ROAD TO PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL

        Football as a game all over the world is regarded as passion. It unites people of different backgrounds, races, religion and nations. According to Joseph Blatter, no other sport has undergone such a dynamic evolution in the past as the game of football.

Football used to be an elitist pastime in some countries like England, just over hundred years ago but have now developed into the most well -known, most wildly played and most enthralling game in the history of mankind. All over the world where a patch of free space can be found, it is used to play football.

Today, football is no longer merely a game but an undertaking with many facets making demands not only on active players but on the coaches, administrators, referees and sports doctors as well. In discussing this topic, we have to look at various issues, characters and factors that are central to the successful attainment of professionalism in football

Grassroots are the key to professional game. Talents at the grassroots level are target to get the most out of professionalism. According to Jassem Al Sayed, managing director of Stallion Goal Football Management, Football Associations needed to bring in experts to create a proper coaching set-up from Schools upward. The authorities need to start at the school level, train young stars in a professional manner and then concentrate on the youth development.

Technical Advisors have to be engaged to plan, analyze and structure the football schools and academies all over Nigeria. “Grassroots may be at the bottom of the football pyramid, but without the foundation, the elite side of the game cannot survive” said website editor Peter Sanderson.

I hope most footballers young and old will be inspired to go to the playing field, develop their talent, get fit and most importantly enjoy playing the game. Too many young star players disappear from the game at the age of 14 due to inadequate preparation to face the challenges of professionalism.

ROAD TO PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL:

Football has a universal language. Its structure, approach to development, dimensions of the playing field, interpretation of the rules of the game, systems/formations, pattern/style of play are the same everywhere in the world. So the road to professionalism follows the same pattern or approach if you like. It starts from the pre-school age till one attains full professionalism. Its development will therefore be based on different stages and different requirements in relation to biological age.

DIFFERENT TRAINING REQUIREMENTS IN RELATION TO BIOLOGICAL AGE

Having presented the different stages of development of any individual, we can now discuss the road to professionalism along these lines.

From Age 1 or infancy to age of 6, the child is easily attracted to the round object called football. This period is called the pre-school age or age of discovery and lively activities are performed at this time. Psychomotor development occurs at this time using obstacles. They engage in games with or without balls, rhythmic exercises as well as combined games. They equally learn specific movements related to various exercises. Parents at this period are the first contact the child has and so should allow them the freedom to participate and enjoy them-selves but must monitor them properly to avoid serious injury.  Parents and house-helps usually take them to the parks, public playing grounds and some modern eateries that have children’s playing sections with toys and obstacles and facilities for recreation. Pupils enrolled into nursery schools by busy working, parents participate in physical activities under the supervision of their teachers.

From age 6 to 10, the child is enrolled into his first school. They are now exposed to freedom of space to discover the game of football. They engage in a lot of open air activities and technical aspects drawn from various sports. They participate in physical conditioning and coordinated exercises with obstacles. They are trained by qualified coaches in reaction –time to activities and how to play the game of football. The coaches at this period have tedious job of teaching them the basics or fundamentals of football. By this we mean the correct techniques of trapping, heading and passing. If at this period the child fails to acquire/learn the correct principles and techniques of executing these skills, it becomes a problem for him when he advances to the next stage of his football profession and subsequently in his football career. That is why at professional club level, most players find it extremely difficult to execute simple basic fundamental skills and techniques of football.

At this stage of the child’s development, his brain is sharp and ready to grasp and retain any skill or technique taught him. In psychology, his brain is like “TABLA-RATA” meaning a clean, clear area/field without stain where any experience he gets in contact with sticks and can hardly be forgotten. These experiences, in this case are the skills and techniques learnt and can be recalled for use when needed. So it is very important that whoever comes in contact with this child at this age of learning must be a qualified coach. If we get it wrong or right at this stage it sticks. This is the period you find some parents’ enrolling their children in football academies and football schools.   

From the age of 10 to 13 years, the training of this child is based on long time interest and in this case it is the game of football. They are trying to take a decision with a view to specialization. They are now beginning to think of taking up a career as a professional footballer. They are influenced by what they see on television, what they observe when watching local or international football matches. They begin to pick their idols and try to emulate or imitate them. They can be influenced by the habits exhibited by the established footballers/idols in a positive or negative manner. They are exposed to general training in motor coordination and techniques of the game of football. A trained coach will now begin to develop their strength, endurance, speed and motor coordination exercises. They are now taught the roles every player should play in the position assigned to him in the field. For a example, the way aright full back should play, the role of the striker, the roles of the central defender, the goalkeeper, etc.  

Being an important period in the development of the child, the trained coach should endeavor to bring in the services of a sports psychologist to assist the child in taking decisions with a view to specialization. Equally, health personnel with bias for nutrition is important at this stage in educating the child on the aspect of hygiene and diets that can improve performance.

