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.”
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
