Nigerian Football
PHOTOS: UNVEILING THE ACTUAL FOUNDERS OF NFF 86 YEARS AGO
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
In 2012, The FA in England decided to trace and honour the living descendants of the eight founding fathers that created the body 150 years earlier.
At the end of the exercise, a total of 16 relatives of the Founding Fathers of football were invited to a special ceremony at Wembley Stadium, where a Blue Plaque was unveiled that pays tribute to the historical significance of their work in creating the game of football and the first football association in the world. What a lasting tribute those pioneers got.
Here in Nigeria, the labour of our heroes past must not be in vain. Sports Village Square also salutes the founders of the Nigeria Football Association whose efforts many Nigerians are benefiting from today.
Henry A. Porter Esq., F.R.I.BA, the President
Henry A. Porter was the founding president of the Nigerian FA. He was also the founding chairman of the Lagos Amateur Football Association in 1932. He was a Scot and the Senior Architect at the Public Works Department.
He designed the Centenary Hall, Abeokuta, which was opened on October 28, 1930. When the Nigerian Football Association was founded in Broad Street, Lagos on August 21, 1933, Porter was appointed the pioneer president.
But so far, it has proved impossible to get his image. Only documents signed by him were obtained from the National Archives, Ibadan.
From his signatures, ‘H’ was easily deciphered to be Henry which was later corroborated by information supplied by Peter Kent who responded to enquiry sent by www.sportsvillagesquare.com to the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
But his middle name has a little controversy. While RIBA gives it as Arthur, another source, the book “RIBA Directory of British Architects 1834-1914” gives the middle name as ‘Augustus’.
Upon further enquiry to RIBA’s Peter Kent, he affirmed the middle name was Arthur.
“All references to him in our members directories (50 plus years worth) and the nomination papers refer to him as ‘Henry Arthur Porter’. The only source which calls him ‘Augustus’ is the RIBA Directory of British Architects 1834-1914 – usually super-reliable – but in this case I am sure it has made a mistake.”
Porter was elected a fellow of RIBA in 1927. His registration number was 2498. The Directory of British Architects also noted that Porter was elected to RIBA as an Associate with number 1827 in 1907.
The Dictionary of Scottish Architects adds that Porter was the one that trained and proposed Thomas Scott his deputy at PWD in Lagos to be licensed by the Royal Institute of British Architects after 12 years of licentiateship.
Porter also proposed Thomas Scott as a fellow of RIBA but the latter was only admitted into the institute on February 13, 1940 after Porter had returned to Britain.
At the moment, the Dictionary of Scottish Architects also had no more information on Porter.
The information released had been from the British Architectural Library/Royal RIBA Dictionary British Architects 1834-1914.
His date of birth in 1885 is also unknown. But Peter Kent of RIBA informed that Porter described himself as 42 on March 14, 1927.
While in Nigeria, he wrote an application on December 1, 1933 to the Chief Secretary to the colonial government of Nigeria for a £300 loan to develop a playing ground for the 13 clubs playing in the Lagos Amateur League.
The 13 clubs were: three teams belonging to UAC, two owned by Africs, Muslims, Spadlings, Post & Telegraphs, Medical & Health, Lagos Athletic, French Club and two teams of Olympic.
From the records obtained on UK citizens travelling overseas from the National Archives, London, Porter apparently left for Nigeria aboard “Olenda”, a ship operated by British and African Steam Navigation Company Limited on March 21, 1900 from Liverpool to Forçados, a small town in Burutu LGA of Delta State.
In 1934 at the maiden Annual General Meeting held on February 18, he was unanimously re-elected as president of the Nigeria Football Association.
He was believed to be the brain behind the PWD, which was the oldest-organised football club, especially in Lagos area.
The PWD was formed in 1929. His name suddenly disappeared from Nigerian newspapers after 1934. He may have left Nigeria in 1936 as passengers’ manifest of the ship: “MV Accra” operated by Elder Dempster Lines Limited, listed him among the passengers that arrived Liverpool from Port Harcourt on March 3, 1936.
