THE EFFECT OF THE ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE ON NIGERIANS

The need to recognize and accept a new religion stares us all in the face, and if we must do this, we must call it the “football religion.

The emergence of the English Premier League has made a god out of the round leather game. To it, many, particularly Nigerians, now accord a kind of “Trinitarian reverence”. With the building of new technologically relevant stadiums and football equipments, establishment of football institutions and a wider television and radio coverage, the game now assumes a sort of presence that could be prefixed with a hushed “Omni” in every quarter of the Nigerian social sphere.

For the Fulani herdsman in the forest and his beef customer in Victoria Island, the term football is a common word. The rich and the poor, Muslim and Christian, the old and the young have all been profoundly affected by this priest- less religion. Nigerians have found a hideaway from the harshness of the Nigerian life, and the heat generated from the boiling tempers of a state; whose very survival is being violently threatened by terrorist activities ,kidnappings, ethnic clashes and conflicts, religious crisis and the evil activities of unscrupulous politicians who are hell bent on enthroning their own evil agenda.

Away from this, the English game has built a new society that is neither high nor low. Just a plain society of football where team spirit is encouraged and tolerance is displayed. It is very common to see the ‘aboki’ from the north and the Christian in the south hugging and screaming in reflex unison up Chelsea! up Chelsea! in joyful response to a goal scored thousands of miles away. Here, Nigerians find common ground: we have the same thing to cheer and cry about as the case may be. There is a perfect correlation and harmony of our individual needs that shows we all want the same thing-to be happy and peaceful. This is what we experience when we cheer our favorite teams and football stars. When it comes to this all important need of life, we find we are not so different after all.

And so it is, in football, we find a religion that encourages Nigerians to see beyond ethnicity and accept a nationality, to tolerate one another in the spirit of unity and oneness. When we say “our team”, “our team” its shows the strength of our bond in fighting and reaching for a common goal as stakeholders. This is what the English premier league offers in effect to Nigerians-to cheer together, cry together, believe together and live together as one, in spite of our perceived differences. So let’s keep watching and cheering, Let’s keep Nigeria running on the fuel of exciting football.