THE
Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) received a brand and public
relations boost last week when a goal scored by Sikiru Olatunbosun of MFM
Football Club against Enugu Rangers penultimate weekend was voted as the Cable
News Network (CNN) Goal of the Week.
The
match was a matchday 10 league encounter played under floodlights at the
5,000-capacity Agege Stadium in Lagos. MFM won the match 2-1 and the result
would have been recorded as just another statistic but for Olatunbosun’s
magnificent opening strike which catapulted the game in terms of significance.
I
watched the game live on DSTV, so I saw the goal first hand. In the 30th
minute, a quick exchange of passes amongst three MFM players in blue shirts
ended with Olatunbosun flicking the ball over his marker’s head and blasting an
unstoppable left-foot volley into the roof of the Rangers net. I knew
immediately that I had just witnessed something special.
The
adulation that has followed the goal since then is no surprise. Several videos
on YouTube have tagged it with various superlatives ranging from “Super
Volley,” “Miracle Goal,” “Excellent Blaster” to “Super Screamer.” But the icing
on the cake was the CNN award which helped bring the goal into global
consciousness and reckoning. Put up against three other goals by Radja
Nainggolan of Roma, Y. Tielemans of Anderlecht and Joey Jones of Working FC,
Olatunbosun’s “wonder goal” emerged the undisputed best with 82% of the votes.
This
happy episode for our football league has again underscored the importance of
having the games shown on television. For many years, we couldn’t make a
headway despite calling ourselves a football-loving nation. But since the League
Management Company (LMC) managed to remove all previous encumbrances to the
television rights and brought in DSTV as the broadcast partners, there has been
incremental improvement in the coverage and followership of the league.
The
world would have missed Olatunbosun’s wonder goal had the game not been on
television. Therefore, no effort should be spared by the LMC to ensure that
more NPFL games get on TV. It may take some time, but the Nigeria league is on
the right track to reclaiming more of its lost glories if we continue to see
more “television goals” like this on television.
I think you understand
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Royal1688
Thank you very much