Something to calm down the nerves

[oloye]

By the time I played the game of football not a lot of ladies showed interest in the game. You will rarely see ladies in the stadium or going out of their way to watch club football. Although many at some time would have supported their school teams especially in High school if they were privileged to attend mixed schools, but such interests’ wanes as they move from high schools and most of them could hardly be bothered with the game.
Nevertheless there were a core of ladies who loved the game, who knew the game and in their own way followed the game with passion to the best of their abilities by giving everything they have to the game. This chapter is dedicated to those wonderful ladies, the ladies who contributed to the Nigerian football in my time.
The first time I came in contact with one of these ladies of the game was in 1986 when my team Kwasu Bombers were in the Enugu Zone of the FA Cup qualifiers. We managed to top the group as a division 3 clubside, a group that featured the power house in Nigerian football at the time, NNB FC Benin and the Calabar Rovers FC. As a result we had to remain in Enugu for another week for the next round of the competition, the knock out phase. The Enugu fans had taken to us, their darling team had been knocked out by the then Hawks Football Club of Markudi. The Enugu fans had every reason to want us to win and some of their fans were too eager to prove that. This was how my path came across Amaka.
Now Amaka was a household name in Nigerian football, she was a Rangers fan who follows the team everywhere. She was well known in football circles as being a generous fan. Don’t get me wrong, Amaka loved the game, but she did to a fault, she managed to acquire an impressive or intimidating reputation depending from which angle you want to view it. She was better known by the elite clubs, although I have heard about her from the talk making round in football circles, you have to be at a certain level in the game for your path to cross hers.
Amaka was pretty, tall and possessed every quality that qualifies a woman to be labelled as beautiful and she had a body to die for. But you could also see that time was beginning to take it’s toll on her. Behold Amaka as she breezed into our camp and her target was my partner in the heart of the defence, Samuel Elijah. She was bold and went straight to him to befriend him. But our coaches were alarmed (Amaka’s reputation preceded her), so they kept a vigil look out for Elijah…What happened after….remains a secret.

Okay back to talking about the Ladies that made Nigerian football tick, next in the line of the Big Girls of Nigerian football was Stella the beautiful girl from Bini. Stella had class, she reigned at the time when Bendel State (Edo State) was the Football Capital of Nigerian football. This was the time when Bini footballers were hot in demand by every Nigerian clubside. If your team does not have a Bini player, you are yet to recruit good players. Bendel State had for premiership clubside three of them in Benin. Bendel Insurance FC, NNB FC and Flash Flamingos FC. And from Warri comes the NNPC FC. The Nigerian National team paraded 70-80% of footballers from these clubs and such was the football sophistication that produced Stella. Stella moved in the class of the international players.
My experience with the ladies of Nigerian football took a new dimension when I signed for BCC Lions of Gboko, a young boy brought up innocently and sheltered in the security of my Souther upbringing suddenly found himself thrust into the deep end of Nigerian football. That was the farthest I’d been away from home and the stark cultural difference that awaits was none that I was prepared for..nevertheless welcome to Gboko. Before coming to Gboko , I heard reports about the girls. A friend of mine was privileged to have played for BCC, long before I dreamt I would come there Tunde Ayinla (rip). Tunde was one of those gifted strikers who never fulfilled their potentials, the story was that when he got to Gboko, the girls were all over him. For someone coming from a conservative culture of his Ilorin upbringing such an attention was something he could not deal with. He succumbed to the attention. When he was injured (knee injury), he found solace in the bossom of these ladies the report further informed. My recollection of seeing Tunde when he came home on holiday was that we were poking fun at him that he had become so weak on the ball as a result of what these ladies had done to him.

So when I came to down to Gboko I was on the lookout for these ladies, but I was not prepared for what I met. Let me introduce you to the famous Gboko 11, so named because they are a team. A team of one of the most beautiful girls assembled together , with a mission to support the team and players with everything at their disposal. It was later during my stay that I found out their modus operandi. As soon as the season is coming to an end, they will sniff around the Club house to get a glimpse of players the club intends to recruit for the incoming season. As soon as they have the list, they map out a strategy how they are going to get their hands on the players. As soon as the players hit town, they will be there to offer support. They are ready to cook for you, to give you information you need. Oh by the way they will tell over their dead body would they be seen in the company of footballers. They have a way of visiting at night and never seem to be in a hurry to leave. If you ask them to do leave, you see the look of disappointment in their face.
Woe betide you if you fall for that charm, you will soon discover that you are nothing but just statistics, you are the joker that will maintain their lifestyle for that season. Many players including myself fell for this, some never recovered. For those of us who did, the fun is when we break this down for the new victims in the team bus as we travel on one of our long away trips. Talking about being a victim, Jenny was a tall dark beautiful lady, you cannot miss her in the group, she had an imposing figure, I spotted her in the club, a very good dancer who moves her body gloriously to make the sound of music sound and even feel better. She snubbed my initial attempt to talk to her, her English and mannerism was impeccable. I remember one Saturday evening after one of our home game, Jenny landed at the apartment I was sharing with my buddy Edema Fuludu and as soon as I alighted from the vehicle that brought me back from the stadium..she walked over to me and planted a full blown kiss on my lips….(You will have to wait for this book to come out..sorry no details)