Also, all his addresses offered by RIBA from 1936 were in the United Kingdom. According to Peter Kent, Porter died aged 75 on April 11, 1960.
He may have died in Tonbridge District of Kent in UK if the report concerning one Henry A. Porter in www.findmypast.com has anything to do with him.
Frederick Baron Mulford, Vice President
Mulford is the best known in the football circle, among the founders of Nigeria Football Association 85 years ago.
Fondly called “Baba Eko”, Frederick Baron Mulford was often referred to as father of Nigerian football. He died in Lagos on September 3, 1949, four days after the very first set of Nigerian-selected team, the famed UK Tourists, arrived England.
According to a family tree constructed by one John Bird Monk, Mulford was born in January 1881 in Southampton, Hampshire in England.
He came to Nigeria having sailed aboard “Aro” an Elder-Dempster and Company Limited ship that departed Liverpool for Lagos on April 7, 1906. He came to Nigeria as a junior assistant in the firm, Lagos Stores, which was later absorbed by UAC in 1929.
While at the Lagos Stores, Mulford rose to the position of deputy to the head agent, Hon. A.M. Harvey who was also a member of Legislative Council then tagged LEGICO.
Mulford left the Lagos Stores when it merged with UAC. He was appointed as the Business Manager of the Nigerian Daily Times in 1933. He was also the sports editor of the publication.
Mulford was also the games master at CMS Grammar School, Nigeria’s premier high school. He later moved to Kings College and by 1914, he was already organising weekly matches with European teams in Lagos.
His greatest legacy was the presentation of a trophy to Lagos and Districts Amateur Football Association (LDAFA), which is today’s Lagos FA, for a knockout competition: The Lagos War Memorial Cup.
The Lagos War Memorial Cup later became Mulford Memorial Cup and got rechristened as Oba Cup, following Stores’ eternal win of the trophy in 1965.
Mulford was buried in Lagos at the Ikoyi Cemetery on September 4, 1949, the day after his death at Creek Hospital.
According to a tribute by Ernest Ikoli published in the Daily Times edition of September 5, 1949, Mulford was never married.
Sir Adeyemo Alakija, Vice President
Alakija was a Nigerian of Brazilian origin. His original name was Placido Adeyemo Assumpcao.
He was born to Ribeiro and Maximiliana Assumpcao in 1884, the son of the Brazilian families of Lagos and one of the black repatriates from Brazil. He was able to trace his roots to Abeokuta.
He was one of the founding directors of Daily Times of Nigeria, which had its offices on the same Broad Street where the NFA was founded. Daily Times was perhaps the only source of information on the early days of the Nigeria Football association.
The newspaper was thanked for the assistance offered at the first Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the association in 1934.
The newspaper’s link with the foundation of NFA probably had to do with the involvement of Alakija, a prominent figure in the foundation of both organisations.
He was the founding chairman of board of Nigerian Printing and Publishing Company, publishers of Daily Times in June 1926 and also founding father of the NFA. Alakija was re-elected vice president at the 1934 A G M. He died on May 10, 1952.
Dr Isaac Ladipo Oluwole, Vice President
Dr. Isaac Ladipo Oluwole was a medical doctor and the son of the Anglican Bishop, Isaac Oluwole.
A pioneer student of King’s College and the school’s first senior prefect he trained at the University of Glasgow and made important improvements to public health in Nigeria.
In 1925 he was appointed the first African assistant Medical Officer of Health in Lagos and also founded the first school of Hygiene in Nigeria to train sanitary inspectors.
In 1940, he was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE). He was the General Secretary of Lagos Amateur Football Association , LAFA (later LDAFA) for 17 years.
He made the facilities of the health office available to the association and the NFA in which he was deeply involved till his death at age 61 on May 4, 1953, a year after Alakija passed on.
When in 1934, the Lagos Amateur Football Association approached the government for a £300 loan to construct a football ground for Lagos clubs to play their league matches, Dr. Oluwole stood surety for £15.
