Why have we sacrificed our selfless patriotism in sports?

The money-loving saga is growing into a calamity! Is it true that the Chinese are offering some fantastic and unbelievable amounts of money to woo some top footballers into their system? And is it not going to affect sports generally in the days ahead?

Very soon, are Africans not going to throw selfless patriotism in sports to the dogs?

Even today, we may be tempted to ask: “where is that selfless patriotism in sports?” This question may sound naïve in the ears of many people who might see nothing free on the ground now and argue that today everything has turned professional and a source of income and big wealth. Talents are supposed to be properly exploited for the good of the holder.

Following the influence of pecuniary demands, all over the world, sports has moved from ordinary enthusiasm and love to exercise one’s talent. Sports is now business and that the love to do everything to entertain the world free of charge, as it used to be, is becoming a thing of the past.

People justify the changing trend with the corresponding exchange and the demands of other professions as it involves the help of coaches, psychologists and doctors to keep the actors going.

In other words, we are moving from the “Florence Nightingale” era to the professional realm and that there will always be the need to keep soul and body together and it is getting more expensive these days.

We used to forget about that in the recent past, but now it is growing to another level. Is it any wonder that in the midst of the recent yuletide, instead of the usual get-together with  their families young women who play for the national senior team, the Black Queens, had to organise themselves to demonstrate against the Ministry against Youth and Sports to demand their due for qualifiers and tournaments during some of which they won bronze medals in the recent African Women’s Championships held in Cameroun.

Under normal circumstances it would have been a matter of mutual understanding  which would be handled behind the desk of a lady accountant in the Ministries without bringing it into the public domain. After all, the total amount for each player was around $25,000, and to be brutally frank, it was a shame that the young women should be treated that way.

Their message was straight that their male counterparts were not treated that way despite the fact that they received something higher, and they had never been in arrears. Indeed, our European women who watched such scenes on the internet may wonder what is happening to Africa.

Within that period, we saw to our surprise the Nigerian women team, the Super Falcons, demonstrating in Abuja, the administrative capital, after which their demands were honoured.  The Falcons were demanding $23, 000 each from the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) for winning the 2016 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.

According to reports, the Super Falcons had been in the hotel in the capital since December 6, on their return from Cameroun, and started vacating the hotel on receiving their hard-earned monies. Their victory in Cameroun was their eighth African women title, meaning that they had only twice failed to win the African championship since its inception in 1998, and in each case they had no difficulty receiving their compensation.

In the case of Nigeria, some big amount was voted to enable the NFF to settle all outstanding winning bonuses of the men’s team, the Super Eagles in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.

Yes, you can see that the whole sports structure is growing from patriotism to heavy monetary demands but believe me, the enthusiasm of wearing the national colours in the days past suppressed all monetary considerations.

We need to look at the difference between those days and today’s phenomenon. Elsewhere in Europe, the patriotism and enthusiasm in representing one’s nation are still greater in character, and for that certain players who earn bigger monies in their clubs donate their compensations to the poor and needy in society.

The honourable handshake by the national leaders means a lot to them. Maybe the comparison will be too wide, considering the economic advancement of those nations, but we must accept that we are running into common danger if patriotism is sacrificed for monetary demands. It must always be greater to dream big at being selected for national assignments!

Interestingly, the way the trend was going was a subject of scrutiny at the Justice Senyo Dzamefe Commission which investigated the Black Stars and the Brazil World Cup in 2014 and came out with some important recommendations.

Really, what prompted the inquiry was the way some players were reported to have misconducted themselves in their demand for “appearance fees” and the way President Mahama was forced to put an “urgent tag” as well as the national uneasiness at the level of indiscipline at the camp of the Stars.

To a lot of sports fans, such demands are putting them off the pitches, and from the Brazil debacle, people have suddenly lost interest in the national team to the extent that the players themselves are pleading for support at subsequent matches.

It is assumed that the players are advising themselves from their unusual demands and are gradually advising themselves to return to their days of patriotism.