The head of the Nigerian Football Supporters’ Club, Rafiu Ladipo, has confessed that for years he has been using juju (traditional local magic) to try to bring the Super Eagles to victory. But no longer: “We came to realize that juju just doesn’t play football.”
“There are no links between football and voodoo. Now we believe only in praying and fasting to help Nigeria win their matches.”
So juju’s loss is prayer’s gain. As someone willing to entertain the possibility that sports are important enough to be on providence’s radar, I’m glad he hasn’t given up on higher-power intervention altogether. Though, if I were a player for the Super Eagles, the last thing I’d want to hear before a match is “I guess there’s nothing left to do but pray.”
January 17th, 2013 | 11:43 pm
We are often encouraged to look at, how can I say it, less technologically advanced societies to learn solutions for the supposed problems of our own. Of course if we take this to mean learning by reductio ad absurdum, such an endeavor may bear unexpected fruit. One would expect that the attempt to ban farting in one African country without thinking too much about the legal (not to mention digestive) ramifications of such a proscription would temper the enthusiasm of any legislator for bravely ignoring reality when practicing their craft. Unfortunately, imagination soars as giddily in the minds of many lawmakers as in those of coaches, apocalyptic preachers and terrorists who wish to justify their assertions by appealing to the supernatural.