The government approved the loan, which initially was to be repaid in five years. But on December 21, 1933, Dr. Oluwole wrote to the government to ask for extension of the repayment to eight or 10 years.
The government granted the request and extended the loan repayment to eight years. He was recognized as the father of public health in Nigeria.
Joseph Mead, Honorary Secretary/Treasurer
Joseph Mead was the first secretary of the NFA in 1933. His identity was a mystery until the Unilever Archives in London provided photograph of him and his full name. The meaning of the initial “J” which appeared in all newspaper references to him was later given as Joseph.
According to the Daily Times accounts, he worked with the firm – UAC at Martins Street, Lagos.
Checks at Unilever in UK revealed that he joined the company in February 1929. Great thanks to Helen Onsworth, the archivist at Unilever UK Central Resources Limited who assisted in unveiling the convener of the meeting that led to the foundation of a central football body in Nigeria.
From the information on Mead, he became the first secretary of the NFA at age 26.
On leaving Nigeria after working with UAC in Lagos and Ibadan, he was transferred to the then Gold Coast (now Ghana) where he worked in Kumasi and Takoradi.
According to information from Unilever in UK, Mead married on January 23, 1939 before resigning from the firm in 1949.
Checks by www.sportsvillagesquare.com at the National Archives of the United Kingdom revealed that Mead must have arrived Nigeria in 1929 having left Liverpool for Lagos on February 26. His occupation in the manifest of the ship was given as “assistant”. He was part of the European football league in Lagos, playing for UAC team.
Shortly before the August 21, 1933 meeting which Mead called, he was involved in an accident. Unilever Archives disclosed that their records showed his date of birth as March 22, 1907.
He would therefore have been 73 years; the day Nigeria beat Algeria to win the Africa Nations Cup for the first time in 1980. Joseph Mead left for Sekondi-Takoradi in Gold Coast (now Ghana) as District Manager of UAC in March 1946.
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
“Let the music play; Make the voices sing; Start the celebration; Drums may roll out” is part of the lyrics of the famous song, ‘Barcelona’, composed and sung by Freddie Mercury along with Montserrat Caballé. It was originally to be the theme song for Barcelona 92, but for the demise of Mercury months earlier.
The recording of the song was played over a travelogue of Barcelona at the start of the international broadcast of the opening ceremony of the 1992 Summer Olympics.
The lyrics fit appropriately for Kunle Soname, as he turns 59 this Sunday, a day his club, Remo Stars, may emerge Nigerian champion. If that happens, he becomes the first man to be so blessed, as no other club owner has won major laurels on their birthdays.
A win by his club, Remo Stars, not only confer the Nigerian championship to the club, Soname will become the first sole proprietor to win the Nigerian league since that of Oscar Udoji’s Udoji United in 1996.
Still blazing on records, Soname’s club will become the first in Ogun State to win the Nigerian lead league and the first South West champions of Nigeria since 1998 when Shooting Stars won the Nigerian League.
Quiet, self-effacing, Soname is an Ikenne-born businessman who works silently, but efficiently like a brand-new air conditioner.
His ValueJet had been the career of the national team since 2023.
He has made a success in virtually all endeavours, and is well known for his cheerful disposition, humility and generosity.
On Friday, the Nigerian U17-Women’s team clinched a ticket to the World Cup, great thanks to this gentleman who not only quietly motivated the team financially, he hosted their home matches.
Yet he would not voice out the financial gestures, which only came out through secondary sources of the NFF.
Never since the days of Bashorun MKO Abiola has a man been known to run three football clubs.
Abiola had the famous Abiola Babes, Concord FC and also the ITT football club in Lagos.
Soname’s Remo Stars are getting beyond the blue skies. His Beyond Limits Football Academy has become a model that even CAF is quietly studying.
The club has become the launchpad into a professional football career for many Nigerian youngsters who are now flourishing in European and American leagues.
Soname’s third club, the Remo Stars Ladies, has qualified for the Super 6 of the NWFL. That they are still in the President Federation Cup points to the fact of a possible double title this season.
Soname is a game-changer whose support is not limited to football.
