I noticed that whenever there is a football match (especially the Super Eagles, English Premier League, Italian Serie A, French Ligue Un & Spanish La Liga) in Lagos, the streets are always calm and deserted. Sometimes you would think the matches were being played at stadia around town.
In various homes, offices, barbing salons and even on the streets its all about football. The football culture is so strong these days that some people even miss church and other religious activities for football matches! Isn’t this bordering on fanaticism? It is incredible how these Leagues have gained cult following in Naija!!! After the games you will see various supporters decked in their favourite club merchandise and hear them arguing back and forth – the ref was poor, Barca cheated, Real Madrid are the best and so on.
Let me add this: on weekends when Arsenal is playing, my husband doesn’t pay attention to anything else – not even me!!! The way he glues his eyes to the TV set with so much passion. They way he jumps and shouts when his team misses a scoring chance is amazing. If his team loses, we are all in trouble till he calms down, but if they win, he can take everyone out! Initially, I used to get very upset whenever the Premiership season kicks off for obvious reasons … but I have learnt to “understand” with him even when I really don’t understand why 11 grown up men will be kicking and chasing a football from one end of the pitch to another!!!
I know these “strange” men running around with the football brings some form of unity among various club supporters (and Nigerians when Super Eagles win) but it also produces some tragic moments when one club supporter(s) committed suicide when his club lost a match or fighting and killing each other as a result of frayed nerves during arguments. As a woman, I have discussed severally with lots of my friends who also face this temporary “neglect” whenever there is a football match but we all still can’t fathom … Why Nigerians men so crazy about football! Your comments will be invaluable to all of the “marginalized” women out there …
NB. Pardon my lack of depth here, I did a lot of research to pen this down, lol.