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By Peter Akinbo
Air Peace CEO, Allen Onyema, firmly believes that the secondary school football teams of the 1980s would triumph over the present day Super Eagles if they were to meet on the pitch, The PUNCH reports.
The Nigeria senior team has only won four of their nine games under new manager Jose Peseiro, losing the remaining five, with the side scoring 18 goals and conceding 15.
Perhaps, the recent results may have influenced Onyema’s assertion.
“Those days used to be very tough. In fact, secondary school games in those days used to be tough. I remember when I played for Government College, Ughelli, they even killed one of our school boys in Agbarho (Delta State). It used to be tough in those days,” Onyema told The PUNCH.
“Let me tell you, secondary school teams in the 70s will beat our national team of today. The present national team will be nowhere near the secondary school teams of yesteryear. I’m not talking about clubs, those days, secondary school teams were unlike these days,” he said.
The 59-year-old lamented the dearth of sporting facilities in schools.
“Today, secondary schools are now in two-storey buildings, no compound, no playground. Everybody is protective of their child, nobody allows the child to go out again to experience the street life,” Onyema added.
He advocated for the use of football as a means to generate employment opportunities and called on the government to prioritise sports.
“We should use football to create jobs. I call on this government to look into sports, if they can invest in it and make the place safe for people to go and recreate on weekends, we will bring back that followership. It will still happen again,” the entrepreneur said.