Football, ‘footworld’ and the metaphor of the Super Eagles

“And in the earth are portents for those whose faith is sure. And in yourselves, then will you not see? Quran 51: 20-21

In many portions of the Glorious Qur’an, humanity is challenged to think, to ponder and to derive lessons from creation. In fact, in line with the Quranic epistemology, everything in nature is a signifier, the signified is usually the inimitable workings of the Almighty in nature. In other words, people’s status in the sight of our Creator is usually not a function of their earthly status or wealth. It is more a result of their efforts to seize upon every moment in their life and impinge meanings on the otherwise meaningless events in the cosmos. This is exemplified in the ayat quoted above. This finds validity in the ongoing African Cup of Nations football contest.

Thus, two days ago, precisely on Wednesday, February 7, 2024, I sat in the solitude of my library. I was ensconced in the labyrinth of my search for meaning in an infinitely meaningless pursuit of the ephemeral. But I soon became an unwilling viewer of the game between the Super Eagles and their counterparts from South Africa.

I was drawn to the screen by the noise from the homesteads of my neighbours as they shouted ‘goal’! Yes. My neighbours on campus: Hausa, Ibo, Fulani, Ibibio, Itsekiri etc. Suddenly, the Ibo, the Hausa, and the Yoruba became deracinated or, rather, detribalized. Suddenly what mattered in the reckoning of Nigerians was Nigeria, not who they were, nor where they came from. What mattered was a victory for the nation, not the nepotistic posturing of the Federal Character Commission!

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Brethren, it was instructive to note that whenever the Super Eagles missed a goal, Nigerians lapsed into melancholy; each time they scored, there was an eruption of happiness and joy. I racked my memory to chance upon that moment in our national life when Nigerians were bound together so strongly and passionately like they were during the past couple of weeks. I could not remember one.

In other words, dear brethren, was the performance of the Super Eagles so far not a metaphor for the potential of our nation? The heroics of the team so far have shown the infinite capacities of this nation for self-reinvention and assertion.

Brethren! Is it not a matter of wonderment that when eleven young men took to the field and were emblazoned in the colour of our country neither the Yoruba nor the Hausa cried foul for under-representation? Was it because football, like the world, is ephemeral, while governmental luxuries are permanent? But brethren, which of the luxuries of this world are created to last and outlast the Almighty?

Brethren, let us side-step the above and ponder this- was it not true that while it lasted, while the Super Eagles were engaged with their opponents, kidnappers, armed robbers and other agents of the underground were also watching their television sets? During those hours, their guns and machetes lay idle by their sides. Was it not true that when the goals were scored, the official and unofficial robbers and compradors, equally shouted “Up Nigeria”!?

What about our compatriot who stole billions of naira from our commonwealth? He would probably have shouted ‘Up Nigeria” too when the Eagles overcame their opponents! Then my mind riveted to the latter.

I began to question myself: what operates in the psyche of those who trade in infamy and debauchery that football wrests away each time the national team is involved in international matches? Could there be a means by which such feelings of patriotism could be harnessed for the greater good? In other words, is it possible to make permanent the fleeting feelings of joy and excitement that Nigerians experience whenever our national teams are involved in continental or global competitions? Is there a way we can turn this illusion into reality? How might go about changing paramnesia to verisimilitude?

Brethren, while pondering the above, while internalizing the truths that the above brings home, my mind became fixated on that object known as football. ‘Yes. There are more lessons in that round-leather object than ordinarily meets the eye.

In truth, that thing is not football, it is ‘footworld’. Whenever it is kicked forward and backward it is, in reality, our world that is being kicked hither and thither by the players. After all, our world, just like football, is circular. Our world, just like the football at play, is never at rest. The faster the football is played the better the entertainment; the faster our world is recreated or reinvented the more fashionable or ‘pleasurable’ it becomes. Ironically, the opposite is equally true. The drab and lethargic the game of football is, the more it loses its magic.

Football is truly ‘Footworld’. It is played by humans: some of them are ‘attackers’, and others are defenders or, ‘destroyers’? It is a game in which the best does not always win; like life, it is a game in which the weak do not always lose. Football is indeed “footworld” – neither its pains nor pleasures ever last (Quran 51: 20-21).