BEFORE JOINING FIFA AND CAF; NIGERIA FA WAS AFFILIATED TO THE FA IN ENGLAND

BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

It is a well known fact that the Nigeria Football federation (NFF), previously NFA was affiliated to FIFA and CAF in 1959, but www.sportsvillagesquare.com can reveal that before then, the Nigeria football governing body was affiliated to The Football Association in England.

When the NFA had its first Annual General Meeting on February 18, 1934, the honourable secretary of the body, Joseph Mead told the meeting that an application had been forwarded to The Football Association (The FA) in London for affiliation.

But up to the time of the NFA’s maiden AGM, no reply was received. Barely four months later, the NFA was admitted to The FA in London.

From the records obtained at the offices of the FA in London, the council minutes of meeting of Monday June 4, 1934 shows under item number 10 that “The Nigerian Football Association was admitted to membership under “Rule 5 of Rules of Association.”

Minutes of meeting of The FA Council. Under Item 10, Nigeria Football Association was admitted into The FA.

The Rule 5 allowed associate membership, among other things, for British Empire associations at a subscription fee of five shillings. Other colonial football associations admitted around the same time were Uganda in October 1936 and Accra in December 1938.

The NFA affiliation to the English FA was announced to the council of the NFA at a meeting on Friday September 7, 1934 and published in the Nigerian Daily Times of September 14, 1934.

However, it was not until 1938 that the name “Nigerian Football Association” first appeared in The FA Handbook 1938/39 as an associate member.

The secretary then was FB Mulford and the address recorded against his name was P.O. Box 809, 14 McCarthy Street, Lagos.