The incurable taste for European football leagues continues to grow among Nigerian football fans season in, season out but Tokoni Joseph Iderima, who is founder of Football Fans Tribe, believes the same frenzy can be for the Nigerian Premier Football League (NPFL) if certain improvements are attained.
Iderima Tokoni hails from Emago Kugbo village in Abua-Odual Local Government Rivers State. Born into a family of six, including his parents, he is a graduate of Computer Science and Mathematics from Rivers State University. He launched Football Fans Tribe in 2019 after identifying a niche over the neglect of passionate followers of football in Nigeria and across the continent.
In five years, Football Fans Tribe has become the true home of the fans. It is where the good, bad and ugly fans of national teams in the country and European clubs express banter, sadness, satisfaction and raw emotions that come with supportership.
However, Tokoni Iderima is confident that all hope is not lost about football fans in Nigeria exhibiting such dedication and interest in the NPFL, which once commanded crazy followership in the 1970s 1980s and early 1990s, than what is seen today about the Premier League, La Liga or the Italian Serie A.
“To revive the followership of the NPFL starts from getting all and not some games being shown live. From there the branding of clubs, funding into the participating clubs and other minor points can follow. Everything starts from making the league easily accessible and a well packaged product, the fan base is waiting to be tapped,” the Football Fans Tribe chief executive said.
Explaining further as a major stakeholder in the Nigerian football fraternity, the brain behind Football Fans Tribe highlighted why Nigerian football fans do not follow the NPFL.
“The majority is definitely with European football partly because of how easily accessible it is and the followership of the local league dwindled heavily when coverage, broadcasting and execution of games wasn’t improved upon to match the international standard. I myself used to be a Sharks FC fan and currently Rivers United but my jersey from 2011 is still with me,” Iderima stressed.
Dissecting the nature of increased football followership in the country, the Football Fans Tribe owner agreed that to some, the fulfillment that comes with passionately following a football club in Europe is an escape from the economic challenges ravaging Nigeria, while others do it for the fun of it.
“In some cases you say ‘a little of both’ but for this it’s ‘a lot of both’ because football is something sewn into our lifestyle as Nigerians, so by default the passion is there but then it now also serves as an escape from the current realities so this is something that makes football more loved each day. Football followership is a natural phenomenon that doesn’t need any improvement, if the standard of living is focused on then there’s more joy for the average fan,” argued the Football Fans Tribe founder.
