, at the beach, on any open field, rough or smooth. Once there is enough space for the beautiful game to be played and enjoyed by children, on any kind of football surface, no matter how good or poor, raw talent can always shine through the process and barriers of discovery.
In addition, you cannot also market football maximally unless it is covered properly by television. Meanwhile, the best coverage by television can only be achieved when the game is played on very good football fields. The higher the quality of the field, the better the quality of coverage.That’s why Europe has invested and continues to invest, more than all others, heavily in research and providing the best playing surfaces – so that television can provide the highest dividends.
Pretending to expand and modernise it, they destroyed it with untested technology. They also extended the carnage and ‘wickedness’ to the relatively good pitches at the time in the Kaduna, Enugu, and Bauchi stadia. For decades, I have ‘sang’ the same song here in Nigeria through my media interjections and interventions, with little support or understanding from anywhere. Committees set up by the football federations often approved the use of grounds that could never survive approval as fourth division venues in any part of European football. That’s how different the standards of grounds are between Europe and most African countries.
Why would a government spend billions of Naira building or renovating a stadium, and not pay full attention to the cheapest, simplest, but most important item – the turf? With Nigeria’s sophistication and experienced administrators, how is it that there is probably only one football ground in the whole of the country that can pass a true forensic test for qualification for the highest level of a football match?The lack of good football grounds has become the biggest hindrance to football...