Since 2022, his Bet9ja outfit, which is easily the most popular in the gaming business, has been sponsoring the Southeast Bet9ja Foundation Badminton Championship, where close to 100 players have been featured.
Miracle Ufuasia of Enugu State collects her trophy and medal from Obiageli Solaja, the Africa Women in Badminton Award Winner, 2019.
The championship brought up budding badminton players, some of whom later made marks even at the Paris 2024 Paralympics.
In an era where private ownership of football clubs is becoming a high-risk venture, Soname raised the bar with his Remo Stars, which has become a model football club in Nigeria.
Equipped with its own all-covered stadium, the club boasts of easily the best turf in Nigeria.
Those marvelling at the current Remo Stars Stadium will be swept off their feet as Soname is not done yet. A bigger arena is in the offing.
When he piloted Remo Stars to the international level, featuring in the 2022/23 CAF Confederation Cup, it was a landmark.
That was the first time in more than 30 years in Nigeria that a one-man-owned football club featured in a continental competition.
His club structure features a football academy, which is the nursery ground for Nigeria’s football stars. The 1998 Africa Footballer of the Year, Victor Ikpeba, was full of awe when he made a tour of the facilities of the academy where players of Beyond Limits are housed at two per room.
“Oh, I wish these were available in my formative years, the sky would have been my limit”, Ikpeba remarked to Sports Village Square.
The father of Super Eagles’ player Ola Aina, Femi Aina, was pleasantly surprised when he visited the Remo Stars facilities last year.
On getting inside, he exclaimed, saying he never imagined such a facility could exist in Nigeria, let alone his own small town of Ikenne.
This is comparable to what I am used to at the Chelsea academy in London, said Mr. Aina, who also remarked that he never knew there could still be another rich man, outside MKO Abiola in Nigeria, who has tremendous passion for football.
Olufemi Aina (c), father of Ola Aina, is thrilled at what Kunle Soname put up in Ikenne.
“I thought it was only the late MKO Abiola that has the capability of putting together a facility of this nature.
“This man, (Soname), earns my maximum respect.”, said Mr. Aina, who at that point had never met the Remo Stars proprietor.
“I am used to sports facilities, having been the one taking Ola to different academies when he was a teenager. “This place reminds me of Chelsea facilities.”
In the block were a gym, clinic, indoor swimming pool, hydrotherapy chamber, boardrooms and a clinic.
The next point of call was the restaurant being used by the pupils at the Beyond Limits Football Academy. The aroma and ambience were breathtaking. On the walls were messages of inspiration to the pupils and footballers.
The matron later informed Mr. Aina of the daily routine of the players and the level of discipline they are exposed to.
He met some of them at the common room where they were playing computer games. Mr. Aina introduced himself and told them of the tremendous privileges the players are enjoying and admonished them to make the best of the opportunity.
The residential buildings at Kunle Soname’s outfit have 56 rooms for junior and senior players, accommodating 112 footballers.
It has five semi-detached blocks of 10 units, two-bedroom coaches’ accommodation, a restaurant for players and officials, as well as an administrative block comprising offices, a conference room, a training classroom and reception.
The block is equipped with a panoramic lift to the first floor, which is the table tennis centre. A twin basketball court has been added as Soname’s facilities will be the epicentre of next month’s National Sports Festival. It will be the first time facilities owned by one man will play a prominent role in the 52-year-old sports fiesta.
Others are the sports centre block of the Remo Stars Stadium facility, comprising a gym, clinic, swimming pool, hydrotherapy chamber and a 30-room hotel with panoramic lift.
Also at the model arena is a tournament pitch with a 10,000-capacity covered pavilion, three training pitches, 2,000 capacity car parks and a good internal road.
Soname is possibly the only Nigerian who runs four clubs. Three are in Nigeria – Remo Stars, Remo Stars Ladies and Beyond Limits. He is also the owner of Portugal’s Clube Desportivo Feirense, which is commonly known as CD Feirense.
