AS OUR LECTURERS DO SOCCER

Welcome back to this encouragingly undersized but exciting semester. I am sure that you are taking a close look at your calendar, because before you know what is happening exams will be knocking.
The Sport Council of the Obafemi Awolowo University is organizing a staff football competition for all the members of the staff, and that is laudable. The strength and skill of our lecturers may surprise you, as some teams play better than the Super Eagles of Nigeria against Madagascar last weekend. One of such teams is the faculty of arts in their last match against Maintenance department that ended two goals to nothing in favour of the faculty of Arts.
The last time the university witnessed such an event was six years ago, and now, the sport council has revitalized the spirit of sportsmanship among lecturers which cannot but go a long way to foster the relationship among lecturers. This competition has shown that fitness is not all about age but persistent training. All registered faculties and divisions should be well commended as they all performed above expectations.
The student’s inter-faculty match will commence on the 18th of September and a representative of the sport council has said that the sport council is working hard to ensure that the matches are played under floodlights. This he said will ensure that the students participate fully in the events without having to miss lectures.
However, when one considers the fact that few undergraduates are playing in the staff football competition, one will not but ask, if the decay in Nigeria’s sport is having an effect on that of OAU. One cannot but say that the future of sport is bleak and if corruption is to be measured with the books of the bible, we are just opening to the book of Exodus. Forgive me, as I will not like to mention the names of faculties that use undergraduates or none-student. This is infuriating.
I may not condemn those that used their master’s students which is a way of pulling them along, but I will like to recommend to the sport council that hence forth the I.D card should be checked before the players commence the match in order to ensure fairness for the fun of it. Such act of using undergraduates brings not the commendable objective of the sport council. In subsequent years, lecturers and staffs may not be interested in playing for the fun of it, but desperate to win and as such, the fitness level of lecturers that is being worked upon will not improve.
In addition, the mere fact that female interfaculty football is yet to be awakened is a major blow. Probably, starting with the female students, such a novel event should be organized. We know it is not easy, but it is achievable. However, other sports and games that will attract female lecturers to participate should also be encouraged. This will paint clearly to the world that we aren’t discriminating against the female folks.
That other games are left out of the competition is not absolutely correct. Sports like basketball, rugby, golf, hockey, swimming to mention but a few are not in the games is a major deficiency. The Sport Council should find a way of organizing inter-faculty games as this will foster competition among sport persons and give them a testing ground before major competitions like NUGA.
Few days ago, I interacted with some sport persons and the response I got fro them didn’t go down well with me. They said the quality of their jerseys is far below poor, that should they sustain major injury that will be their headache. More so, they also added that the standard equipment is not what they use for training, only to get used to substandard equipment only for them to be given the standard equipment on the day of the exam. They sacrifice not only their time but also their money to buy equipment. They miss class and some of them even carry some courses and get extra year. Their allowances are smaller than the smallest peanuts and they complain that they need professional coaches. They attribute all this to the failure of OAU in NUGA in the last years.
They best footballers are not ready to do the sport in the colour of their sport because they are of the opinion that they are not well appreciated as they believe that the best way to appreciate a sport person is to upgrade the facilities available.
Please sir, come next interfaculty on the 18th of this month, let the students be well kitted, let us not see any student playing with bathroom slipper. Please appreciate the lectures playing better, let the students also be better appreciate. Let us not start hating what we love the most. Our performance in sport can get better, only if the facilities are upgraded, sport persons are better motivated and the best professional coaches are employed. We have the best sport persons in the world on this campus but the condition of the facilities is undermining their potentials. Lets do something fast.
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