APFON's life after soccer plans for youths,oldies

There seems to be light at the end of the tunnel afterall for Nigerian professional football players, when their active days race to a halt at the dusk of their career.

This is of course, if the scheme for their life after football being presently drafted on the drawing board of the new-on-the-scene Association of Professional Footballers of Nigeria (APFON), is followed to the letter as unveiled to nigeriaspots.com, by the body in our office in Lagos in an exclusive chat.

It is the belief of the body that, registration of professional footballers in the country and abroad, is not the issue; rather, the organization, programming, orientation, hope, aspirations and the sense of belonging, amongst others, should be "and it is the hallmark of the new body, which is Presided over by Bolton Wanderers' and Super Eagles captain, Austin Jay Jay Okocha.

Unveiling this to us recently in our office, the Executive Secretary of the Association, Mr. Austin Popo, who is an ex-international, disclosed: "Bringing back ex-internationals and footballers into one fold, takes a lot of consultation, a lot of thinking and a lot of convincing.

"We have to let the players understand that, we are in the days of not just playing the game, but in the days of showing some responsiblilities beyond the pitch. There is the need for us to actually claim the game's enviroment and also realize that, we have to maximise our influence in terms of the decision-making process of the game.

"That has been our bane. If you look at the majority of our players, who are retired, you'll see that there are only a few of them, who are outside coaching. You and I know that, were involved in coaching in terms of controll, we have a limited power.

"That is why we are now trying to encourage our players; so to speak. They need to actually look beyond the issue of coaching, because whether you like it or not, as players, there is life after the game.

"As I am talking with you, apart from my playing days, which ran into about 15 years and for another 15 years, I have been involved in looking into ways of developing the game, because I have discovered that I can't do anything outside the game.

"We have also come to realize that, if we are talking of owning the game, it is not about criticizing the FA. It is about us doing something concrete, so that, people can take us serious. For example, we will be educating our players in terms of enpowerment, especially those who are fortunate to be playing international football.

"We also want to impress on them that, there is need to begin to invest in the industry. For example, if an Okocha now invests in a TV station, a Radio station, in a Football club, some of our ex-players could be drafted into such areas, get them developed, get them educated and create job opportunities for them.

" This idea of coaching, coaching, coaching...where are the clubs?" wondered Popo, who starred for the defunct New Nigerian Bank of Benin City.

He told us that the Association, which has Super Eagles Assistant coach, Dan 'The Bull' Amokachi as one of the vice-presidents, is also planning to firmly involve the grassroots in their schemes, pointing out that footballers should not only be remembered when their limbs are worn, tired and can no longer carry them along; even outside the pitch.

He underscored this scheme by announcing that: "The youths must be taken good care of; for they are the players of tomorrow, in whose boots lie the future of the game in the country. They are the foundation of professional football. Professional football is being played by just a few people at the top.

"The real place where you have millions of players, is the grassroots. But unfortunately, we have also discovered that quacks have taken over the grassroots and this is why we have making it one of our priorities.

"That is why, when people begin to say that, Nigeria has a lot of talents; agreed, there are talents here, but where are the quality players? We don't have quality players and this is so, because we don't have professionals at the grassroots to develop that segment or cadre of footballers,"he asserted.

Popo who told us that, he had to dump the National Association of Nigerian Footballers (NANF) following the sudden change in its initial objectives, emphasized the need to cater for the grassroots and de-emphasized confrontations with the FA; "rather, we have to make our presence felt through our noble contributions to the game."

He stressed that it is the intention of APFON to work positively with everybody and all bodies that are into the positive growth and development of the game in the country. "There is no way one can talk about the development of the game in isolation; without harmonizing your programmes and tagging along favourably with other developmental arms or agencies."