Let us go back to Ilorin

[danfo driver]

thanks Oloye and Dammy

[oloye]

We were sitting in our bus which was parked inside the car park located near their football pitch while waiting for the kick-off. The pitch at the time was a fantastic sight to behold and it was also the envy of the nation, boasting of a playing surface which even the national stadium could not boast of at the time.

Our bus was soon surrounded by the students of the host University and they started talking about the impending match. They spoke so confidently about their team; they were so sure our team was no match for them. Who is Unilorin in Nigerian Universities football they asked? We could hear everything in the bus, it was my first year and match for the University of Ilorin (Unilorin) football team, it was a friendly and our host were the might University of Ife later renamed Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU).
The truth at the time was, my university was not renown for any sporting prowess, the bunch sitting in the bus were just individuals who loved to play the game and were hurriedly assembled together to honour the friendly. None of us at the time were playing any serious football, all our kick about was on the campus. We were the normal academic bunch that you will see on most of the Nigerian University campuses at the time.

As if the students and fans of the host university knew this and were there to intimidate us, they continued with their conversation this time carefully reeling out the names of players expected to play the game. “In goal we would have Wasiu Adebayo”- said one of them (he plays for the IICC Shooting stars FC of Ibadan one of the biggest football clubs in the history of Nigerian football). Another quickly chipped in, “yes we would also have Tosin Adebambo in the defence, as well as Nosa Osadolor” (Tosin also plays for Shooting stars while Osadolor was in the national under 21 team). Another one shouted, don’t forget Victor Ezekwesili (He was also a player of IICC), another added Adegoke Adelabu will be playing too (a former Nigerian International and Shooting stars player). Not to be undone another mentioned Kayode Balogun and everyone cheered Zegeeeee!!!! He was the son of the legendary and almost mythical Thunder Balogun. Zege Played for Water Corporation Ibadan as a student and was at the time also a Nigerian International.

We heard everything being said and it all went very quiet in the bus, too quiet for comfort, it was like we were listening to death sentences being passed around with each name being dropped. Fear was written all over our young academic faces and we were quaking in our pants, we came to play against students and not football professionals. As if what we’ve heard was not hard enough to process in one day, we then heard another voice drop another name- “And Okeys will be playing in the defence too” - that was the straw that broke the back of our Camel from Ilorin.

In the bus we all thought that Okey Isima, a Nigerian international and member of the team that won the African Cup of Nations for Nigeria in 1980 had also secured admission into OAU. That must have been what triggered off the next reaction when the sound of the name Okeys sifted into our bus. We panicked and a trembling voice from somewhere in the bus said…Guys let us head back to Ilorin, we are going to be beaten silly on the field.

Perhaps we should have listened to that voice, because we were completely destroyed on the pitch, it was a rout, the game was over within 30 minutes, they put 4 goals past us, and their big guns left us for their smaller guns to finish off. From the way they handled us, it was like we came to disturb them on their campus. Oh by the way, the Okeys turned out to be Okenla the elder brother of Folorunsho Okenla. In truth, we had no business being on the same pitch with those guys, in boxing or any combat game, it would be a mismatch and the match would have been called off.

Sometimes that voice always say the truth. Anyway, I think OAU has lost that glory because the match against same Ilorin in 2000 or 2001 ended in 0-0. We intimidated Ilorin with the school anthem and what not, but it was a different ball game on the green grass, Ilorin had the upper hand that their fans taunted the hell out of us. Unfortunately they forgot they were playing away...let's just say some of their fans were given partial beating sha.

Great what you could no longer do on the field you now try to do off the field

Truth is other Universities also caught up on the game.

[Dammy]

thanks Oloye and Dammy

It's so funny looking back. Our palmwine drinkers club were singing all sorts of war songs like " a ti leri pe a ma na wan pa patapata o! ( we promise to beat them up completely). Ojebode, the coach commented in Yoruba "okunrin ni swan eleyi" ( These ones are real men), because when those guys sing your praises, you feel like you can take on the world. However, when we sighted the big boys and their pre match routine, we knew say water don pass garri!

[felarey]

We panicked and a trembling voice from somewhere in the bus said…Guys let us head back to Ilorin, we are going to be beaten silly on the field.

People getting paid to play (pros) should not be playing with/against those without renumeration (amateurs). But I guess the downside (maybe) would be you won't see the Green Eagles playing a university team.

[leftee]

Oloye! My respect for this man grows by the day. I see he modestly forgot how Unilorin paid the great Unife back in their own coin at the maiden edition of the Pepsi Cup

[oloye]

We panicked and a trembling voice from somewhere in the bus said…Guys let us head back to Ilorin, we are going to be beaten silly on the field.

