{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"Mathematical 7","provider_url":"https:\/\/mathematical7.com\/m7","title":"Domestic Nigerian Football \u2013 the past and the present! - Mathematical 7","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"fY5sbhoXzV\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mathematical7.com\/m7\/domestic-nigerian-football-the-past-and-the-present\/\">Domestic Nigerian Football \u2013 the past and the present!<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/mathematical7.com\/m7\/domestic-nigerian-football-the-past-and-the-present\/embed\/#?secret=fY5sbhoXzV\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;Domestic Nigerian Football \u2013 the past and the present!&#8221; &#8212; Mathematical 7\" data-secret=\"fY5sbhoXzV\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=https:\/\/mathematical7.com\/m7\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n<\/script>\n","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/mathematical7.com\/m7\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Nigerian_Football_2.jpg","thumbnail_width":284,"thumbnail_height":177,"description":"I am surely not making a deliberate comparison between the past and the present of domestic football in Nigeria. I am just telling a story. Time was when football in Nigeria was top of the list of social engagements at weekends when men and boys would throng football grounds to watch rival teams trade tackles. Time was when football grounds were the Mecca of spiritual contests between hired marabouts, prophets and traditionalists engaged by clubs to compete for divine favour to determine the team that would win a football match. Time was when grounds were filled to the brim with spectators singing and dancing to the drum beats of their vociferous supporters who would stop at nothing to ensure that their team won home matches, but accepted defeat when they lost. Time was when boys attempted to be met by \u2018escaping\u2019 from their boarding school hostels to climb or scale over stadium walls and illegally watched football matches. Time was when ordinary folk would travel long distances across the country following their teams to away games fully aware of the consequences of attempting to raise their voices in the midst of \u2018hostile\u2019 fanatical home supporters. Yet they travelled there. Time was when players would fight like sworn enemies on the field of play as if their lives depended on it, and in the evening after the battle has been won or lost the players would be seen mingling together in lounges and bars peacefully celebrating the healthy friendly spirit that drives the game everywhere and makes it the most followed and most loved sport in the world. Time was when football grounds were ruled by super-star local players whose fame and reputation were irresistible magnets to the army of the football faithful and even the ordinary man on the streets. That was the era of some of the greatest football contests within the country between some of the greatest football clubs of that era. Very easily, those clubs had the potentials to have metamorphosed into authentic professional football clubs had the world not suddenly changed, had football advancement not gone ballistic and had Nigeria not been left behind as a result of political interference in the domestic administration of the game, leaving the country wandering till now in a futile struggle to emerge from the dark ages of administration. Time was when the national football team was populated one hundred per cent by players from the domestic league. There was no awareness or any attraction for foreign clubs and emigration to foreign leagues. Even when I was supposed to go for trials in England with Tottenham Hotspurs in 1981 at the height of my playing career, I went to London and spent all that time having fun. Domestic Nigerian football was an acceptable attractive option."}