This makes for good reading! Another rambling note- by Dimgba Igwe Back Page / Columns, Columns, Sideview Sun Newspaper. It was a normal Saturday when I expect that Mike Awoyinfa would be on the street, visiting myriad friends. But he was marooned at home. What’s wrong? Real Madrid and Atletico were playing UEFA final that day at 7 p.m. and Mike was taking no chances. He didn’t want to be out on the street and risk getting stuck somewhere or accidentally breaking his legs somewhere, he explained. I didn’t see why anybody would wait for a match playing at 7 p.m. from morning. But then, I am used to the crazy ways of soccer fanatics and had written about these in the past. I was minding my business, watching CNN, as the match played. If you’ve been a regular reader of Sideview, then you are probably already familiar with the fact that I am somewhat immune to all the soccer drama. Yes, it is no longer news that I am the only stranger in the land, who is not afflicted with the popular craze for soccer. In Nigeria where everybody, from the masses to the high and the mighty are soccer fanatics, mine is a strange disease indeed. As a reporter at large these days, I am ever so aware that you can hardly meet any member of the ruling class, who is not a fan of either Arsenal, Chelsea or Manchester United – almost in that order. And their loyalty to their clubs is as ardent as loyalty to religion, perhaps, only more ardent. From ministers to governors, to legislators, to top corporate players, to everyone else, soccer addiction is a common disease nobody wants to be cured of. It is no surprise that many people with heart condition seem to prefer possible suicide to avoiding the rollercoaster shocks and drama of soccer wahala. If you want to draw the passion of any Nigerian, open a discussion on any of the latest European soccer encounters. Or the clubs – Arsenal, Chelsea and Man U. I’ve learnt, for instance, that if you are in the home of the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, or his godfather, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, you had better not speak ill of Man U. Tinubu, Fashola and, perhaps, members of their families and allies are ardent Man U fans, a club, which the legendary Alex Ferguson nearly ruined by foisting a bad successor – a clueless fellow, named David Moyes, his fellow Scott. Does that smack of nepotism? Perhaps, in leadership, some people are simply better as underlings than on the driving seat. Moyes is one of them and there are many Moyes all over the place, messing things up. Under Moyes, a great team built by Ferguson was tottering, rudderless and skidding to disintegration. Moyes seemed clueless but, at least, he didn’t fish for excuses. He took responsibility for his failures. There are many reasons to fail but no excuses, even good excuses, are good enough to justify failure. Failure is failure and drags everyone down. Good leaders are those who win despite excuses, problems and obstacles. My favourite definition of leadership is that which says leadership is solution. There is a mountain of problems in the land and we need a leader to navigate us to solution. A leader is like a coach. A coach, team manager or a leader is there to solve problems. The opponents are there to make things easy for you but most of the time, to create problems. If you don’t like problems, you can’t coach a team, simple. Problems come with obstacles, otherwise they won’t be problems, would they? Blaming the obstacles rather than tackling them is my primary definition of failure. Failure of leadership. Yes, I learnt this lesson years ago. In those days, it was the fad of the various military juntas – from Generals Ibrahim Babangida to Sani Abacha – to close down newspaper houses. In fact, the closure of Concord newspapers in June 1994 by Abacha regime lasted for 18-months! Everybody sympathised with us, trust Nigerians. But at home, just because our newspaper was unjustly closed didn’t stop the bills from running. House rents, school fees, utility bills, medical bills and so on ran as usual. You can’t use the closure of your workplace as excuse to wave away the bills. In my case, for instance, the closure came at a time we had a new baby. From the infant, I learnt an enduring lesson. In case you don’t know it, babies don’t stop crying for milk just because you are out of job! The unjust closure of Concord was a good excuse not to provide for the family but try explaining the politics of June 12 to an infant, crying for milk and see how far that would take you. But then, David Moyes was not a Nigerian, otherwise, he would have mobilised his kinsmen to explain away his failures. Enemies! Sponsored critics! Ethnic bigots, who never wanted him to succeed! Pressures from the board for results! Sabotage from players! Bad officiating by sponsored referees, who don’t like Scots! You can generate more stories, more excuses or hire men to do it for you! There are no shortage of excuses. But the people are saying, bring back the goals! The goals, the goals, the goals! That’s what Man U is all about. A winning team, not this shambling and shambolic team that didn’t look like Man U? Why should Man U become a global laughing stock and David Moyes enjoys the pleasure and perquisite of a full contract? That is the point, the question and the contention, which the board of the club had to resolve. They did and that explains why today, Moyes has no job, because the fans would not eat excuses. But here, I drift. This piece is not about Man U and the Moyes of this world. It’s about my rambling thoughts on the climactic match between Real Madrid and Atletico (I hope I am getting the names right?). While the fans were glued to the match, I was either reading or glancing at the CNN. Then the CNN flashed the result. Atletico 1 and Real 0. This was history about to be made by Atletico, the Spanish premier league champion, who were on the brink of winning their first UEFA cup. Real Madrid had won the cup nine times, so Atletico was the underdog about to make history. They had tenaciously held on to their one goal lead for 92 minutes, 30 seconds. For them, it was 90 seconds to glory. But in soccer, 90 seconds can be so short to recover from setback or so long to lose a battle. The underdog, striving for victory from the champion, flies on the wings of faith and determination, charged and motivated. A highly motivated Atletico side was this underdog. But time – a fragment of time – stood between them and victory. It just took a momentary loss of concentration. In just that split second, Real Madrid scored and equalised. The Atletico hope crashed. The swing of psychological burst of hope and optimism enveloped the Real Madrid camp in equal measure, as angst, deflection and disappointment dealt a psychological blow on the Atleticos. Between victory and defeat is a bubble – a cathartic swing of emotional energy that can kill or destroy, win or lose battles. As Solomon once argued, at times, the race is not for the swift nor the battle to the strong, “but chance happenth to them all.” (Ecclesiastes 9:11). But chance is one thing, psychological disposition is another. The Atleticos, who held on to a one goal lead over Real Madrid for 92.30 minutes, crumbled to a 4-1 defeat in the next few minutes once Real Madrid managed to get an equaliser. What is the magic? This is a question sports psychologists would spend time, analysing for the benefit of ordinary folks like us, who know nothing in that field. What happened to Atletico that they ended up snatching such an astonishing defeat from the jaws of victory? Does that indicate that Real Madrid is the better side? If they were, how come they were down for 92.30 minutes, enough time for most matches to have been won and lost? It is certainly not about skill and energy, more about hope and psychological disposition. As Jean-Paul Sartre once argued, “Once you hear the details of victory, it is hard to distinguish it from a defeat.” That is to say victory or defeat in most issues of life is a matter of attitude. I do not for a moment, for instance, believe that the Boko Haram insurgents are gaining the upper hand in the ongoing war in parts of Nigeria mainly because they have better military skills than our military or are even better funded. Rather, I believe that apart from our familiar plague of corruption, from the commander-in-chief to the field commanders of our troops and the infantry foot soldiers, the critical difference is the attitude to the battle. The attitude makes all the difference. If we must win the war against the insurgents, then we must start with the attitude, the right attitude. We’ve heard too much of conspiracy theories. Even if they are true, are we then to surrender to the conspirators? Time to dispense with the excuses – sweet excuses that do not deliver result – and put on a winning attitude. We have war on our laps and you don’t win war with excuses. War is too serious to be fought half-heartedly.
Posted on: Tue, 27 May 2014 13:50:09 +0000
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