People getting paid to play (pros) should not be playing with/against those without renumeration (amateurs). But I guess the downside (maybe) would be you won't see the Green Eagles playing a university team.

Sports including football was still seen as amateur then, but I used the word Pro here because of the level of training and competitions these guys have been exposed to. I remember the first shot Tosin took in that game, no school boy would hit the ball and the ball would respond in that manner. There was a zing sound, a whoosh as the ball zipped past... You don't need anyone to tell you that these ones are on another level. Like some have also mentioned, when you watch them strut onto the field, see their body shape and fine tuned muscles, you just know that these ones have been training daily as opposed to once a week kick about we call training. The term pro here does not simply imply being paid, rather it was used to describe the level of their conditioning and operation. Khaki and leather can never be in the same category ojare

[Lolly]

We panicked and a trembling voice from somewhere in the bus said…Guys let us head back to Ilorin, we are going to be beaten silly on the field.

People getting paid to play (pros) should not be playing with/against those without renumeration (amateurs). But I guess the downside (maybe) would be you won't see the Green Eagles playing a university team.

Sports including football was still seen as amateur then, but I used the word Pro here because of the level of training and competitions these guys have been exposed to. I remember the first shot Tosin took in that game, no school boy would hit the ball and the ball would respond in that manner. There was a zing sound, a whoosh as the ball zipped past... You don't need anyone to tell you that these ones are on another level. Like some have also mentioned, when you watch them strut onto the field, see their body shape and fine tuned muscles, you just know that these ones have been training daily as opposed to once a week kick about we call training. The term pro here does not simply imply being paid, rather it was used to describe the level of their conditioning and operation. Khaki and leather can never be in the same category ojare

We had a few "Pro" players play for Unilag too in the 80s. I actually played against some of them in our inter hall soccer tournament and it was scary because I played in my Years 1&2 when I was 17/18 and I was really skinny then. There were at least 3 or 4 SE players in different halls back then. I remember Eyo Martins who was in my class, Dieprieye Teibowaye (sic) who was in flying eagles but got also had one SE cap, Adokiye Amiesimaka's brother who I can't remember his name and one IICC player. Those games used to be fire. But surprisingly, the best player was an unknown Medilag (Unilag medical school) student nicknamed "Skilful". The guy was a player but he sabi book well well and would not have considered playing pro football.

[The Eagle]

We panicked and a trembling voice from somewhere in the bus said…Guys let us head back to Ilorin, we are going to be beaten silly on the field.

People getting paid to play (pros) should not be playing with/against those without renumeration (amateurs). But I guess the downside (maybe) would be you won't see the Green Eagles playing a university team.

Sports including football was still seen as amateur then, but I used the word Pro here because of the level of training and competitions these guys have been exposed to. I remember the first shot Tosin took in that game, no school boy would hit the ball and the ball would respond in that manner. There was a zing sound, a whoosh as the ball zipped past... You don't need anyone to tell you that these ones are on another level. Like some have also mentioned, when you watch them strut onto the field, see their body shape and fine tuned muscles, you just know that these ones have been training daily as opposed to once a week kick about we call training. The term pro here does not simply imply being paid, rather it was used to describe the level of their conditioning and operation. Khaki and leather can never be in the same category ojare

Ah, but Oloye the "amateur" tag in football was a legalistic falsehood, wasn't it? Someone would be hired as a "teller" by First Bank, or as a "civil servant" by Imo State .... but their real job is playing football for First Bank FC and Spartans.

The small pickin version of me wondered why they didn't just admit the league was professional, instead of the paperwork required to maintain the fiction. I mean, nothing would have spoiled if it was called what it was.

[Aswani]

Ah, but Oloye the "amateur" tag in football was a legalistic falsehood, wasn't it? Someone would be hired as a "teller" by First Bank or as a "civil servant" by Imo State .... but their real job is playing football for First Bank FC and Spartans.

'The Eagle', funny that you mention this, I remember seeing Fatai Amoo on a few occasions during lunchtimes walking along Marina in a shirt and tie.

[oloye]

Ah, but Oloye the "amateur" tag in football was a legalistic falsehood, wasn't it? Someone would be hired as a "teller" by First Bank or as a "civil servant" by Imo State .... but their real job is playing football for First Bank FC and Spartans.

'The Eagle', funny that you mention this, I remember seeing Fatai Amoo on a few occasions during lunchtimes walking along Marina in a shirt and tie.

The level of commitment required varies depending on the establishments. But yes as time went on the demands to win meant more and more clubs went away from the amateur status and were actually professional sides. For those of us who combined school with football, I think we were still able to meet that requirement as we're not able to train fully since we have classes to attend as well.

