What Nigeria must do about grassroots football (part 1) – Godwin Dudu-Orumen

Nigeria must do something now about grassroots football or kiss global honours in the game goodbye

More than ever before an interventionist regime in football is needed at grassroots level for the even and rewarding development of the game in this country.

Today I begin a two-part series on football at grassroots level. Russia 2018 saw thousands of companies and organisations falling over themselves and shunting for space in the media to promote goods and services all of them without a care for football platforms that produce the players and stars they promote their business with. There has to be a CHANGE in attitude and approach and that change is what I call for here. Please read…………

What does Grassroots mean?

Grassroots Football means bringing together children and giving them access to football in their own environment whatever their age, gender, physical condition, skin colour, religion or ethnic origin. Grassroots Football also promotes socializing, sharing human values and promotes the pleasure of practicing the marvellous sport of football.

What is Grassroots Football?

Football is a hereditary game for it moves from generation to generation. Apart from professional football, grassroots football is a game that seeks to develop football from the local level. Grassroots football players are mostly amateurs as they play for the love of the game. The backbone of the game stands through the support of local football fans, volunteers, parents of players, sponsors and the players themselves.

What is a grassroots approach?

A ground level approach to building up an advocacy campaign is referred to as grassroots. As the name suggests, a grassroots approach starts at the roots of the problem and develops to involve all applicable parties.

Grassroots football is football for all

FIFA’s grassroots football programme targets boys and girls aged 6-12 years through school, community and club initiatives.

The key concept of the programme is to bring together as many people as possible through football. The grassroots programme advocates exchanges and sharing human values and, of course, promotes the pleasure of practicing our marvellous sport.

For some people, grassroots football is a focus for recreational activities, while for others it is the organized practice of the sport, with training and matches, within a school or club framework.

Of course, not all young players will become the stars of the future and they do not all have the skills required to become professional players. So intensive training sessions and complicated tactics are not appropriate.

Hierarchy of Grassroots football

With the popularity of the sport increasing, it was time for football governing bodies to realize the importance that it plays in both the national and international football stage. Therefore, it came in, introduced a number of rules to help make it sane and enjoyable to the watching eyes. The organization of grassroots football takes a format that is not common to professional football. Age groups in the sport are a must observe, and the formation of the teams depends on the age of its players. For example, there are grassroots teams that comprise of children between the ages of six and eight, nine and ten years and those that compose of players aged between eleven and twelve.