Last week, Nigeria’s national women’s football team, the Super Falcons, secured a place in the 10th Africa Women’s Cup of Nations scheduled to take place in Cameroon later this year. Three weeks ago their male counterparts, the Super Eagles, failed to qualify for the African Cup of Nations kicking off in Gabon at the start of 2017. The Falcons are Africa’s reigning champions; the Super Eagles have failed to qualify on two consecutive occasions. Nigerians cannot be too surprised at the disparity of performance between our male and female teams. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter falcons Women in Nigeria, including the country’s sport stars, often face discrimination Anyone who cared to look would have seen it coming. The men’s team sometimes comes across as a reality TV show rather than professionals who have been hired to win honour for their country. There is always some new drama when it comes to keeping up with the Super Eagles. In the past 12 months alone, the men’s football team has had three different coaches.
Each replacement was heralded by incessant bickering between the coach and his players, and with the sport’s national federation. In October, goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama suddenly announced his retirement from the national team a day after he was officially stripped of the captain’s armband by coach Sunday Oliseh. Oliseh himself became the focus of the cameras in February, when a rant he posted on YouTube went viral. Staring straight into the camera, with what appeared to be family photos in the background, he accused some of the team’s critics as “insane” for expecting Nigeria to win every single match, then concluded the almost three-minute tirade with a heartfelt prayer for God to bless the critics with the same apparent ill-will that they wish the Eagles. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter super falcons The Super Eagles draw big crowds in comparison to the Super Falcons Oliseh was soon replaced by the current acting coach, Samson Siasia. In sharp contrast, the Nigeria women’s football team go about their business without much drama. The one time they attracted the kind of embarrassing attention that typically comes to Nigeria from their male counterparts was in June 2015, when their coach, Edwin Okon, apparently refused to shake hands with US coach, Jill Ellis, who approached him with her hand outstretched after Nigeria lost a match to her team. But then, Okon is a man.
The Super Falcons have won the women’s Africa Nations Cup – formerly known as the African Women’s Championship – more than any other country – an impressive nine times. They have also made it to every Women’s World Cup since the Fifa competition began in 1991. But despite the women’s team being a sure-fire powerhouse in Africa, who continue to do their country proud, the Nigerian Football Federation does not seem to think that the women’s team deserves to be treated well. News reports stated that the Falcons were handed a paltry 10,000 naira each after they successfully booked a ticket to the 2016 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations.
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