I am writing on the Globacom league again this week. It is deliberate! It is a reflection of how important the subject matter of Nigeria’s Premier league has become in the light of recent effort by some concerned stakeholders to do something about rescuing the league and restoring some of its sanity and dignity! Before now, very few wanted to associate with a league plagued by corruption, complacency and hooliganism. Once-thriving private clubs that were supposed to spearhead the start of an authentic professional league had to leave when they could no longer cope with the shenanigans in the management of the league even at that time. That’s how Abiola Babes and Leventis United, two clubs that set out to be the ‘Manchester United’ of African football, left the scene. Since then, instead of the situation to get better, it got worse. There have been very little to celebrate about the domestic game. Admitted, even in that darkness there are still things that illuminate the prosperity potentials of Nigeria. It is in that same dark period, for example, that Enyimba Football Club of Aba arrived the scene and created a new record of winning the African Club Championship not just for the first time by a Nigerian club, but twice, back-to-back!  Otherwise, the rot of the league got worse with time and the ills became a way of life. Commentators and analysts had nothing but negative things to write about it. Very few outstanding stars came out of it. The crowds at venues thinned out. The infrastructure at several of the venues wore down. The public lost their taste for the league and gravitated en-mass to the European leagues packaged so irresistibly on terrestrial and satellite television stations. Previous effort at fixing the system and the league was cosmetic and ineffective. So, when in 2008 there is a noticeable deviation, a shift from the norm, a positive development, a small step in the right direction, it becomes incumbent to also report and acknowledge the progress made. Such is the situation at the moment, the motivation behind this new look at the current league season that has two matches to go to the end.

From my observatory, I have to acknowledge that Onyuki Obaseki’s train is creating a very noticeable, measurable shift in the management of the league. Although, a school of observers says that anyone with the resources now available to the aided by the unprecedented sponsorship of Globacom, would have to do something to move the system upward to justify the expense. In the past three weeks, or even more, I have observed that at certain venues the crowds are back, hooliganism is in retreat, the level of poor officiating has reduced, some matches in venues with fairly good pitches are becoming interesting, coverage by Supersports is a lot better and the cases of cheap boardroom points have reduced considerably. All of this must be the product of certain measures that have to be identified, sustained and even expanded. The presence of NTA and Supersports at some match venues has become a useful check on biased officiating and open security breaches. I also hear that home-team officials have become more careful at compromising their careers for brown envelopes. Although, all of these may be but a small step, they surely portend a future of exciting possibilities for Nigerian football!

For once, therefore, let us commend the Professional League board and the NFA for this breath of fresh air. Nigerians look forward in the new season to further reforms that will take the Globacom Premier League (to start with, followed by the lesser leagues) to a level better in content and quality than the South African Football league. After that, the sky will be its limit.