The Manager Ahmodu Shuaibu, had a policy, while welcoming new players to the club , he would issue a stern warning, I will sack you if you ever fight with your colleague over a woman, be careful and do not believe everything you are told. He would leave it at that. Well I soon found out what he meant. Jenny told me she was available and never had time for footballers and that she found me different. Hmmmm never be flattered by the flattery of a woman. A couple of days later Coach Kafaru Alabi (my mentor from University of Ilorin) who was the assistant to Amodu at the time came to my house and asked me if I knew Jenny was Amodu’s girlfriend. I was horrified..I felt like the ground would swallow me. Coachito told me not to worry that Ahmodu does not really care as he knew the score very well, but he only wanted to let me know. Not long after Jenny walked in, I got up and simply told her it was over between us…..

The Gboko 11 would come out on match day dressed to kill, it appears there is a standard you have to meet to be part of the group. Young girls wanted to be like them, they would kill to appear like them. They were the bevy of the town. Girls would come down from Markudi to be in the team..Gboko was where the money was at the time, the Cement Company was at it’s height and it was raining money in the town. These girls were naturally beautiful and you will be flattered that they even look at you, well at least until you get to know them.

Okay make una to go watch match

[Dammy]

So Baba Oloye chop kporo for Gboko!

[Goldleaf]

Oloye,

Was that Tunde Ayinla rather Toyin Ayinla by any chance? I suspect the Tunde as firstname was a typo on your part. Pls confirm. I say that because when BCC Lions of Gboko came to Abiola Babes either in 1984 (I think), I was in the stadium at Asero and the standout player was Toyin Ayinla. The tall, athletic, powerful left-footed striker with a mean looking goatee was so fearsome and unbelieveable. Suffice to say, he scored the only goal that beat Abiola that day, and received applause for his quality. I managed to watch all Abiola Babes home matches live that season and the only 3 losses were to BCC Lions, First Bank (goal by Lookman Oshun) and Calabar Rovers (goal by Uwem Ekarika). The following season, Toyin Ayinla moved to Abiola Babes.

[tmex12]

Oloye this na proper cliffhanger. SE win or lose you must release part 2

[pajimoh]

Egbon mi, you no do well at all. Na so you come dey add suspense to our uncontrollable shaking? Now bini girls dey inside mind, Argie and Tina dey inside mind - wahala

[oloye]

Oloye,

Was that Tunde Ayinla rather Toyin Ayinla by any chance? I suspect the Tunde as firstname was a typo on your part. Pls confirm. I say that because when BCC Lions of Gboko came to Abiola Babes either in 1984 (I think), I was in the stadium at Asero and the standout player was Toyin Ayinla. The tall, athletic, powerful left-footed striker with a mean looking goatee was so fearsome and unbelieveable. Suffice to say, he scored the only goal that beat Abiola that day, and received applause for his quality. I managed to watch all Abiola Babes home matches live that season and the only 3 losses were to BCC Lions, First Bank (goal by Lookman Oshun) and Calabar Rovers (goal by Uwem Ekarika). The following season, Toyin Ayinla moved to Abiola Babes.

No Tunde is different from Toyin. Tunde is late now. When Abiola met BCC Toyin was playing for Abiola babes. He joined BCC after Abiola was disbanded at the end of 87 season.

[oloye]

Egbon mi, you no do well at all. Na so you come dey add suspense to our uncontrollable shaking? Now bini girls dey inside mind, Argie and Tina dey inside mind - wahala

At least the tension don reduce! Na tension wey wan kill me...na him i begin write abeg.

[metalalloy]

LOL dis guy, you like big fish oh! Fear no dey fear you? You go carry coach babe??

[Prince]

Uncle Oloye I thought you were going to give us phone numbers from the black book

[oloye]

LOL dis guy, you like big fish oh! Fear no dey fear you? You go carry coach babe??

At least i get good taste

[oloye]

Uncle Oloye I thought you were going to give us phone numbers from the black book

Wetin be black book?

[Polly]

Oloye, didn't Stella, the Bini girl, eventually marry a player of one of the Benin clubs?

[oloye]

Oloye, didn't Stella, the Bini girl, eventually marry a player of one of the Benin clubs?

I don't know to be honest, the last time i saw her she was still single.

[danfo driver]

Cheii! And most of these babes are grand mothers today. And dem go dey carry cane to discipline young girls, today o!

