Boxing coach says football is killing other sports
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- Written by David Ngobua
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Apparently piqued by the attention which football has continued to enjoy in Nigeria and the rest of the world, Head coach of boxing in the FCT and former national coach, Instructor John Martins has said other sports have been left to die in penury because everything seems to be revolving round the game of football.
Speaking in a chat with Trustsports, the veteran coach lamented that what is left of other sports will soon disappear into thin air because nobody seems to be interested in what is happening to sports like boxing as the whole attention is on football.
He stated that in other sports what one keeps hearing about is those mushroom competitions because the desired attention is not paid to them thereby making it practically impossible for anything serious to be done to bring about the necessary development. The coach said “government must come in to support other sports. This idea of football football, football U-12, football U-16, football U-18, football U-20 is killing other sports. What about other sports? Once you mention football, everybody is out. It should not be so”.
He maintained that it is wrong for Nigeria to carry all her eggs in one basket because tomorrow, the most cherished sport may not be able to justify the huge attention being given to it.
According to him, wise countries give equal attention to other sports and in the end, there is result to show for such wisdom because even when one sport fails to deliver laurels, others make up the short fall.
“It is not good for us to put all our eggs in one basket. If you go to the Olympics, you see Cuba winning and you think it is only boxing? No, they are into so many other sports. Their football too is growing at a fast pace and soon their presence in the sport will be felt. But here in Niger, everything is football” he said
He observed that too much attention which is being paid to football is proving to be its major undoing because everybody wants to go to where it is happening and most of such hustlers know next to nothing about the sport.
Martins therefore called on government to shift attention to other sports which are erroneously called lesser sports because such sports also need adequate funding to be able to discover and harness the talents that abound in the country.
Articles
Boxing coach says football is killing other sports
Category: Sports Written by David Ngobua Hits: 674
Apparently piqued by the attention which football has continued to enjoy in Nigeria and the rest of the world, Head coach of boxing in the FCT and former national coach, Instructor John Martins has said other sports have been left to die in penury because everything seems to be revolving round the game of football.
Speaking in a chat with Trustsports, the veteran coach lamented that what is left of other sports will soon disappear into thin air because nobody seems to be interested in what is happening to sports like boxing as the whole attention is on football.
He stated that in other sports what one keeps hearing about is those mushroom competitions because the desired attention is not paid to them thereby making it practically impossible for anything serious to be done to bring about the necessary development. The coach said “government must come in to support other sports. This idea of football football, football U-12, football U-16, football U-18, football U-20 is killing other sports. What about other sports? Once you mention football, everybody is out. It should not be so”.
He maintained that it is wrong for Nigeria to carry all her eggs in one basket because tomorrow, the most cherished sport may not be able to justify the huge attention being given to it.
According to him, wise countries give equal attention to other sports and in the end, there is result to show for such wisdom because even when one sport fails to deliver laurels, others make up the short fall.
“It is not good for us to put all our eggs in one basket. If you go to the Olympics, you see Cuba winning and you think it is only boxing? No, they are into so many other sports. Their football too is growing at a fast pace and soon their presence in the sport will be felt. But here in Niger, everything is football” he said
He observed that too much attention which is being paid to football is proving to be its major undoing because everybody wants to go to where it is happening and most of such hustlers know next to nothing about the sport.
Martins therefore called on government to shift attention to other sports which are erroneously called lesser sports because such sports also need adequate funding to be able to discover and harness the talents that abound in the country.