An unusual traffic gridlock that extended to the popular CMS bus stop Lagos and it’s environs wasn’t as a result of any heavy downpour or social procession by residents on the day.
The slow snail vehicular movement, after a careful observation, emanated from around the area where the Mobolaji Johnson Arena, formerly known as Onikan stadium, is situated on Lagos Island.
Another music show by one of Nigeria’s popular acts?
No.
Rather, massive football support has made its way back to the consciousness of Lagosians who have been denied beautiful brand of the game at club level ever since the likes of defunct sides – ACB, Stationery Stores and Julius Berger – enchanted lovers of soccer with their styles of play.
On getting closer to the arena one is greeted by some loud chants from football fans who had thronged the stadium to watch the much publicised final of the inaugural edition of Naija Super 8, a post season club football competition.
Majority of the fans at the venue undoubtedly came to cheer the latest darling club of the state – Sporting Lagos who beat Remo Stars in the final to win the competition on 16 July 2023.
Sporting’s meteoric rise within a short period of creation – becoming the 1st team to win promotion from the 2nd tier, emerging champions of the Naija Super 8 and a vibrant presence on social networks – has endeared them to the starving fans of the game in the state.
Above all, their playing philosophy on matchdays makes supporting them irresistible.
The man behind this easy on the eye brand of football is non other than the youthful manager Paul Offor:
“The most important thing for us is that we want to be able to play with short short passes.
“We want to be able to move the opponents around and create space, create a free man, we use the third man concept.
“That’s the most important thing for us, that in those short short passes, we are able to find a free man, and when we find a free man, we are able to attack the space behind the opposition’s defence,” said Offor.
Instead of short passes, Sporting showed another side of their game in the Naija 8 finale – dead ball expertise.
A well floated free kick ball to the far side, towards the byline, was expertly nodded down into the punching hands of Remo’s goalie Kayode Bankole who eventually failed to stop the goal bound follow up that sent Sporting 1nil up.
Sporting’s supporters cheered ceaselessly and maniacally, turning the arena into a cacophony of jubilant chaos.
The true values the supporters bring to the team are never lost on Sporting manager Offor:
“Every time we come to the stadium and the stadium is so loud, we are so happy.
“We know they are always going to be the 12th man for us on the field, they push us so hard, even in difficult times.
“I remember when we lost against Crown FC in our 2nd league game(in NNL) the fans never stopped shouting, they never stopped pushing us, it was like a meeting, like we’ve reached an agreement within us that no matter what, no matter the challenge we face on the field, we’re always going to fight for them because of the type of support they give to us.”
The frenzied and carnival like atmosphere provided by Sporting’s supporters on matchdays cannot be said to be the sole inspiration behind the team’s upward trajectory in Nigeria club football setting.
On the other hand, the unmistakable adminstrative savvy of club chairman and veteran sportscaster Godwin Enakhena can never go unnoticed.
Enakhena spearheaded another defunct Lagos based club MFM International’s sojourn in the CAF Champions League after an organic rise from the second tier to the top-flight.
Sporting are now reaping from the experience of Enakhena who explains how they went about setting up the club’s technical team:
“The only constant is change and we were not afraid to do this.
“After a very poor first season, we had to let go of our coach, Uche Okagbue.
“In fact this was done with about 5 games to the end of the season. He was replaced by Sanjo Olutayo who was based in Finland but he didn’t start the season with us, because we felt he was a better youth coach.
“Then came Ortega Deniran, who was then a coach with Enyimba of Aba, for some reasons the deal wasn’t done. And in came Paul Offor, he was coaching in Benin Republic.
“That was not all, we went for some experienced quality players. And here we are.”
After the magnificent scenery at Mobolaji Johnson Arena where Sporting lifted the off season club competition, followers of the team could be yearning for a sustained stay of the side in the top-flight .
And Enakhena is already thinking in the direction of keeping the team afloat:
“Well, first and foremost we are here to ensure we don’t go down to the NNL, we want to stay in the Nigeria Premier League. That will be the first aspiration of Sporting Lagos. We want to stay in the top-flight.
“We will fight, we want to prove a point that we didn’t just get here by mistake. We want to prove a point that we are a force to reckon with.”
If there is anybody who should have learnt a lesson or two from leading a team to the very pinnacle of Nigeria and Africa club competitions and watching it collapse into oblivion, it has to be Enakhena especially after his spell at MFM FC.
According to coach Offor things have to be done differently for Sporting Lagos to keep top-flight status:
“We have been lucky, seriously, because we made a lot of mistakes ordinarily we shouldn’t make in the top-flight especially in our build up.
“That’s also part of the things we keep working on because if we go into the season with such mistakes we are going to get punished, we can’t get lucky all the time.”
Offor could be cautious about Sporting’s approach to their impending top-flight campaign in Nigeria but the chairman of the club has got huge and loft aspirations for the team.
Enakhena believes nothing stops Sporting from replicating what his former team MFM International attained when they bursted onto the scene:
“We just want to do our thing, we just want to start from where others stopped. That’s basically what it is, stay in the premier League.
“And you know like they say we are human beings and sometimes we are like Oliver Twist; we wanted the premier League and we have it.
“Who says we cannot play in the premier League and represent Nigeria in the CAF champions League or CAF Confederations Cup.
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