EUROPEAN FOOTBALL FANATICISM: THE FOOLISHNESS OF NIGERIAN YOUTHS. Series 2 On June 26th 2014, the Punch newspaper heart-rendingly reported that two diedhard Real Madrid fans died hard during the Champions League final between Athletico Madrid and Real Madrid on 21 June. The Punch puts it thus: two middle-aged men, who were said to be die- hard supporters of Real Madrid Football Club, on Saturday slumped and died during the Champions Leagues Final between Real Madrid and Athletico Madrid when the former team failed to equalise the one goal at 90 minutes of the game. These recent incidences, and countless others (documented and undocumented) that had happened in the past, have, indeed, exposed the depth of European football fanaticism among Nigerian youths. It has shown that there are still a vast crop of Nigerian youths with slavery mentality - the mentality to always romance anything foreign, to always fall for anything white. Apart from the disturbing fact that European football fanaticism is slowly claiming the lives of Nigerian youths, a number of marriages and countless intimate relationships have suddenly collapsed because the man is an European football fanatic. In these kind of relationships, the husband channels all his love, all his passion, all his energy, all his enthusiasm, which are the exclusive reserve of his wife, to the patronage of his favourite European club and matches. And since the man has nothing else but his neglected wife to grab in the middle of a cold night, the relationship slowly collapses like a burning candle. Increasing number of Nigerian youths are failing UTME every year, surveys have revealed. While one may be forced to assume that the exams are getting difficult every year, these is not the case. The case, arguably, is that the distractions of the 21st century, which includes European football fanaticism, are overwhelming. Today, some candidates, usually between 17-24 years, consume over 16 hours a week catching the thrills of European football. The result is that these candidates have less reading time, which is partly responsible for mass failure in the UTME. My personal observation has also revealed that European football fanaticism is breeding an army of irresponsible youths. These youths have general characteristics: they are chronic gamblers; they are academically vacuous: they are cantankerous; they hate Nigeria passionately because they have become Eurocentric; the only newspaper they buy and manage to read is Complete Sport, and the only website they visit is Sports website. These kind of youths have become good-for-nothing, useless. They cannot be given a chance to play in the community team because they have chicken legs; they cannot be invited to analyse European football on the TV or Radio because they can hardly speak good English or argue intelligently; they are unemployable, because they may stab customers who are fans of rival clubs; they cannot join the military or police because they are unpatriotic; they cannot serve God because they cannot afford to miss a match that coincide with weekly or Sunday service. To be continued...
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 11:09:39 +0000
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