Worried with the state of professional tennis and golf in Nigeria, foremost tennis authority and former official of the Association of Tennis Professionals Tour, Chief Ben Ezeibe is considering instituting legal actions against the Nigeria Tennis Federation, Nigeria Professional Golf Association and sponsors, writes JOHN EGBOKHAN.

Ezeibe

The tone of his voice and smirk on his face gave him out as a man with an axe to grind. One quick glance to his left and he sputtered out, “why can’t we follow the path that others are taking, so that our youths can live like superstars? Why are we so backward, naïve and retrogressive in the simple business of running professional sports like tennis and golf, which are the two biggest earning sports out there in the global market? I am getting increasingly irritated with the circle of backwardness that our players are suffering and may resort to going to court to checkmate some of these tournaments because they are adding no value to the careers of these players”, Chief Ben Ezeibe began, during an interview with Saturday Vanguard Sports

He was speaking against the backdrop of the leaps and heights being recorded by South African number one player, Kelvin Anderson, who once featured in the Lagos Governor’s Cup Futures 1 and 11 some years back and is now in the world’s top 10 single ranking.

Anderson is not the only South African star in the world top 100 as other Africans from Zimbabwe, South Africa and Algeria are also within that bracket, while their contemporaries from Nigeria, Abdulmumuni Babalola, Shehu Lawal, Candy Idoko, Henry Atsaye, Clifford Enosoregbe and Thomas Otu are nowhere near the world top 1000.

For a country which once had three players in the world top 200, Chief Ezeibe said: “this is totally unacceptable.”

Seething with rage as he spoke this scorching Tuesday afternoon in his Lagos office, the former official of the Association of Tennis Professionals Tour, said it was pitiful that a country which was once the Mecca of tennis in Africa is now a breeding ground for mediocre players, with little or no money and fame, which the likes of Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Roger Federer, Anderson and Wilfred Tsonga have in overflow.

Chief Ezeibe pointedly accused managers and promoters of the two sports of showing a low knowledge of the ways to market the game or implicitly incompetent in running the sport.

WHY I AM ANGRY
“I am not pleased with the way and manner the tennis federation and the golf association are managing the two sports. If you look at the performance of our players in both sports, it is clear that there is no roadmap for our players, who are nowhere the world top 1500.

“It is a big shame that none of our tennis players or golf players in the Professional Gold Association or Ladies Golf Association are in the top 1000 in the world. I am concerned. Those organising tennis and golf tournaments should hide their faces in shame because they have not produced one tennis or golf player in the world top 1500.

“All they are doing is churning out half baked players who have no ranking and can’t compete with their peers from other climes. For a country that once produced Tony Mmoh, Nduka Odizor and Sadik Abdulahi, what we are having now as tournaments are totally unacceptable.

“In those years of yore where our tennis was at the peak in Africa, most of the tournaments we had in Nigeria were ATP and WTA ranking events. That was how we were able to impact on the careers of the players. We were not thinking of ourselves, rather, the focus was on making sure that the players got the ranking points they needed to climb the world ranking.

“And it worked perfectly because Nigeria was the centre of tennis attraction in Africa. There was no quarter that we did not have at least one ATP tournament in Nigeria. That was the secret to the success of our players. But today, the reverse is the case. All the tournaments around are national in nature, adding little or no value to the players progress. No matter the high number of national tournaments in Nigeria, our players will remain poor and irrelevant in the global picture”, added Chief Ezeibe.

PLAYERS MISS OUT ON BILLIONS OF DOLLARS
At a time that the month earnings of a tennis or golf player in the world top 100 is running into hundreds of millions annually, Chief Ezeibe said that it was sickening to know that Nigerian players in the two sports don’t have up to a million naira in the account.

He said that this should not be the case because of the way both sports have been structured to generate mega bucks for the players, who unlike footballers and FIFA, control their respective sports through the ATP, WTA tours and PGA and LPGA tours.

“I see no reason the Central Bank of Nigeria should be putting their money into local tennis, instead of going global for the growth of our players. They are not spending tax payers money appropriately. Even in golf, all they do is to gather and drink beer at the club, under the guise of sponsoring amateur golf tournaments.

“We have passed that level of club play, we need to develop our youngsters and bring honour to the country. Our tennis and golf players are not part of the scheme of things at the global level. And that is actually why I feel bad because we know that there is a lot of money in these two sports, billions of dollars are being shared yearly by these players. And look at the honour that these players bring to their countries.

“South Africa as an example, has Kevin Anderson, who is ranked in the top in world tennis and Ernie Els, at one time, was in the world top five in golf. Anderson is not even up to Els in terms of achievements and financial might. He is highly respected, at a time ranked world number two by the PGA Tour. I don’t understand what is happening in the country. Our players are not hungry enough and our sports managers and promoters are not channelling the funds in the right direction’’, added a fuming Chief Ezeibe.

SPEND TAX PAYERS MONEY WISELY
In a passionate appeal to corporate sponsors, Chief Ezeibe said tennis funding would amount to wastefulness and nothing if not channelled in the right direction. While commending firms like the Nigeria Communications Commission and Central Bank of Nigeria for sponsoring the NCC Cup and Central Bank Open, Chief Ezeibe urged the two two firms and other corporate sponsors to broaden the landscape by financing players to tour.

“It is good that they are identifying and catching them young but they must go a step further by nurturing them and taking them to international events if they cannot sponsor an ATP-sanctioned event in the country.. It is only when they do this that these players can bring honour to the country.

“What is the essence of using tax-payers money to sponsor local tournaments for club players, with no international value. That is why our players are begging administrators. The reverse is supposed to the case if things are done accordingly. Sometimes I ask questions that are we so naïve that we don’t know where to invest in than on a player, who after playing, cools off with a bottle of beer. Where is the honour? It’s a big shame that we are where we are today’’, he retorted.

PREPARE FOR LEGAL ACTION
“If they continue using tax-payers money to fund tournaments that don’t add any professional value to these players, I may consider approaching the court of law to stop them from organising such events, because I cannot understand why you will spend about N20m on tennis or golf tournaments and the players don’t get international points and no honour is brought to this country and someone like me will allow such a thing to stand.

“It is not fair. It is wicked, when you look at what Anderson and Els are earning on weekly basis and the honour they bring to South Africans. We want them to emulate what footballers are doing. Our footballers are coming with serious foreign exchange into this country. I want CBN and NCC to sponsor our tennis and golf players to tournaments where they will get international acclaim.

“They should help these players to earn a living from playing professional tennis and golf. Imagine the huge amount of money being shared weekly by tennis players and nobody in our country is partaking in it. It is sad. It is unfortunate. This must stop now,’’ said Ezeibe.