Cybereagles

I still remember watching live on TV.

May his soul continue to test in peace.

May he continue to rest in peace.

theYemster wrote:I still remember watching live on TV.

May his soul continue to test in peace.

Woow how time flies. It seems just like yesterday. I was at the stadium life that day thanks to IBB's one-year ban on 6 unis.
May he soul continue to rest in perfect peace.

theYemster wrote:I still remember watching live on TV.

May his soul continue to test in peace.

Amin!

One of the doctors who attended to him on the pitch was on Brila Fm today, talking about the incident. Very sad and touching.

Lolly wrote:

What a lovely tribute, however how does the NFF managed to have such $#% video production?

Sam Okwaraji is a skiller
He passed the ball to Osondu
Osondu passed to Ohenhen
Ohenhen shoots inside the net
Chris Ohenhen fired the free kick inside the net!!!

Sam Okwaraji - A certified baller and lawyer - RIP!!!!

100%Naija wrote:Sam Okwaraji is a skiller
He passed the ball to Osondu
Osondu passed to Ohenhen
Ohenhen shoots inside the net
Chris Ohenhen fired the free kick inside the net!!!

Sam Okwaraji - A certified baller and lawyer - RIP!!!!

Lol
Okwaraji and Osondu play together?

megapro wrote:

100%Naija wrote:Sam Okwaraji is a skiller
He passed the ball to Osondu
Osondu passed to Ohenhen
Ohenhen shoots inside the net
Chris Ohenhen fired the free kick inside the net!!!

Sam Okwaraji - A certified baller and lawyer - RIP!!!!

Lol
Okwaraji and Osondu play together?

I was about to ask, but I no too dey familiar with that epoch.

azuka wrote:

theYemster wrote:I still remember watching live on TV.

May his soul continue to test in peace.

Woow how time flies. It seems just like yesterday. I was at the stadium life that day thanks to IBB's one-year ban on 6 unis.
May he soul continue to rest in perfect peace.

One year ban?

Sam Okwaraji
Super Eagles
1988-1989

Okwaraji's presence on the scene was just too sudden and too short
Gifted fellow, in the brief 18 months he presented himself he gave his best and showed his class

His playing for Nigeria is more like a case of happenstance
Nigeria had great performers in the middle, with stiff competition from the actors of early eighties Henry Nwosu, Sylvanus Okpala and Ademola Adeshina contending with the new, younger foreign based pros Osaro Obobaifo, Austin Igbinabaro, not to mention guys like Dahiru Sadi, Thompson Oliha, Ayo Ogulana and Friday Ekpo and the Kpakpor brothers

Competition was actually fierce for few spaces and Sam Okwaraji though not completely unknown but was not in the picture, and within few months he had attended the African Nations cup and the Olympics!

Just how did it happen?

Nigeria was hosting Algeria in a crucial last qualifying game for the 1988 Olympics after losing 0:1 to Algeria just inside the new year in Annaba

For the return game the Eagles were taken to Enugu where they camped and trained at the stadium

Few days to the game the team vere playing Probables vs Possibles (starters) but were only 21 and needed someone to make the training look complete

They spotted a well kitted guy with beautiful canvas jogging around in the stadium. He looked sound and fitted the bill so they approached him

Okwaraji was on a winter break holiday from SSV Ulm (on loan from VFB Stuttgart) and jogged at the Enugu stadium everyday to keep fit

He entered the pitch and change the team and his life that very day. With a commanding, virtuoso performance he won his automatic spot that moment and remained a regular until his last minute where he died wearing the green and white colours for Nigeria

At the 1988 Nations cup he scored the hitherto fastest goal, and got his rasta dreadlocks in the style of CIV's Zahoui François during the friendly matches just before the 1988 Seoul Olympics

He was a sure starter for the penultimate WC group qualifier against Angola which had become dicey after the loss in Gabon

For such crucial games, Nigeria looked on to foreign based players like him, but the atmosphere was already heated because of the passion to serve and the competition for spaces

The simultaneously held qualifiers for the Nations cup had been executed by many homebased players who wrapped up the qualifying spot before this game

Brilliant home based Friday Ekpo was quoted before the march as saying 'over his dead body for any foreign based player to come and pick his shirt'

The match was tense. The weather was hot. At half time in the dressing room Okwaraji poured a lot of cold water on his head and dreadlocks. He returned to the pitch to give his best...and his rest!

