Okay so I am not really a (Tottenham) Spurs' fan, though I've always had
a lot of affinity for them since I was a fresh faced kid. This was mainly
because of the brilliant ball playing skills of Glenn Hoddle, his fantastic
long passes with either foot...and Gazza would reinforce my affection for the
side a bit later on. Nowadays it is pleasing to see young Dele Alli - still
considered by countless millions of Nigerians here to be a fellow Nigerian -
strutting his stuff for Spurs. This type of book I have always liked too, perhaps
my favourite being Bobby Robson's diary (book) on the 1986 World Cup finals. It
makes me sour though - more than usual - to realise that such books are thin on
the ground, or rather non-existent in Black Africa, so to speak. Take a great
football figure like Stephen Keshi for example, you go to goodreads hoping to
find some books published on his life and work, but zilch. On the other hand,
there are countless books on Beckham for one! And he is not alone; apparently
in the western world every kid in sport has book(s) published on them. Maybe
even young Rashford has his own biography out now? (Oh, I have inadvertently
revealed the club I have supported for decades!!) Anyway it is a travesty not to
have published books on the likes of African football luminaries like Keshi or
Chief Onigbinde... thank God for the great Segun Odegbami, though who has
always had literary proclivities. There I go again, always garnering the
biscuit for being long-winded. Back to this work, and the current Spurs coach,
who always comes across as a nice, amiable, congenial man. This book (diary)
serves to confirm this. No doubt he has some sort of magic touch with
youngsters, making them grow by leaps and bounds; Kane and Alli for example. He
generally has good relations with his players, who essentially blossom tremendously under his tutelgae -
again, like that young man who plays for Denmark already stated to be world
class. I do not want to be unseemly or whatever the word is, but I am compelled
to say that really, Mauricio Pochettino must win a trophy or two soon...nobody
wants the tag of "nearly man" eh. But a fascinating individual...and
brave new work?
-
O
Bolaji
No doubt we should expect even greater things from Mr Pochettino
ReplyDeleteNo doubt we should expect even greater things from Mr Pochettino
ReplyDeleteSometimes one forgets that Mr Bolaji is a long-standing follower of a sport like football, as is clear from this piece; he basks in both local, African and international football. Although his approach here is more light-hearted than usual, he has raised a very important issue. Why the paucity of published works of outstanding African sportsmen?
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteAnd not only African sportsmen. It seems books can only be written on major African leaders or statesmen. We need assorted books on our actors too;actresses, and many more
I can not pretend to be a lover of football, though it is a very vital part of society, and so many of our men’s lives are (absurdly?) woven into following the game. But I can see the point here. In Nigeria for example there are countless role models and stars that deserve books to be written on them. One example is May Ellen Ezekiel, a fantastic female achiever who left this world prematurely over two decades ago. One would have thought that with the very large number of journalists and writers who were her friends and associates, at least 3, 4, 5 fine books would have been written about her life and achievements. But is there any book on her? I checked on the internet, and on goodreads, and saw nothing. Shame, shame. Thankfully, the lady herself did write and publish some books of her own, eg Wind Songs
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