By the way Arsenal Fatai Amoo would actually be working as a first bank staff, since most of their players would retire to the office when they retire. That was why I wanted to join first bank during my service, I worked my service to Lagos, but felt insulted when Coach Laloko the coach asked me to come and do trials. This was the coach who a year earlier as part of the national team scouts invited me to the national team. I told him to get lost.

[Dammy]

Ah, but Oloye the "amateur" tag in football was a legalistic falsehood, wasn't it? Someone would be hired as a "teller" by First Bank or as a "civil servant" by Imo State .... but their real job is playing football for First Bank FC and Spartans.

'The Eagle', funny that you mention this, I remember seeing Fatai Amoo on a few occasions during lunchtimes walking along Marina in a shirt and tie.

The level of commitment required varies depending on the establishments. But yes as time went on the demands to win meant more and more clubs went away from the amateur status and were actually professional sides. For those of us who combined school with football, I think we were still able to meet that requirement as we're not able to train fully since we have classes to attend as well.

By the way Arsenal Fatai Amoo would actually be working as a first bank staff, since most of their players would retire to the office when they retire. That was why I wanted to join first bank during my service, I worked my service to Lagos, but felt insulted when Coach Laloko the coach asked me to come and do trials. This was the coach who a year earlier as part of the national team scouts invited me to the national team. I told him to get lost.

You told an agbalagba to get lost?

[oloye]

Ah, but Oloye the "amateur" tag in football was a legalistic falsehood, wasn't it? Someone would be hired as a "teller" by First Bank or as a "civil servant" by Imo State .... but their real job is playing football for First Bank FC and Spartans.

'The Eagle', funny that you mention this, I remember seeing Fatai Amoo on a few occasions during lunchtimes walking along Marina in a shirt and tie.

The level of commitment required varies depending on the establishments. But yes as time went on the demands to win meant more and more clubs went away from the amateur status and were actually professional sides. For those of us who combined school with football, I think we were still able to meet that requirement as we're not able to train fully since we have classes to attend as well.

By the way Arsenal Fatai Amoo would actually be working as a first bank staff, since most of their players would retire to the office when they retire. That was why I wanted to join first bank during my service, I worked my service to Lagos, but felt insulted when Coach Laloko the coach asked me to come and do trials. This was the coach who a year earlier as part of the national team scouts invited me to the national team. I told him to get lost.

You told an agbalagba to get lost?

By my actions, I simply left and did not come back. The next time he saw me it was in the colors of BCC and sheepishly was trying to tell people that he discovered me some years back. I just ignored everything.

[Chief Ogbunigwe]

We panicked and a trembling voice from somewhere in the bus said…Guys let us head back to Ilorin, we are going to be beaten silly on the field.

People getting paid to play (pros) should not be playing with/against those without renumeration (amateurs). But I guess the downside (maybe) would be you won't see the Green Eagles playing a university team.

Sports including football was still seen as amateur then, but I used the word Pro here because of the level of training and competitions these guys have been exposed to. I remember the first shot Tosin took in that game, no school boy would hit the ball and the ball would respond in that manner. There was a zing sound, a whoosh as the ball zipped past... You don't need anyone to tell you that these ones are on another level. Like some have also mentioned, when you watch them strut onto the field, see their body shape and fine tuned muscles, you just know that these ones have been training daily as opposed to once a week kick about we call training. The term pro here does not simply imply being paid, rather it was used to describe the level of their conditioning and operation. Khaki and leather can never be in the same category ojare

We had a few "Pro" players play for Unilag too in the 80s. I actually played against some of them in our inter hall soccer tournament and it was scary because I played in my Years 1&2 when I was 17/18 and I was really skinny then. There were at least 3 or 4 SE players in different halls back then. I remember Eyo Martins who was in my class, Dieprieye Teibowaye (sic) who was in flying eagles but got also had one SE cap, Adokiye Amiesimaka's brother who I can't remember his name and one IICC player. Those games used to be fire. But surprisingly, the best player was an unknown Medilag (Unilag medical school) student nicknamed "Skilful". The guy was a player but he sabi book well well and would not have considered playing pro football.

Wasn't Felix Owolabi also a student at Unilag back then?

[oloye]

We panicked and a trembling voice from somewhere in the bus said…Guys let us head back to Ilorin, we are going to be beaten silly on the field.

People getting paid to play (pros) should not be playing with/against those without renumeration (amateurs). But I guess the downside (maybe) would be you won't see the Green Eagles playing a university team.