Referees are equally engaged to teach them the laws/rules of the game of football. Remember this is a period they imbibe good etiquettes, good discipline and right attitudes for the game and it is very critical and important to the child on his road to professionalism. Whatever he grasps at stage of his development will be carried over to his future engagement or football career. So the Coaches, Administrators, Psychologists, Medical personnel, Referees, and the Media have enormous roles to play in grooming the future professional footballer. The coaches teach them the right techniques; the administrator provides an enabling environment like infrastructure, equipment, facilities and funds. The psychologist ensures that conflicts which arise in the child’s choice of career as a footballer and other psychological challenges are solved. The medical personnel who doubles as a dietitian ensures that his health problems are taken care of, for example knowledge of doping, what drugs to take and avoid, knowledge of a balanced food and sports injuries. The referee handles the rules governing the game of football, dimensions of the field and discipline with regards to the game

From the age of 13 to 15 is the first phase of puberty. The child requires serious support from both the trained coach and a psychologist in his efforts towards personal independence. There is general all round development of basic motor characteristics as it relates to football.

The trained coach with his knowledge of principles of training decides on how to increase his training load to get the best out of the child/player. The player, during this period exhibits sound techniques learnt in his early days while the coach helps to perfect on those techniques.

The press, equally has enormous role to play in providing video guide, clips that offer the young stars the opportunity to learn the skills that help them develop their games with easy-to-follow, step-by-step video guides on everything from how to take the perfect free-kick to saving a penalty as well as covering injuries, nutrition, anti-doping and much more.

The video guide will cover everything the player need to know before stepping on the pitch as professional. The video guide also serves as an inspiration to young players when they see stars like Osaze  Odenwinge, Obafemi Martins, Kanu Nwankwo, Samuel Eto, Didier Drogba etc. They will begin to believe that they too can be UEFA champions league players one day and even if they cannot, they learn how to enjoy the game of football the more. It will definitely inspire millions of grass root players in Nigeria.

From 16 years and above, the footballers start to expand their capacity for physical fitness training and technique of the game. The coaches and trainers must realize this stage of their development so that their potentiality can be harnessed to achieve their professional goal. Now they have the ability to separate their social and educational conflicts. Some can combine their academics with playing football effectively while some can go all the way to play professional football as a career. All these depend on the early experience they acquired from their coaches, sports psychologist and other experts on their road to professionalism. From this stage, depending on his technical ability, can be recruited into an Amateur club, pro-league, or premier league as is obtainable in Nigeria. Some of the very highly technical players could be signed-on by foreign clubs where they can ply their trade.

MODE OF RECRUITMENT:

The players do not just walk into any club. Clubs do have their agents or scouts whose responsibility are to scout for good players by either watching the games or matches played or are recommended by somebody. The player is then invited for trials by the club. If his performance meets their requirement or standard of the club, negotiations then start. If a compromise is reached between the agent, the two clubs in question and probably the player’s personal manager, a contract will be signed. Then an (ITC) International Transfer Certificate will now be applied for and secured from the players home National F.A.  With this done, the player is now qualified to play for his new club. Usually there is a transfer fee or money attached to the deal or negotiation which the club that produced the player is entitled to get. The agent or the scout that spotted the player has his own share in the deal. The percentage of the total sum accruable to all the interested parties is usually discussed and an agreement is reached before disbursement. The State F.A. where the player was recruited equally has its own share of the transfer fee.

ROLE OF SOME INSTITUTIONS ON THE ROAD TO PROFESSIONALISM

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT: The federal and state governments have major roles to play to ensure that the road to professionalism in Nigeria is smooth and easy to attain. They have a civil obligation to provide infrastructure and facilities for public use. This is because they are capital intensive which most private institutions may not be able to provide.  They must provide an enabling environment for sports manufacturing companies to be established to produce sports equipment at very cheap and affordable rate. Every Multi-National company has to be encouraged to sponsor at least one club and a football academy by reducing the annual tax they pay into the coffers of the Government or give them import tax waver.

THE NIGERIA FOOTBALL FEDERATION: They have the responsibility of organizing seminars and clinics for coaches, referees, sports agents, sports administrators, sports doctors etc on the roles towards professionalism. It is the responsibility of the F.A. to organize competitions at the grass roots to fish out talents and appoint well trained coaches without sentiments to teach or groom these budding talents through different age levels to stardom. They have to maintain the infrastructures and facilities provided for sports.

THE CORPORATE WORLD: They provide the sponsorship in terms of funding of many sports programs, sponsor-ship of individual or a team for major games or events. They are equally involved in the provision of infrastructures, facilities and equipments for sports.

CONCLUSION:

The road to professionalism is not an easy task to accomplish and as a topic for seminar presentation, it is a thought-provoking one that could be approached from so many ways. But the most interesting thing is that gives us an insight on the importance of football as a major means of creating employment, exchange of cultural values, tourism, international relations as well as recreation and maintenance of health standards.