Peterborough United article on Thunder Balogun

[sufferhead]

The story of Tesilimi "Thunder" Balogun, is an important, albeit tiny, part of Peterborough United's history. Balogun holds the distinction of being Posh's first ever coloured player. He joined the club during the 55/56 season and was a regular in the Nigerian international team for almost a decade.


Not many Posh supporters of 2001 would have heard of Tesilimi "Thunder" Balogun, but he is an important part of the history of Peterborough United Football Club, albeit a very small part.

Balogun has the distinction of being the first coloured player to sign professional forms for Peterborough United and it is quite an interesting story as to how his short stay at Posh came about. There are also one or two legendary fables surrounding Balogun, whether some of them are true or not may well have to be decided by you, the reader.

In August 1955 "Thunder" (his nickname), so called because of his terrific shot, signed professional forms for Peterborough United and began a month's trial, he was 27 years of age at the time and was 6ft 2in tall. He came to England with the reputation of being Nigeria's best player at the time and had been an automatic choice for the centre forward position of the Nigerian international team for the previous nine years. He had also been the leading scorer in Nigerian football in the 1950's and legend will also tell you that his thunderous shot had killed a goalkeeper or two in his homeland!

Balogun was introduced to Peterborough United by one Mr. R B Allen, a Peterborian, who was, for some unknown reason, secretary of the Nigerian Football Association. Balogun had come to England for four years, primarily to learn the printing trade and made his debut for Posh reserves in an Eastern Counties League match away to Holbeach. Although he never scored in that match the Posh manager at the time, George Swindin thought he was a player with great potential.

However, Balogun's time in the Peterborough area ran into problems, as he soon discovered that it was going to be extremely difficult to achieve his main objective in coming to England and learning the printing trade. Local companies were reluctant to offer him a position as he would almost certainly leave the company as soon as he had learnt the trade. Also, he would have had to receive many priveleges not afforded to other employee's, in so much as he would have required time off to play in matches for Posh and train. His plight was detailed in The Peterborough Evening Telegraph as it became apparent that Balogun would probably have to leave England if he couldn't learn his preferred trade.

Balogun had become a firm favourite with the London Road crowd and was an obvious asset to any forward line, he said at the time that of the games he had played in and watched, he thought that the players positional sense was better than in Nigeria, but the pace of the game was slower in England.

It is famously said that during his trial period at Posh, Balogun used to sleep at nights in the old main stand, a fact that was confirmed by former Posh player at the time, Ellis Stafford. Other stories surrounding the player that suggested he turned up to his first ever training session in bare feet have so far proved unfounded.

Balogun returned to Nigeria without ever making a senior first team appearance for Posh, but the player will forever remain a tiny part of Peterborough United folklore and is to this day, a very important part of Nigerian football history.

[Chief Goza]

Interesting article. Enlightening.

[platinum]

Good to see them giving some props to the late great.

[NEDI]

Good to see them giving some props to the late great.

Good indeed. But why is it still difficult to verify the tale about the GKs who fell victim to Thunder's thunderous shot?
If we're talking about the 1950's then 1Naija should be able to validate the story, he was a part time grounds man at Onikan while working full time at P&T.
1Naija, oya, osi su what really happened?