Governing Bodies
THIS DAY IN HISTORY: NIGERIA’S FIRST NATIONAL TEAM ARRIVES UK
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
On this date, 29 August 1949, Nigeria’s first national football team, simply tagged ‘UK Tourists’ arrived Liverpool on a goodwill tour of the United Kingdom.
It was the first time, an African or team from any Black country visited England.
Unlike today’s jet-travelling footballers, the pioneers travelled third class aboard RMSS Apapa and had to run four times round the deck every morning to keep fit during the 13-day voyage before arriving Liverpool at 8.30am on Monday, 29 August 1949.
They were scheduled to play nine matches against fellow amateur sides in the four weeks they were to stay in the UK.
The 18 players were dressed in grey trousers and olive green blazers with a badge emblazoned with the initials NFA and with ‘United Kingdom 1949’ woven underneath.
On arrival, John Finch, a former Fulham forward, who had been appointed as the coach, met them. There was also a welcome message from the Duke of Edinburgh.
On disembarking, the players and the officials were interviewed by the BBC radio on newsreel followed by the pressmen.
Okoronkwo Kanu, Etim Henshaw, Dan Anyiam, Isaac Akioye, John Dankaro and Sokari Dokubo send messages for broadcast in English, Efik, Ibo, Yoruba, Hausa and Kalabari respectively.
That was where the story of Nigeria’s Super Eagles began. Without the famed UK Tourists, perhaps, there would not have been the Super Eagles of today.
Sadly, all the 18 players and their officials led by Captain Donald H. Holley and every other person connected with the trip are now dead.
Holley who was also the NFA chairman at the time died in December 1956. Barely eight months later, a member of the team, Ahmed Tijani Ottun, committed suicide by drowning in the Lagos lagoon on 6 August 1957, ostensibly out of frustration.
It was reported that he drowned himself in the Lagos lagoon after returning from the England in later years but could not find a job that was commensurate with his new status and acquired skills.
The last survivor and the first choice goalkeeper, Sam Ibiam died 1 December 2015, aged 91.
Tesilimi Balogun, the arrowhead of the attack died in Ibadan on 30 July 1972 in Ibadan.
Vice captain of the side and Nigeria’s first national indigenous coach, Dan Anyiam died mysteriously in his car on 6 July 1977. Isiaku Aremu, popularly called ‘Baba Shittu’, died on 28 March 1985.
Olisah Chukwurah who became a legal luminary and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), died on 3 September 2001. Isaac Akioye who later became the Director of Sports at the National Sports Commission (NSC) died in February 2007.
Mesembe Otu, a right winger in the squad followed in October 2007. There were scanty information on Okoronkwo Kanu who coincidentally hailed from the same Arochukwu area of Abia State in Eastern Nigeria like the more popular Nwankwo Kanu, but the later said there was no connection.
He, like Hope Lawson who was believed to have hailed from the South West Cameroon, the Anglophone part of the Nigerian eastern neighbours which was then part of Nigeria, could not be accounted for.
Another player who cannot be accounted for is Titus Okere, the left winger who perhaps made the greatest impression to the British. A newspaper reported then that he was worth £15,000 and a row of houses.
Little wonder he was the first Nigerian player to sign a professional football contract in 1952, three years after the UK tour. He signed for Swindon Town FC. It is believed he never returned to Nigeria and nothing was heard about him since
Governing Bodies
Nigeria becoming an epicentre of global badminton as Francis Orbih enters the Badminton World Federation Council
Laurels on the courts and now glory in the boardroom sums up the mark that badminton is making in Nigeria.
The President, Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN), Francis Orbih, has been elected as a council member of the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
The election took place during the BWF Annual General Meeting on Saturday in Xiamen, China.
Orbih emerged victorious over top contenders from other African countries.
He will join Cameroon’s Odette Assembe Engoulou on the council, while Chipo Zumburani (Zimbabwe) and Hadia ElSaid (Egypt) missed out.
An elated Orbih expressed his gratitude to fellow badminton presidents across the globe for their trust and support.
He said, “I am deeply honoured by the trust placed in me by my peers across the badminton world.
“I look forward to quality representation, driving development initiatives, and strengthening badminton’s global reach over the next four years.”
Orbih also acknowledged the support of the Federal Government of Nigeria, particularly the National Sports Commission (NSC), which he said played a significant role in his successful bid.
“The Chairman and the Director General of the NSC monitored the entire process. I’m grateful for their involvement and confident Nigeria will benefit from this,” he stated.
He further appreciated the BFN board members and the Nigerian badminton community for their prayers and continued belief in his leadership.
“From the day I declared my intentions, the board members of BFN have been supportive, and I promise not to disappoint them,” Orbih concluded.
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A former member of the FIFA Council, Mamoutou Toure, has been released from jail in Mali after almost two years in detention for alleged corruption, Malian media reports said on Wednesday.
Toure, president of the Malian Football Federation since 2019, was released after 622 days in prison on Tuesday.
He served on the FIFA Council, world football’s all-powerful decision-making body, for four years until last month when he lost his seat after failing to contest new elections.
The 67-year-old was arrested in August 2023 on allegations of embezzling $28 million of public funds but was granted a provisional release order by the Malian courts, reports said.
He was accused of misconduct during his time as the National Assembly’s financial and administrative director from 2013-2019.
Toure denied all charges and, during his time in jail, was last August re-elected as Malian Football Federation president for a second consecutive term, with his supporters claiming he was a victim of a conspiracy fuelled by detractors.
While in jail, he received a letter of support from FIFA president Gianni Infantino. However, as of last month, Toure is no longer a member of the FIFA Council or the Confederation of African Football’s executive committee.
-Reuters
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The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has denied reports of an outstanding debt to former captain Christian Chukwu and has challenged anyone with verifiable documents to prove otherwise.
Chukwu, a former national team captain and chief coach, died last Saturday.
The Nigeria Football Federation decried statements in a section of social media that the football-ruling body was indebted to the deceased.
Reacting to one statement on social media that claimed NFF owed the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations-winning team captain the sum of $128,000, NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, said: “There is no record in the NFF of any outstanding indebtedness to ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu.
“During the first term of the Board headed by Amaju Pinnick, a committee was set up to diligently peruse the papers of coaches who were being owed, even from previous NFF administrations.
“That committee was given the clear mandate to verify all debts and ensure that the coaches being owed were paid immediately. I am aware that the ‘Chairman’ was in the employ of the NFF between 2002 and 2005, before he was relieved of the post following the 1-1 draw with Angola in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Kano in August 2005. There is certainly no record of indebtedness to him in the NFF.”
Sanusi challenged anyone with genuine and verifiable documents of NFF indebtedness to any coach, who has worked with any of the National Teams over the past two decades, to come forward and tender those documents.
“As a credible organization that is very much alive to its responsibilities, if we are confronted with any genuine document of indebtedness to any coach, we will offset the debt immediately.”
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