Eboigbe was the first to rush to him when he noticed he remained in a motionless position after falling

8 years later August 1997, playing for Reutlingen near Ulm, Emmanuel Nwanegbo slumped after taking a free kick very early in the March. He also did not make it

Okwaraji served his country to the last, and deserves to be the icon he is

Megapro

I read somewhere that the ambulance at the stadium struggled to start. And there were other failures with equipment at the hospital.

cic old boy wrote:I read somewhere that the ambulance at the stadium struggled to start. And there were other failures with equipment at the hospital.

where is your source? Are you aware some fans also died in the stadium due to overcrowding?

Thirty years ago, today, I was at the National Stadium in Surulere to watch Nigeria VS Angola in anItalia 90 World Cup qualifier. Samuel Okwaraji collapsed just in the section of the crowd I was sitting. The event happened off the ball. We screamed and shouted seeing Sam go down. Immediately we knew this was serious. The medics came on the pitch, but the sad part was that the ambulance stationed inside the stadium could not start. Yes, the ambulance could not move – precious minutes lost, and Sam died in that stadium.

https://www.aclsports.com/remembering-s ... -years-on/

cic old boy wrote:

Thirty years ago, today, I was at the National Stadium in Surulere to watch Nigeria VS Angola in anItalia 90 World Cup qualifier. Samuel Okwaraji collapsed just in the section of the crowd I was sitting. The event happened off the ball. We screamed and shouted seeing Sam go down. Immediately we knew this was serious. The medics came on the pitch, but the sad part was that the ambulance stationed inside the stadium could not start. Yes, the ambulance could not move – precious minutes lost, and Sam died in that stadium.

https://www.aclsports.com/remembering-s ... -years-on/

This is not the account of one of the doctors who attended to him on the day who spoke on Brilla FM a few days ago. Okwaraji was actually given oxygen on the pitch before he was moved into the ambulance.

He even said an Angolan player "collapsed" at almost exactly the same time as Okwaraji and the referee initially allowed the Angolan medics on the pitch thinking he was in a more serious condition than Okwaraji until one of our players started screaming and calling them on.

Chief Ogbunigwe wrote:

megapro wrote:

100%Naija wrote:Sam Okwaraji is a skiller
He passed the ball to Osondu
Osondu passed to Ohenhen
Ohenhen shoots inside the net
Chris Ohenhen fired the free kick inside the net!!!

Sam Okwaraji - A certified baller and lawyer - RIP!!!!

Lol
Okwaraji and Osondu play together?

I was about to ask, but I no too dey familiar with that epoch.

For where?
Daddy Osondu no pass 'U17' level nah.

Lolly wrote:

cic old boy wrote:

Thirty years ago, today, I was at the National Stadium in Surulere to watch Nigeria VS Angola in anItalia 90 World Cup qualifier. Samuel Okwaraji collapsed just in the section of the crowd I was sitting. The event happened off the ball. We screamed and shouted seeing Sam go down. Immediately we knew this was serious. The medics came on the pitch, but the sad part was that the ambulance stationed inside the stadium could not start. Yes, the ambulance could not move – precious minutes lost, and Sam died in that stadium.

https://www.aclsports.com/remembering-s ... -years-on/

This is not the account of one of the doctors who attended to him on the day who spoke on Brilla FM a few days ago. Okwaraji was actually given oxygen on the pitch before he was moved into the ambulance.

He even said an Angolan player "collapsed" at almost exactly the same time as Okwaraji and the referee initially allowed the Angolan medics on the pitch thinking he was in a more serious condition than Okwaraji until one of our players started screaming and calling them on.

Wasnt that Siasia, or am I mixing things up?
No, it couldn't have been SSS.

