Enyimba 5 - 1 Rayon Sport...CAF Cup link incl.

[wiseone]

Do tell - how many of Nigerian club side players from the 1980s and 1990s used to kiss their club badges and the camera to celebrate a goal? This is a recent phenomenon - brought on by influence of increased European football coverage on Nigerian TV.

I don't see what is European about all that. I'm not even sure it started there.
Much of the modern game's colour, vibrancy and self-expression by way of celebrations come from non-European origins - south America and Africa.
Left to the Europeans, the game would be sterile.

[ukwala]

Do tell - how many of Nigerian club side players from the 1980s and 1990s used to kiss their club badges and the camera to celebrate a goal? This is a recent phenomenon - brought on by influence of increased European football coverage on Nigerian TV.

I don't see what is European about all that. I'm not even sure it started there.
Much of the modern game's colour, vibrancy and self-expression by way of celebrations come from non-European origins - south America and Africa.
Left to the Europeans, the game would be sterile.

Nigerian clubside jersies didn’t have badges then

[Damunk]

Do tell - how many of Nigerian club side players from the 1980s and 1990s used to kiss their club badges and the camera to celebrate a goal? This is a recent phenomenon - brought on by influence of increased European football coverage on Nigerian TV.

I don't see what is European about all that. I'm not even sure it started there.
Much of the modern game's colour, vibrancy and self-expression by way of celebrations come from non-European origins - south America and Africa.
Left to the Europeans, the game would be sterile.

You're talking about goal celebrations in general from your post, not just kissing the badge.
We all borrow from each other. So when you say 'imitating European players' I challenge it becos it sounds like a non-constructive criticism.

Who will ever forget Roger Milla's corner flag dance at the 1990 World Cup?

"In the years that have followed, he (Milla) has been recognized as a pioneer of the many unconventional and imaginative goal celebrations seen since then."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Milla

What about the Bebeto baby-carrying celebration of the 1994 WC?
Yekini's net-shaking celebration in '94 nko?
Or is it the back-flip celebration that Nigerians seemed to have patented as their own?
Even further back, Pele has been credited with the iconic air-punching leap celebration.

So even if the badge-kissing routine is 'European' (which is arguable), it is just one of a whole array of more colourful celebrations which the non-European world has brought to the world game. If int'l coverage of football has allowed the game to become more multicultural, I'm not sure it is a negative thing as your initial post seems to suggest.

Forgive me if I am wrong.