By Udi Godwin
Since the inception of the round leather game in Nigeria, Nigerians had been thrilled with mesmerizing skills, styles and passion. Over the years, the country has been blessed with several great club sides. From the dominant days of Enugu Rangers and IICC Shooting Stars of Ibadan, to the national and continental dominance of the Peoples Elephant (Enyimba of Aba). But perhaps, very few can boost same historical length with the “Benin Arsenal” Bendel Insurance of Edo State.
As one of the founders of the Nigerian Premier League in 1972, the club was originally known as the Vipers of Benin. With their charismatic and fascinating style earning them the nickname the “Benin Arsenal”. Marshaled by veteran coach Alabi Aisien in the 1970’s, the club just like their English counterpart Arsenal, thrilled fans within and outside the shores of the country, with their artistic free flowing football, thereby winning several national and continental trophies.
Winning the inaugural Nigerian Premier League title in 1972, the club added another to their cabinet in 1979. They also bagged the illustrious oldest running competition in Nigeria, the Nigerian FAcup trophy in 1972, 1978, and 1980 respectively.
Bendel Insurance has also proved their worth in the continental and regional scene, winning the CAFcup, now known as the confederation cup championship thrice in 1993, 1994, and 1995 consecutively, making them one of the most successful team in the competition.
Indeed, Bendel Insurance FC has had a trophy laden history. It’s a pity seeing one of the greatest Nigerian club side lingering in the relegation zone since 2008, it therefore beg the question; how have the mighty fallen?
The club was stunned with management and ownership dispute in 2007-2008 seasons, which was amicably settled by the Edo State government, thus the government took control of the club. Although it didn’t stop the club from being relegated to the lower division and have since been there.
However, the emergence of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as Governor of Edo State, have brought renewed hopes to optimistic fans, due to the Governor love for sport development in the state. Renovating the 20,000 capacity Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, regularizing the salaries of management and players of Bendel Insurance FC, and organizing the Okpekpe Road Race, which is certified by the International Athletics Association Federation (IAAF), to mention but a few.
By all this, one may begin to wonder why the club continues to fail in the quest for promotion, back to the Nigerian Professional League, despite the constant effort of the government. Nevertheless, solutions to the overriding issue are not farfetched. Taking a leaf from the international scene, English club Chelsea FC manager, Jose Mourinho famously berated his club supporters, after a narrow 2-1 victory over QPR, by claiming “it’s like playing in an empty crowd”. This statement promptly arose the Stamford Bridge crowd, en route to lifting the English Premier League title in 2014/2015 season.
This scenario shows that the role of the fans cannot be displaced, even in this present time, when money is more or less the watchword.
Unsurprisingly, Bendel Insurance FC successful era of the 1970’s, 1980’s and 1990’s coincided with the era, when people turn up in large numbers, to watch their darling team play.
Nowadays, the club is faced with the deteriorating fact of playing in an empty stadium. Knowing full well that, stats has shown over the years that a club position in the Nigerian Professional Football League is gotten base on the amount of matches won and loss respectively at home.
On a verge of filling the empty spaces on match days. The role of media cannot be overemphasized, TV rights and media followership have made the world of football and other sports more lucrative and attractive. If media coverage of matches can be improved, it will invaluably help the course of attracting more supporters to the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, to watch the club during league matches.
However, bringing back Bendel Insurance FC is not as tough as written and seen of the government, over the years. The fact remains that the club need not only the financial support but also every sport loving individuals of the state, to bring back the feeling of the old days.