Lagos, Nigeria – 13 November 2009

If there is a true example of Why Sport Matters in a country, you would have to look no farther than Nigeria. We were told (and read) many things about this country in the heart of West Africa prior to coming, but one must visit here to really experience it.

Nigeria is alive with excitement due to the U-17 FIFA World Cup going on right now. We had the fortune of attending yesterday’s semi-finals here in Lagos, and were part of one of the wildest sporting events we had ever witnessed. Our first “Teammate” for Why Sport Matters, Tunde Ajibode, gave us the good advice to get to the stadium early as he explained that Nigerians “don’t attend sport events like they do in your country.” The best piece of advice on this trip so far.

The streets surrounding the stadium were flooded with people. Somehow, our driver managed to navigate all the way to the main entrance, where the crowds pushed towards the stadium. Military police forced us to move to the side as the Governor’s motorcade passed us while the crowd bordered on anarchy. In a piece of African ingenuity, our driver tagged on to the end of the motorcade thanks to the flashing of our press badge and we got inside as the military police were pushing back the surging crowd trying to get inside! FULL STORY »