Sports including football was still seen as amateur then, but I used the word Pro here because of the level of training and competitions these guys have been exposed to. I remember the first shot Tosin took in that game, no school boy would hit the ball and the ball would respond in that manner. There was a zing sound, a whoosh as the ball zipped past... You don't need anyone to tell you that these ones are on another level. Like some have also mentioned, when you watch them strut onto the field, see their body shape and fine tuned muscles, you just know that these ones have been training daily as opposed to once a week kick about we call training. The term pro here does not simply imply being paid, rather it was used to describe the level of their conditioning and operation. Khaki and leather can never be in the same category ojare

We had a few "Pro" players play for Unilag too in the 80s. I actually played against some of them in our inter hall soccer tournament and it was scary because I played in my Years 1&2 when I was 17/18 and I was really skinny then. There were at least 3 or 4 SE players in different halls back then. I remember Eyo Martins who was in my class, Dieprieye Teibowaye (sic) who was in flying eagles but got also had one SE cap, Adokiye Amiesimaka's brother who I can't remember his name and one IICC player. Those games used to be fire. But surprisingly, the best player was an unknown Medilag (Unilag medical school) student nicknamed "Skilful". The guy was a player but he sabi book well well and would not have considered playing pro football.

Wasn't Felix Owolabi also a student at Unilag back then?

He graduated about the same time as Adokiye, both played for Unilag in the late 70s and as would be expected I want to believe Unilag won NUGA football medal around that time.

[The Eagle]

Ah, but Oloye the "amateur" tag in football was a legalistic falsehood, wasn't it? Someone would be hired as a "teller" by First Bank or as a "civil servant" by Imo State .... but their real job is playing football for First Bank FC and Spartans.

'The Eagle', funny that you mention this, I remember seeing Fatai Amoo on a few occasions during lunchtimes walking along Marina in a shirt and tie.

Years ago, FIFA TV did a feature on Kenya Breweries FC (now known as Tusker FC), talking as though it was an amateur team of company workers who assembled together to train and play matches. The clip featured Kenya Breweries players wearing hard hats and industrial apparel on the factory floor, pretending to be busy .... except they did not do any actual "work" in the clip. They were just laughing and exchanging jokes with the actual workers. Probably the workers were teasing them for their Halloween dress-up.

The FIFA presenter said something along the lines of "the company management gives the players ample time off to train for their league matches", as if the company had not hired them (including multi-capped Kenyan internationals like Ghost Mulee) purely to play football. But as Oloye said, sometimes these companies (and state governments in Nigeria, as well as institutions like the Nigerian Police Force) could give you a "real" job if you retired as a club legend.

[Lolly]

We panicked and a trembling voice from somewhere in the bus said…Guys let us head back to Ilorin, we are going to be beaten silly on the field.

People getting paid to play (pros) should not be playing with/against those without renumeration (amateurs). But I guess the downside (maybe) would be you won't see the Green Eagles playing a university team.

Sports including football was still seen as amateur then, but I used the word Pro here because of the level of training and competitions these guys have been exposed to. I remember the first shot Tosin took in that game, no school boy would hit the ball and the ball would respond in that manner. There was a zing sound, a whoosh as the ball zipped past... You don't need anyone to tell you that these ones are on another level. Like some have also mentioned, when you watch them strut onto the field, see their body shape and fine tuned muscles, you just know that these ones have been training daily as opposed to once a week kick about we call training. The term pro here does not simply imply being paid, rather it was used to describe the level of their conditioning and operation. Khaki and leather can never be in the same category ojare

We had a few "Pro" players play for Unilag too in the 80s. I actually played against some of them in our inter hall soccer tournament and it was scary because I played in my Years 1&2 when I was 17/18 and I was really skinny then. There were at least 3 or 4 SE players in different halls back then. I remember Eyo Martins who was in my class, Dieprieye Teibowaye (sic) who was in flying eagles but got also had one SE cap, Adokiye Amiesimaka's brother who I can't remember his name and one IICC player. Those games used to be fire. But surprisingly, the best player was an unknown Medilag (Unilag medical school) student nicknamed "Skilful". The guy was a player but he sabi book well well and would not have considered playing pro football.

Wasn't Felix Owolabi also a student at Unilag back then?

Before my time.

[furiously frank]

Oloye abeg what year was this? I knew about Nosa Osadolor and Victor Ezekwesili but these other people I had no idea,were in Ife

Are you kidding me? That was when sports center is the place to be. Majority of the players either played for Shooting Stars, Femo Scorpion or IBL FC Ilesa. NUGA Games was fun then. We had beauty pageant every year and Fela shows up sometimes 2ce a year. Shina Peters 2nd LP videos was shot on campus. Great Ife was the place to be then... No need to go off campus. We never do. Early 80s we even had Green Eagles trained on campus before Libya '82 ( I think?)