If you live in Surulere, Lagos, there are two ways to show support to your favourite European football club. Be it Manchester United or Chelsea or Barcelona, you can either walk into any of the ubiquitous viewing centres to show support on typical match days or indulge in the Banny Football League, where local versions of the big clubs in Europe are interlocked in a football tournament that has engendered a growing fan base, with almost an equal passion as the real one.

Banny Football League presently getting set for its tenth season is the brainchild of a Nigerian youth, Oluwatosin Ajeigbe, whose passion for football was influenced by Thierry Henry and Nwankwo Kanu, with the sole aim of creating a sports platform that will engage the youths in healthy rivalry. “As a teenager, I barely interacted with my peers. I was always the indoor person. However, due to my love for football, I go out to the viewing centre where majority of the youths gather to watch and banter football issues. Banire Street is blessed with young and vibrant youths and as I began to interact and relate more, I began to observe that most of the teenagers and youths had nothing doing and were exposed to drugs. Football was the only language that brought every group together to discuss, argue and banter. It was during one of our argument sessions between the Arsenal and Chelsea fans, that we dared ourselves to go and settle our differences on the field. After, the fans’ match was played, I realised I could make this a community activity to engage the youths and adults in Banire”, he says.

The Banny Football League sure has great times ahead if properly harnessed. While taking the youths off the vices on the streets, it is also preparing them for possible careers in soccer with all its allure. “The reason why we use names of European teams in the BFL is because I see European teams partnering with the BFL in recruiting young talents into their academy teams. Currently, we have started an U-7 to U-15 training sessions for younger kids in our community, which is spearheaded by our street team coach, Rapheal Adeniran, which we named the Banny Football Academy”, Ajeigbe says.

One of the greatest challenges for Ajeigbe has been how to sustain the initiative in the face of lack of sponsorship from government and other corporate entities, despite the fact that the platform is a veritable way to reach the youths. According to Ajeigbe, this often propels him to quit, but he has persevered nonetheless “Attracting sponsors have been very hectic and challenging through the years. I emailed and messaged lots of companies and brands but got no response, the ones who managed to respond didn’t have plans for sponsoring us. But I’m still optimistic that we will get the attention of some brands soon.”

The BFL scheme of operation is quite simplified. It consists of two competitions, the BFL and the BFL CUP which features Four European like teams playing in the league mode were all teams play each other twice and the team with the highest points are crowned champions, while the BFL CUP is a semi-finals knockout between the four teams and the two finalist face each other after the league round is over. The BFL is played every Sunday evening, after the first round of the league the BFL transfer window opens the following day which is on Monday and lasts till Saturday of that week before the match day on Sunday. During this period, teams are eligible to sign two players each before the second round begins, just like the ‘January transfer window’ in the football world.