By Chigozie Chukwuleta
Ijele masquerade from the South East of Nigeria is a masquerade of pride and elegance. Recently, a sports masquerade with a brand name IJELE Sports Club emerged, ready to take the geopolitical zone by storm in sports development touching all strata in multidimensional approach from basketball, football to anything ball, from tennis to squash etc.
Speaking to Newspathfinder.com recently, the man tasked with the responsibility of propelling the dream, a Sports Management expert, Victor Obinna Edeh gave insight into the vision and mission of Ijele Sports Club.
Excerpts….
Q.What is the dream behind the Ijele Sports Club?
A. Drawing inspiration from the biggest sports clubs in the world (Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Barcelona) who are all community owned, Nke a bu nke anyi. A sports club that is truly our own and that is owned by the community.
Q. Why the name Ijele?
A. Founded in the spirit of excellence, Ijele Sports Club draws inspiration from our rich cultural heritage.
The name “Ijele” pays tribute to the majestic African masquerade, a symbol of grandeur and unity, embodying our ambition and pride in our cultural heritage as well as our commitment to uniting sports and culture.
Q. What is the mission and vision of the club?
A.We are on a mission to produce National and African champions across multiple sports disciplines within the next decade.
Our Vision is to become the biggest and most prestigious sports club in Nigeria through membership growth, setting national standards in athletic excellence and sports development.
To field men’s and women’s teams at the highest league levels in football, basketball, handball, volleyball, and more.
Q. The scope of your plan looks huge, how do you plan to sponsor and sustain the club?
A. Community engagement and Crowdfunding. Similar to social clubs, our model is to grow our membership with a target of welcoming 5000 new members annually. Traditional sponsorship means would be explored but it is really the commitment of our members that is key to our long term sustainability and attracting corporate sponsors who would want to court the attention of our members.
Q How do you intend to navigate the challenges facing private clubs in Nigeria?
A. Our unique position is that we are not owned by a private individual but community owned. Our culture provides us with numerous sayings about the strength in numbers, Igwebuike.
There is also the self-promotion aspect associated to individually owned clubs which automatically places a lifespan to those sort of clubs. Once the owner’s interest is achieved or a loss of interest occurs, these privately owned clubs usually go defunct.
Our community strength would help us navigate the challenges to come.
Q. As a sports club, which sports are the organization targeting?
A. We will take a phased approach to engaging with different sports. We definitely will kickoff with Men’s and Women’s teams in Football, Basketball, Volleyball and Beach Sports.
Q. Will the club serve as a grooming ground or outfit for ready made talents?
A. We want to be the blueprint for sports development in the country and by virtue of that, we would promote sports participation, engage in talent identification and development as well as participate at professional levels in multi-sports. Our academy will focus on sports participation and development at primary and secondary school levels in multi-sports, with athletes who demonstrate elite ability progressing to our professional teams.
Q. Finally, what are you afraid of despite the motivation?
A. We are only afraid of not using our platform to show the true impact of sports development to a people. We draw motivation from the widespread support we have received so far and look forward to actualising our mission and vision
