Let us bounce back from the disaster of the Tokyo Olympics and try and console ourselves by building a vibrant sports industry economy

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Nothing cures boredom like the beautiful game called football with its creativity. Football was actually the only thing the Taliban could not ban in Afghanistan. I do not know of one thing that unites humanity like football. Nigeria needs to cash in on it

[2] What has also been very refreshing is the way football clubs have embraced the Black Lives Matter campaign. For starters, one thing we need to see in Europe is diversity in the management of football. At the moment, there are too few black coaches, directors and administrators across the European game

[3] Just take the English Premier League for instance, how many black coaches and directors are there? Is anyone really going to tell me there are no qualified black coaches with UEFA badges out there?

[4] When I look at a club like Arsenal that enjoys unprecedented support among the black community I ask myself how can they get away with having no black directors on their board?

[5] Back to the issue of football tops, clubs have supply deals with the likes of Adidas, Nike, Umbro, Puma, Reebok, etc. They in turn source their tops in the Far East from countries like Pakistan, Cambodia, Burma, Bangladesh, Vietnam, etc

[6] It should embarrass the African continent that football tops with the inscription Black Lives Matter are being sourced from Asia. For starters, the Asians are not even interested in football

[7] Can someone please explain to me why no Nigerian Enterprueners have deemed it necessary to float the Black Lives Matter Clothing Company. It should apply for a patent to produce all kinds of Black Lives Matter memorabilia

[8] Just ask yourselves how many jobs would be created in Nigeria, how much revenue raised and how much foreign exchanged earned if we were producing Black Lives Matter shirts, shorts, facemasks, towels, curtains, bedsheets, blankets, key rings, etc. We should be the main origin that supplies all the major sports firms

[9] When you are the world’s largest black nation, it brings with it several responsibilities. As a people, we are simply not alive to that fact so never know how to respond to situations like this. Ask yourselves if China, India and Japan would ever allow European, American or African companies to produce Asian Lives Matter memorabilia. They would rather die than do that

[10] How much of the Olympic memorabilia did we produce in Nigeria. We should be embarrassed about the fact Nigeria not only has zero medals but also produced nothing for the games. Did our textile industry make $1 from the Tokyo Olympics