues of Prebendalism as discussed by Joseph (1987).

6. Throughout this paper, the term ‘administrators’ is used to refer to club officials who manage the administrative affairs of the club. This includes the Chairman, Secretary, team manager, and others with similar titles or duties. They have authority to make administrative decisions on a daily basis. Note that this term does not include football coaches or those directly involved in football technical matters. Administrators who serve on the Football Association boards are referred to as regulators in this paper.

7. See, The Complete Laws of Nigeria (n.d.)

8. These clubs included Owerri Heartland FC, ABS of Ilorin, and Nasarawa United.

9. The rule refers to three cases all involving an FC Liege player, Jean-Marc Bosman, in the Belgian league whose case was consolidated and involved the refusal of his club to release him without a transfer fee after his contract expired. The 1995 case, won by Bosman, allowed the freedom of movement for football players when their contract expires. Though the initial ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) was directed to player labor movement in the European Union, FIFA has rewritten its international rules in order to ensure that one rule applies to all countries in the world.

10. Sunday Mba left Warri Wolves FC when his contract expired after the 2012/2013 season but found that he could not play for Enugu Rangers because Rangers and Wolves could not agree a fee in spite of the fact that Mba was a free agent according to FIFA rules after the Bosman case mentioned in the previous note. Mba's case was similar to that of Emmanuel Daniel who left Ibadan 3Sc to join Enugu Rangers after his contract expired. CAF disqualified Enugu Rangers, preventing the club from advancing in the African Confederations Cup because the club used Daniel in a game after 3Sc refused to issue a transfer certificate without a fee payment from Rangers.

11. N888.803 million was the equivalence of USD 5.422 million in 2013 using an exchange rate of 1 USD = N163.925 in July 2013.

12. The NLC has traditionally wielded enormous power in Nigeria using nationwide strikes and public protests to achieve historical victories on wage adjustments, issues of employment protection, and worker benefits, among others.