I am on a platform with a respected childhood friend. Below are his unedited words on the issue of retired international athletes and their demands for special attention by the government of the country.
‘What about policemen, soldiers, civil servants etc who also contributed in their different ways to the uplifment of the green and white flag?’ .
‘Let me clarify that I have nothing against these guys because I am one of them and reaped bountifully from that privilege…seen the world etc. We must, however, stop seeing them as a special breed to the detriment of others who also gave their all’.
His words jolted me.
Unable to respond, I sheathed my pen’.
I am surely a part of that tribe of ‘attention seekers’ after retirement. As players, we are used to being paid special attention. Our every need was taken care from dawn to dusk during our sports careers.
In those days, the only thing we lacked were the financial benefits to follow our truly special contributions to nation building – lifting the name and reputation of our country to the stratosphere by winning key matches and competitions.
There is also a certain inexplicable ‘madness’ that goes hand-in-hand with football, in particular. Watch when a great goal is scored. The entire country goes ‘mad’ for a few seconds, with every person doing ‘crazy’ things that they would never have done under normal ‘temperature and pressure’. 21 of us were given a car each for the gallantry we showed even when we lost the match. A contingent was rewarded with houses and national honours even when they did not win the championship. It is the orgasm in sport.
In Sport, a different kind of spirit drives success. It cannot be quantified, disregarded, or compared to anything else in life. Probably also, that’s where Sport derives its unique power in global geo-politics – the mega celebrity status, the humongous wages and transfer fees, the incomparable media attention and coverage, the power to bring even ‘enemies’ to compete, the immunity from common human divisions, the massive business opportunities and scope, and the followership beyond all boundaries.
Sport is very different from every other activity and profession in the world. It does not make common sense.
The only odd part, the one that has not found universal common ground, is the life of the athletes after sports. Beyond the spotlight, every superstar starts to become a fading star, unless and until they make themselves relevant again in sports or in another field.
In this phase of their lives, they have to find their own level and do their own thing.
Those are not easy things to accomplish, and living well for most athletes, including several superstars that earned obscene wages during their careers, is a much bigger challenge after their sports careers.
It is a tough and difficult road to travel.
Most athletes never make it big again. Majority wake up too late from the illusion and emptiness of fame without adequate resources to maintain their once ‘special’ status for the rest of their lives.
That’s why even though, government is not beholden to international athletes, it is not right to say that the athletes are ‘not a special breed’. Indeed, through their sport, they are.
That’s why they should not be left to spend the rest of their lives on their own. The product does not make for good advertisement for the social structures their country has put in place to take care of every citizen, with some special attention paid to those that uplift the image of the country in a special way!
I am often used as a model to measure success of an athlete after sport. I am flattered but see and experience it differently.
People do not know about the hardships I endure, the daily challenges, the endless hurdles to jump over, the disappointments, and the number of failed attempts to master unfamiliar terrain.
For the 4 decades since my retirement from active sports, I have been traversing a road filled with human potholes, one limited by wrong perceptions, assumptions and presumptions.
A Military Governor friend of mine, told me to my face that he could not give me a book publication contract because the project was not related to sports, and that I should stick to the sports-related business only.
I do so. He gave me a contract to design a sports stadium. I got my friend, one of the most brilliant architects in Nigeria to design it. He then awarded the construction work to another person, his business front. I wasted two years of my life chasing that project.
I bought a piece of land some 40 years ago. To this day, I am unable to get successive Governor-friends in the State to secure the Certificate of Occupancy for the undeveloped land that was not government land when I bought it. Now government has acquired it and allocated to another person in government.
It took me 18 long years to secure a radio station license that was been distributed like confetti to political and business associates of those in charge.
It is not easy to do well as a retired athlete in Nigeria, particularly on the strength of being a former sports hero in the country.
No one offers freebies for fame!
Beneath the optical illusion of being a hero-for-life, a retired sports person in reality is no more than a used and dumped commodity. Without a regular salary, without a pension, without a regular job during the short span of a sports career, how will a retired sports international that is not in the caliber of the few professionals that earned enough and could have saved enough for the rainy day survive after Sport? This is the million Dollar question?
Should the country shut its eyes to their plight?
Two days ago, a journalist from AIT called me up. Acting on the instruction of his bosses he wanted me to grant an interview for a feature documentary on Nigerian sports from Independence to date, to be broadcast on October 1.
Ordinarily, I would have just granted the interview and the world would have moved on. But I jokingly asked him how much AIT would pay me for this exclusive, after all, it is my intellectual property – my knowledge and experience in sports.
BBC or any other international media organization would pay me for it.
The young journalist chuckled at my audacity to ask for payment. He told me he would go back and tell his bosses.
He left. I know I will never hear from him again.
That’s the story of our lives outside of our careers as athletes. How are we expected to survive?
Government must intervene by creating the environment, schemes and structures that will facilitate our integration into a better life after sports.