I won’t have hypertension over Nigerian football, Says Owolabi

Owolabi

Felix Owolabi, a.k.a. ‘Owoblow’, is currently a football coach. He played in the domestic league with Kano’s Raccah Rovers, IICC Shooting Stars, before he was invited to the national team, which was then called Green Eagles. He was in the Eagles team that placed third at the 1978 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) and also the 1980 winning squad. In this interview with The Guardian SAMUEL IFETOYE, Owolabi laments the state of Nigerian football.

What is your impression of state of football in the country? I have kept on soliciting for an opportunity like this to present itself… I mean when stakeholders will have a platform to discuss Nigerian football and the way forward. This is necessary so that we can proffer solutions on what could be done to make it better. Now that the domestic league is about to end, the question is, what next? Look at all our clubs, and the players, how many of the players have featured for the national team? None! How many of the domestic players were used to prosecute the match against Sao Tome and Principe? None! I thought that the fixture would have afforded us the opportunity to present some domestic league players; it never did, as the new coach also stuck to the familiar pattern, by using wholly foreign-based players. I think we are not being fair to our domestic league players.

I am concerned about the future of Nigerian football and I want something to be done to lift the spirit of players in the domestic league. If anyone decides to tamper with the destinies of home-based players, there would be problem. I can assure you that posterity will never forgive these people and their generation if they fail to address this recurring problem of the country’s football.

Look at clubs like Zamalek,