Damunk wrote:

Lolly wrote:

cic old boy wrote:

Thirty years ago, today, I was at the National Stadium in Surulere to watch Nigeria VS Angola in anItalia 90 World Cup qualifier. Samuel Okwaraji collapsed just in the section of the crowd I was sitting. The event happened off the ball. We screamed and shouted seeing Sam go down. Immediately we knew this was serious. The medics came on the pitch, but the sad part was that the ambulance stationed inside the stadium could not start. Yes, the ambulance could not move – precious minutes lost, and Sam died in that stadium.

https://www.aclsports.com/remembering-s ... -years-on/

This is not the account of one of the doctors who attended to him on the day who spoke on Brilla FM a few days ago. Okwaraji was actually given oxygen on the pitch before he was moved into the ambulance.

He even said an Angolan player "collapsed" at almost exactly the same time as Okwaraji and the referee initially allowed the Angolan medics on the pitch thinking he was in a more serious condition than Okwaraji until one of our players started screaming and calling them on.

Wasnt that Siasia, or am I mixing things up?
No, it couldn't have been SSS.

Siasia it was

megapro wrote:

Damunk wrote:

Lolly wrote:

cic old boy wrote:

Thirty years ago, today, I was at the National Stadium in Surulere to watch Nigeria VS Angola in anItalia 90 World Cup qualifier. Samuel Okwaraji collapsed just in the section of the crowd I was sitting. The event happened off the ball. We screamed and shouted seeing Sam go down. Immediately we knew this was serious. The medics came on the pitch, but the sad part was that the ambulance stationed inside the stadium could not start. Yes, the ambulance could not move – precious minutes lost, and Sam died in that stadium.

https://www.aclsports.com/remembering-s ... -years-on/

This is not the account of one of the doctors who attended to him on the day who spoke on Brilla FM a few days ago. Okwaraji was actually given oxygen on the pitch before he was moved into the ambulance.

He even said an Angolan player "collapsed" at almost exactly the same time as Okwaraji and the referee initially allowed the Angolan medics on the pitch thinking he was in a more serious condition than Okwaraji until one of our players started screaming and calling them on.

Wasnt that Siasia, or am I mixing things up?
No, it couldn't have been SSS.

Siasia it was

I think the late Uche Okafor also said he was the closest to Sam when he fell, and Sam asked him to call a doctor

Damunk wrote:

Chief Ogbunigwe wrote:

megapro wrote:

100%Naija wrote:Sam Okwaraji is a skiller
He passed the ball to Osondu
Osondu passed to Ohenhen
Ohenhen shoots inside the net
Chris Ohenhen fired the free kick inside the net!!!

Sam Okwaraji - A certified baller and lawyer - RIP!!!!

Lol
Okwaraji and Osondu play together?

I was about to ask, but I no too dey familiar with that epoch.

For where?
Daddy Osondu no pass 'U17' level nah.

Osondu was in Green Eagles camp in 1981.

folem wrote:

Damunk wrote:

Chief Ogbunigwe wrote:

megapro wrote:

100%Naija wrote:Sam Okwaraji is a skiller
He passed the ball to Osondu
Osondu passed to Ohenhen
Ohenhen shoots inside the net
Chris Ohenhen fired the free kick inside the net!!!

Sam Okwaraji - A certified baller and lawyer - RIP!!!!

Lol
Okwaraji and Osondu play together?

I was about to ask, but I no too dey familiar with that epoch.

For where?
Daddy Osondu no pass 'U17' level nah.

Osondu was in Green Eagles camp in 1981.

Yep, Phillip "Za n' za" Osondu was there in the early 1980s. However, that was when Onigbinde invited well over 100 footballers as he (Onigbinde) started to rebuild the team.

megapro wrote:

azuka wrote:

theYemster wrote:I still remember watching live on TV.

May his soul continue to test in peace.

Woow how time flies. It seems just like yesterday. I was at the stadium life that day thanks to IBB's one-year ban on 6 unis.
May he soul continue to rest in perfect peace.

