MRI will clean our sports and conscience - Lagouche

Though he is French, Luc Lagouche, the French teacher at Abuja French School, and also the proprietor of Buffalo football Club and Abuja FC see himself as a Nigerian than French.

Since he arrived Nigeria in 1996, and fell in love with Badawa, a slum in Kano where angels dread to fly, let alone walk, Lagouche has done all he could to improve the people around him through football, the sports that gave him Badawa indigeneship.

Lagouche's regret

One aspect of our football that hurts Lagouche is the use of over aged players for major championship.

For somebody who has been a club owner for about a decade, Lagouche has come across many players whose age continues to decrease rather than increase.

This is why he rolled out the drum last week to celebrate the introduction of MRI Test by FIFA. The machine will enable FIFA know the true age of players.

Gambia trip

All this is coming against the background of allegation recently that Nigeria pulled out of U-17 friendly match in Gambia, because 16 out of the players invited failed the magnetic resonance imaging test.

Lagouche who is on holiday in Brazil in an interview believed the introduction of MRI test will clean our football and our conscience.

Age grade competitions

"We need to be sincere with ourselves; there is lot of complicity when we talk about age grade competition at all level in Nigeria. Segun Odegbami recently wrote about an over aged student from Maiduguri. He concluded that "there is no way such a player that left secondary school seven years ago would be less than 17 years old by October 2009!".

"But, honestly, we can make the same conclusion about many players in our past U-17 teams: How could some players who have already been playing for several years in professional league (either in Premiere or Pro league / National 1) or even in Amateur level or inside a "fake academy", be less than 17 years old before the cadet competition? "Let us simply go through the records of some players in the past and present then we see all the evidence."

We don't need machine

"So, we don't need a machine to tell us that we have been cheating by selecting such players.

Even a mother without knowledge of football will know that our ‘boy' are over aged. We need not blame only the players who see football as a vehicle out of poverty. But, who sent them to camp? Who advised them to go to court to change their birthday certificate? Who closed eyes about the player's previous career?

Who accepted them in the final team to win at all cost? Who...?

Machine to clean bone and conscience

"Any way, I welcome the introduction of this machine. This machine will not only scan the bones of our boys, but it will also help us to clean our conscience, open our eyes wide and change our vision of football. For using over aged players in the past, we have to realise that Nigeria has not been cheating any other country (who all knows what is happening) but has been cheating ourselves by compromising the future of her junior /senior teams.

Abundant under aged players

"I'm sure that with all the abundant (truly young) talents in this country, Nigeria has what it takes to "win With Integrity"! This would be the best way to close the mouth of people speaking bad about Nigeria. We can do it. So let us all put our hands together to do it."

Buffalo Today

Lagouche's club will not be campaigning in the league this year. The club coach, Abdulaye Maikaba may have joined the technical crew of Enyimba. "I hope he will do well in his new club. So, even if we have stopped the activities of Buffalo for a while, the name of the club is still continuing through our former members: The coach and more than 20 players who are doing well with new and bigger clubs. Some of them are in the Kano Pillar team that won the league last year and are playing in the CAF Champions League. So Buffalo is still alive... Just a bit asleep at the moment..."

Buffalo in the beginning

Buffalo owe its origin to Lagouche. Fresh from France in 1996 and bored with the elite area he was accommodated by the French School, he decided to take a stroll. In the course of his stroll with his cook, he encountered Badawa, a slum in Kano that is a no go area for a "baturé" ("white man") because of its bad reputation for violence, drug dealers and prostitutes.

"Mister Luc" as he is fondly called fell in love with Badawa from day one; he even had the courage to play football with the locals. Naturally they began to play together. Every evening, more and more young people joined in the game. As the team began to grow, they decided to clear a big field in the bush in order to play in better conditions. The players started to play in small competitions inside the area.

Registration as a club

In February 1998, members of the club, according to Lagouche website, registered Buffalo with the Kano State Football Association. The team began in Division 3 and after many victories, was promoted to the Kano State Division 1, in 1999, the highest level in the state.

The following season (1999/2000), the seniors qualified to be on the National Amateur League of Nigeria.

By 2005, the club was one of the best five in the National Amateur.

Birth of FC Abuja

When Lagouche was transferred to Abuja French School in 2006, he founded FC Abuja. In the 2006 and 2007 season, the club won FCT cup. They were promoted to the Premier league in 2008.

Success off the field

"The real success is for the players coming mostly from the less privileged regions of Kano, to become somebody in life," Lagouche said.

Sport, for him, is a factor for social integration and personal responsibility.

Determined to help his players and the community, Lagouche built a clubhouse, dispensary and the training field in Badawa.

"At the beginning of the history of the club, many of our players used to miss trainings due to weakness of the body and different sickness.

"It's the reason why we created a small dispensary where the players and the staff can receive basic treatment.

"Our qualified nurse also gives them some advice to improve their feeding and how to prevent themselves from some diseases, like AIDS.

"By extension, from mouths to ears, all their family at home benefit definitely from this teaching.

"When somebody is more seriously affected, she prefers to send him to hospital to receive better treatment and the club takes care of the bill."