PRINT SPORTS-MEDIA REPORTAGE AS CORRELATE OF SELECTED PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE OF NIGERIA NATIONWIDE LEAGUE FOOTBALL PLAYERS IN OYO STATE

Abstract

Most football players in the Nigeria Nationwide League (NNWL) exhibit low confidence with very little effort at rebounding from setbacks resulting from negative print sports-media reportage. Previous studies have established linear relationship between sports and the media, but have focused more on print sport-media reportage of European leagues and the first and second divisions of the Nigerian League with little attention given to the NNWL. This study, therefore, examined the extent to which print (newspaper) sports-media reportage correlate with the psychological profile (confidence and reboundability) of NNWL football players in Southwestern Nigeria. The study was anchored on the Media Agenda Setting and Narrative Image Theories. The study adopted the descriptive design. Purposive sampling technique was used to select Oyo, State. Total enumeration sampling technique was used to select all the (57) male NNWL football clubs in Oyo State, Nigeria, and all the 2,508 players were used in the study. Psychological Profile Questionnaire with two sub-scales of Modified Sports Confidence test (r=0.87), and Reboundability in Sports (r=0.83) Scales; as well as Sports-Media Reportage (r=0.94) questionnaires were used for data collection. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson product moment correlation, and Multiple regression at 0.05 alpha level. Recommendations were made based on results of the finding.