One year ban?

Sam Okwaraji
Super Eagles
1988-1989

Okwaraji's presence on the scene was just too sudden and too short
Gifted fellow, in the brief 18 months he presented himself he gave his best and showed his class

His playing for Nigeria is more like a case of happenstance
Nigeria had great performers in the middle, with stiff competition from the actors of early eighties Henry Nwosu, Sylvanus Okpala and Ademola Adeshina contending with the new, younger foreign based pros Osaro Obobaifo, Austin Igbinabaro, not to mention guys like Dahiru Sadi, Thompson Oliha, Ayo Ogulana and Friday Ekpo and the Kpakpor brothers

Competition was actually fierce for few spaces and Sam Okwaraji though not completely unknown but was not in the picture, and within few months he had attended the African Nations cup and the Olympics!

Just how did it happen?

Nigeria was hosting Algeria in a crucial last qualifying game for the 1988 Olympics after losing 0:1 to Algeria just inside the new year in Annaba

For the return game the Eagles were taken to Enugu where they camped and trained at the stadium

Few days to the game the team vere playing Probables vs Possibles (starters) but were only 21 and needed someone to make the training look complete

They spotted a well kitted guy with beautiful canvas jogging around in the stadium. He looked sound and fitted the bill so they approached him

Okwaraji was on a winter break holiday from SSV Ulm (on loan from VFB Stuttgart) and jogged at the Enugu stadium everyday to keep fit

He entered the pitch and change the team and his life that very day. With a commanding, virtuoso performance he won his automatic spot that moment and remained a regular until his last minute where he died wearing the green and white colours for Nigeria

At the 1988 Nations cup he scored the hitherto fastest goal, and got his rasta dreadlocks in the style of CIV's Zahoui François during the friendly matches just before the 1988 Seoul Olympics

He was a sure starter for the penultimate WC group qualifier against Angola which had become dicey after the loss in Gabon

For such crucial games, Nigeria looked on to foreign based players like him, but the atmosphere was already heated because of the passion to serve and the competition for spaces

The simultaneously held qualifiers for the Nations cup had been executed by many homebased players who wrapped up the qualifying spot before this game

Brilliant home based Friday Ekpo was quoted before the march as saying 'over his dead body for any foreign based player to come and pick his shirt'

The match was tense. The weather was hot. At half time in the dressing room Okwaraji poured a lot of cold water on his head and dreadlocks. He returned to the pitch to give his best...and his rest!

Eboigbe was the first to rush to him when he noticed he remained in a motionless position after falling

8 years later August 1997, playing for Reutlingen near Ulm, Emmanuel Nwanegbo slumped after taking a free kick very early in the March. He also did not make it

Okwaraji served his country to the last, and deserves to be the icon he is

Megapro

Yes one year ban. The highly successful anti-SAP riot happened. And as a result IBB closed all universities but later recalled the universities bar the following 6: UI, Unilag, Uniben, ABU, OAU and UNN. IBB announced a 1-year closure on these 6 universities which he later reduced to 6 months.
It was at the start of the 1-year ban/closure of 6 universitied that the match took place.

Enugu II wrote:

folem wrote:

Damunk wrote:

Chief Ogbunigwe wrote:

megapro wrote:

100%Naija wrote:Sam Okwaraji is a skiller
He passed the ball to Osondu
Osondu passed to Ohenhen
Ohenhen shoots inside the net
Chris Ohenhen fired the free kick inside the net!!!

Sam Okwaraji - A certified baller and lawyer - RIP!!!!

Lol
Okwaraji and Osondu play together?

I was about to ask, but I no too dey familiar with that epoch.

For where?
Daddy Osondu no pass 'U17' level nah.

Osondu was in Green Eagles camp in 1981.

Yep, Phillip "Za n' za" Osondu was there in the early 1980s. However, that was when Onigbinde invited well over 100 footballers as he (Onigbinde) started to rebuild the team.

I bumped into Segun Fetuga (and Taribo) on Monday and while we were chatting I thought of asking about Osondu but change my mind.