There may be debate as to who coined the phrase ‘the beautiful game’ – some say it’s the man known to much of the world as simply Pele, while others aver it’s the brainchild of English former media personality Stuart Hall, who used it as far back as 1958. But what is not in dispute is that football is indeed ‘beautiful’, with a global following estimated at 3.5-billion by FIFA, the football governing body.

From January 9 to February 6, lovers of the game across Africa were treated to what, in my estimation, was quite good football as 24 national teams vied for continental glory at the biennial Africa Cup of Nations tournament, hosted by Cameroon. Some of the more recognisable names in world football were there, showcasing their prowess on the pitch. I’m talking of Egypt’s Mo Salah and Senegal’s Sadio Mane, both of whom play for Liverpool, in England, as well as Algeria’s Riyad Mahrez and Senegalese goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, who, at club level, also ply their trade in England, playing for Manchester City and Chelsea respectively.

But in a world where football is now not too dissimilar to religion and a vast number of fans have become fanatics, failure by players to live up to expectations can have dire consequences. The Nigerian national team, the Super Eagles, can attest to this. Despite being widely regarded as some of the Goliaths of African football, they did not have a good run at all at this year’s tournament, bombing out at the Last 16 stage at the hands of Tunisia.

While Nigerian fans’ deep frustration was understandable, what was unacceptable was the abuse – much of it hateful – that was meted out on social media to two members of the team: goalkeeper Maduka Okoye and second-half substitute Alex Iwobi. The former was hounded on all the social media platforms where he is active, with comments ranging from trolling over his looks to death wishes on him and members of his family. One user issued a veiled threat if Okoye ever returned to Nigeria, while another called for divine retribution on the goalkeeper’s family and accused him of match-fixing.

Iwobi, who was shown a red card within five minutes of his introduction, was subjected to similar treatment.

The duo are not the only ones in football history to take flak for performing below par at major tournaments. Some have even paid the ultimate price. Those of us who are older would recall the fate of Andres Escobar, captain of the Colombian team at World Cup ‘94, in the US. Expectations were high that Colombia would shine, as the team had lost only once in 26 matches leading up to the tournament and conceded a mere two goals. However, in its first match at the tournament, against Romania, Columbia was routed, losing by three goals to one. This meant that the team had to win its encounter against the US. In that match, Escobar, who had been a defender all his career, tasked with preventing opposition strikers from scoring against his team, scored the dreaded own goal, handing the US a 2-1 victory, thus preventing his team from progressing to the next round.

Back in his native country, he went out with friends for drinks one night and parted ways in the wee hours of the morning. While he was alone in a parking lot, a group of men approached him and, after arguing about the unfortunate own goal, pumped six bullets into his body. He died in hospital 45 minutes later.

Meanwhile, in December, a Colombian football player announced that he and his teammates had received death threats following a controversial match in which their team conceded two goals in extra time, resulting in the launch of a match-fixing investigation against the club.

Clearly, the beautiful game has a sordid underbelly.