SEPTEMBER 22, 2013
Richard Ajayi
It has taken just four years for Nigerian rugby to move from obscurity to being among the best in Africa, an achievement made possible by the current board of the Nigeria Rugby Football Federation. Not only has the body raised the standard of the sport since taking charge in 2009, following the concessioning of rugby by the National Sports Commission, the Nigeria team have moved up the world rankings, putting them in line for a Commonwealth Games appearance next year.
In spite of its numerous achievements, however, the NRFF is worried that Nigeria’s rising profile may be threatened by the reported decision of the NSC to withdraw the concessioning awarded to the sport.
NRFF president, Dr. Richard Ajayi, is concerned that the sponsorship drive currently enjoyed by the rugby board from the private sector may stop if the government takes over the administration of the sport.
“There are reports that the Ministry of Sports is considering rescinding the concessioning of some sports, rugby inclusive, based on poor management of these sports. Everything is wrong with those reports because it misrepresented the NRFF. Rugby is what it is today in Nigeria because of the achievements of the board; the successes recorded were never there before the coming of the board in 2009,” Ajayi said.
“The only way anyone can develop sports is through the kind of persons that are there, not through government. I think the decision to cancel concessioning in sports is not in the interest of development.”
Ajayi admitted that there were some issues to sort out in terms of structure of the board but he insisted that the progress made so far by the body was glaring.
“Even though the concessioning was awarded to Racing Rugby Club, I think there must be a democratic structure among the clubs in administering the sport. We’re already taking steps to having an elected board. This should not include the state associations, as it is in other sports; I don’t think that is good for rugby. Involving the state associations is like going back to the structure that didn’t work before the concessioning,” he added.
The NRFF boss said despite efforts to bring everyone on board in managing the sport through a democratic structure, some people who benefited from the old dispensation still do not want the concessioning to continue. This Ajayi said, will ruin everything the board has achieved so far.
“It makes no sense if anyone says concessioning has not helped sports. Rugby is a testimony of the success of concessioning.”
Ajayi said rugby was not likely to get the required attention if the government took charge of the sport.
He warned that since government didn’t not have the budget to drive all the sports, rugby would suffer if government took over the sport since it was not very popular in the country.
“But there are several private organisations interested in putting money into some sports because of the individuals running them. The private sector won’t put the money where only the government controls the activities in the sports,” Ajayi said.
Among the achievements of the NRFF listed by Ajayi was the youth development initiative in which 32 schools in Lagos State play in the Cowbell i-Try Programme. This programme, which began in 2010 as a pilot scheme for youth development, now has over 3,000 pupils playing rugby in the state.
Ajayi said the success of the programme in the past three years has encouraged Promasidor to commit to expanding the programme to Kano State.
“Another strategic aim of the new NRFF board was to raise the visibility and the awareness of rugby. In order for rugby to be visible and for the coaching, playing and refereeing standards to improve, regular annual fixtures and competitions had to be created,” Ajayi said.
“Such competitions as the Lagos 7s, Northern 7s, Kwara 7s and the Lilieker 7s are platforms that succeeded in growing the visibility and standard of the sport,” he added.
Nigeria’s participation in the IRB/Confederation of African Rugby African Cup 15s competition in 2010 confirmed their position in Division 1C in Africa. In the 7s version of the game, Nigeria narrowly missed out in participating in the 2013 IRB 7s World Cup after losing to Kenya with a point margin. The result, however, added to their credit as they moved up to fifth in one of the divisions in the African ranking.
The NRFF board also prided itself as having facilitated the IRB certification of six coaches to Level 2.
Ajayi said, “We’re ranked fifth behind South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Tunisia. Since Tunisia are not members of the Commonwealth, that leaves Nigeria as the fourth team in Africa. There are seven slots left in the 16-team format for the Games and we’re hopeful of getting a slot.
“We’ve managed to set up the Nigeria Exiles, a team that represent Nigeria on the international stage. The team is a blend of UK-based players and the home-based ones. The success of the team at the international level has made the International Rugby Board to consider using Lagos as a leg in the IRB 7s Tour. We were just about to sign that contract before we got the news that the government was considering rescinding concessioning. The estimated budget for the event is about N300m and we’re in the process of getting support for the project.”
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