The Nature of Viewing Centres in Nigeria

The love and passion for football transcend gender, age, colour, and language. In different parts of the world, there are large numbers of people that are fascinated with the game of football. Since the inception of football, people of diverse cultures, tribes, languages and dialects have been able to form a kind of bond and intimacy that has stood the test of time. There is no continent where football is not being played or watched. Both the young and old, male and female have gotten themselves engaged in this beautiful sport, which has been able to unite people of different ideas and doctrine.

With this beautiful game called football, there are different categories of people involved. We have active and passive participants. The active participants are the players that are involved in the routines of the sport. They belong to a particular country, where they might be involved in the playing activities of the national team. On the other side, they also belong to a particular club, where they ply their football trading activities. We have football clubs like Manchester United, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Arsenal etc.

On the other end are the football fans that are the passive participants. They are described as passive because they don’t actively take part in playing the game, but their support and interest in getting to support a particular club is what makes them a participant. The undying love and passion of some fans can’t be quantified as they are fully committed to the sporting activities of the particular club they choose to support.

The fans of different clubs can be categorised into two aspects. We have those that get to buy the football tickets of the club they support, in order to go watch them play live in the stadium and those that sit at the very side of the Television to watch their team play. With the growing fan base of these different football clubs and incapability of everyone not getting the chance to go watch their team at the stadium, due to various reasons, the viewing centres have then been on the rise.

In Nigeria, a country that sits at the very centre of West Africa, the rapid rise of football viewing centres can’t be ignored. There is a huge number of people that tend to derive joy, in getting to watch the football team they support on television in different viewing centres nationwide. As it appears almost impossible for the devoted fans to travel, in order to watch the football clubs they support in different top European countries, they have been able to find solace in getting to watch them on television hence the emergence of viewing centres arose.

The business of football viewing centres in Nigeria has been on the dock for some years now. With the emergence of Digital Satellite Television (DSTV), football devotees of different European Clubs have been able to watch the team they support on the television with ease. DSTV is a digital platform that enables you to subscribe to its platform and with this, you can get the access to watch some channels on it cable, which includes some sports channels like Supersports 1, 3, 5 etc.

However, not every sports enthusiast in Nigeria is capable of doing this monthly subscription as some people find it difficult to pay. With this, they turn their attention to viewing centres, where they get to pay an average of about 25cents (100 Naira) to watch their favourite European football team play. The avoidance of the monthly subscription is the main reason why some people go to viewing centres to watch football, but there are other side attractions that come with it.

Banter

Football is a game of unity and without banter, it might not get the needed attention and fun it deserves. In Nigeria, at the viewing centres, some football enthusiasts go there to throw banters. They try to engage in teasing conversion in order to create humour at the expense of a rival team that might be on the losing side. Different terminologies are used in order to create “expensive jokes,” that might get to tease some fans of a particular club that is doing badly in a match. The football competition you tend to see people throwing banters mostly is the Champions League, where different teams from different European clubs get to play one another. At these various viewing centres, the atmosphere during the Champions League is always full of fun and noise, most especially if two rivals clubs are getting to play each other. Some people feed on this noise to give them extra motivation to support their team.

Gamble

Gamble and football are friends that can never be separated, and no matter how weird it might sound their friendship is an everlasting bond that is going to stand the test of time, to gamble, just join sportda. In Nigeria, at the viewing centres, the possibility of getting to gamble is what drives some people to go out. Some football enthusiasts can’t even get to watch and enjoy a match without gambling. So the avenue of this gathering, where different ideas on teams are tabled is the perfect platform for them to gamble.