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BY KUNLE SOLAJA
The Nigerian Premier Football League (NPFL) gets to its climax this weekend, especially on Sunday, when the title could be won and one of the other two tickets for the continental competition could be confirmed.
Also, one or two other teams may get their visas to the lower league.
Remo Stars will become the Nigerian champions if they win their home match against Niger Tornadoes in their fortress in Ikenne.
History seems about to repeat itself. It was Niger Tornadoes that Remo Stars beat on 17 July 2022 to get their first ever continental ticket to feature in the following season’s CAF Confederation Cup.
This Sunday, Niger Tornadoes may again be Remo Stars’ launchpad into the league title. What a season it has been for the club that has led the Nigerian league for the longest duration.
They were leaders into Christmas 2024. They were leaders at the end of 2024 and leaders into 2025 as they became the first club to have a double after beating Akwa United home and away.
No team won more away matches than Remo Stars this season. They won five matches away from home. At home, they won 15 of their 17 matches, making Ikenne a fortress. Only Rivers United and Katsina United, who drew their matches, escaped defeat in Ikenne.
With 20 wins, no team has won more matches this season than Remo Stars.
With the title almost decided, and the runners-up awaiting confirmation, the battle zone is the contest for the third place where seven teams are in contest.
The most ferocious of the battle will be that of the surprise team of the season, Ikorodu City and rejuvenated Abia Warriors.
They occupy third and fourth positions respectively. Yet at the onset of the season, those positions looked unlikely. Ikorodu City were the punching bag for the other teams, losing home and away and got their first league point only after five matches.
Today, the continental door is invitingly open to them. What about Abia Warriors, who began the season with a 2-0 home loss to Remo Stars?
They looked like going for their pound of flesh when they suddenly went two goals up against Remo Stars in Ikenne. But Remo Stars fought gamely back to snatch a nervy 3-2 win.
Abia Warriors will be hosting the initial top three runners, Shooting Stars who suddenly slumped in fortunes. But a win by the Ibadan team may reignite their continental aspirations.
Also jostling for a possible top-three finish are the quartet of Bendel Insurance, Kano Pillars, Enugu Rangers and Enyimba.
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The Nigeria U17 women’s team has been given incentives to make it to the Women’s World Cup for the eighth time.
The team, Flamingos, who arrived in Algiers in the early hours of Wednesday aboard a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul, are highly inspired by the imminence of another FIFA World Cup ticket as well as further financial windfall from the Nigeria Football Federation and billionaire business mogul Kunle Soname.
Soname gifted the young players and their officials the sum of N4 million (one million naira for every goal) following their commanding win over the North Africans at the Remo Stars Stadium on Saturday, while the NFF gave out the sum of N2 million (five hundred thousand naira for every goal).
President of NFF, Ibrahim Musa Gusau and Soname have both confirmed that the same financial incentives are in place for the second leg in Blida on Friday.
“Our objective is clear – to win the FIFA World Cup ticket. That is the big motivation.
“Yet, we have been further incentivised by the monetary rewards. My girls will go all out on Friday night,” Head Coach Bankole Olowookere said.
Olowookere, who led the Flamingos to their last two World Cup ventures, will most likely rely on first-leg two-goal heroine Queen Joseph, lone-goal scorer Zainab Raji and Kaosarat Olanrewaju to start at the fore, with Shakirat Moshood, Muinat Rotimi and Philomena Isaiah supplying the passes from the midfield.
Goalkeeper and captain Christiana Uzoma and defenders Azeezat Oduntan, Hannah Ibrahim, Christiana Sunday and Jumai Adebayo are also likely to start.
The Confederation of African Football has selected Cameroonian official Marie Noelle Etong to be the referee, with her compatriots Marcelle Teikeu and Innocentia Ntangti as assistant referee 1 and fourth official, respectively, while Chadian Ngarassoum Victorine will be assistant referee 2.
Oumou Souleymane Kane from Mauritania will be the commissioner, and Sabelo Maphosa-Sibindi from Zimbabwe will be in the role of referee assessor.
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The league title will be icing on Soname’s birthday cake on Sunday
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