Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, has asserted that the secondary school football teams of the 1970s would triumph over the present-day Nigerian national football squad.
The Super Eagles have won four of their nine games under new manager Jose Peseiro, scoring 18 goals and conceding 15.
Speaking in an interview, Onyema said games in secondary school during his days used to be very tough. He recalled when one of his teammates was sadly murdered in Delta state as a result of a match.
He said; “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.
“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.
“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”.
The businessman 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,” Onyema said.