[Polly]

Cheii! And most of these babes are grand mothers today. And dem go dey carry cane to discipline young girls, today o!

What about us, grandpas?

[niyi]

Nice story Oloye but my nerves no gree calm o.

You seem like a wise person... tell me should I drink a third cup of coffee? Should I start smoking cigarettes today? I am here just shaking and my fingers are tingling. Ha! Ori iya mi o!

By the way what's the secret? Is Amaka the reason why you support rangers?

[Polly]

Oloye, today's match reminds me of the 1978 Challenge Cup final between the mighty Enugu Rangers and Bendel Insurance.

Alabi Aisien, the Insurance coach, needing to soothe the nerves of his much-younger team, is said to have told them that the Rangers match was in fact the easiest of all the matches. That was wild, given that Rangers had some of the nation's most-feared players: Christian Chukwu, Patrick Okala, Patrick Ekeji, etc. But Coach Aisien was proved right, as Insurance won 3-0 or 3-1.

[Robbynice]

Thanks Egbon Oloye...I wonder if players get nervous like fans do on game day. Do they sleep the night before? I mean I could not even sleep last night. All I could think about was the game. You can only imagine how I am right about now...

[oloye]

Nice story Oloye but my nerves no gree calm o.

You seem like a wise person... tell me should I drink a third cup of coffee? Should I start smoking cigarettes today? I am here just shaking and my fingers are tingling. Ha! Ori iya mi o!

By the way what's the secret? Is Amaka the reason why you support rangers?

I was a Rangers fan long before Amaka, they were the first successful club i knew as a little kid just discovering football. They were always in the news back then and i simply fell in love with them, especially the white jersey.

[oloye]

Thanks Egbon Oloye...I wonder if players get nervous like fans do on game day. Do they sleep the night before? I mean I could not even sleep last night. All I could think about was the game. You can only imagine how I am right about now...

You get nervous in some matches but being in the camp helps. You simply walk into the room of other players or huddle together to chat. Oh we sleep alright, it is like asking if soldiers sleep. We sleep, there are some players who cannot sleep , not from being nervous, they are just the restless type and they would be going from one room to another looking to disturb. The tension mounts after lunch when the list comes out and you know you are playing, but this kid of tension is simply more of adrenaline flow. IT follows you from the hotel, hence you see players looking as if they are in a trance, some try to be casual , some simply blank everything out ...I belong to the category of those who blank everything out. Even if my papa show up in the dressing room, i wont talk to him. But as soon as you step on the field you realise there is nowhere to hide, the die is cast, strange at this point you are more relaxed and begin to loosen up. If you are still tensed when the whistle goes off for the start of the game, you are going to have a stinker of a game.

That is why you see coaches telling players to calm down calm down

[oloye]

Oloye, today's match reminds me of the 1978 Challenge Cup final between the mighty Enugu Rangers and Bendel Insurance.

Alabi Aisien, the Insurance coach, needing to soothe the nerves of his much-younger team, is said to have told them that the Rangers match was in fact the easiest of all the matches. That was wild, given that Rangers had some of the nation's most-feared players: Christian Chukwu, Patrick Okala, Patrick Ekeji, etc. But Coach Aisien was proved right, as Insurance won 3-0 or 3-1.

3-0 My Rangers was beaten like Pangolo..that is why i can never like that bloody Insurance team

[oloye]

Nice story Oloye but my nerves no gree calm o.

You seem like a wise person... tell me should I drink a third cup of coffee? Should I start smoking cigarettes today? I am here just shaking and my fingers are tingling. Ha! Ori iya mi o!

By the way what's the secret? Is Amaka the reason why you support rangers?

Whatever you do...don't drink coffee. If you are the one playing Coffee would have done you some good, i dont know if it is still acceptable though

[Robbynice]

Thanks Egbon Oloye...I wonder if players get nervous like fans do on game day. Do they sleep the night before? I mean I could not even sleep last night. All I could think about was the game. You can only imagine how I am right about now...

You get nervous in some matches but being in the camp helps. You simply walk into the room of other players or huddle together to chat. Oh we sleep alright, it is like asking if soldiers sleep. We sleep, there are some players who cannot sleep , not from being nervous, they are just the restless type and they would be going from one room to another looking to disturb. The tension mounts after lunch when the list comes out and you know you are playing, but this kind of tension is simply more of adrenaline flow. It follows you from the hotel, hence you see players looking as if they are in a trance, some try to be casual , some simply blank everything out ...I belong to the category of those who blank everything out. Even if my papa show up in the dressing room, i wont talk to him. But as soon as you step on the field you realise there is nowhere to hide, the die is cast, strange at this point you are more relaxed and begin to loosen up. If you are still tensed when the whistle goes off for the start of the game, you are going to have a stinker of a game.

That is why you see coaches telling players to calm down calm down

What a wawu...thanks egbon mi.