Whao…friends then, friends now, in pure demonstration of the beauty and essence of sports, no matter how competitive and what’s at stake.
From left, Late Shooting Stars FC Captain Samuel Ojebode, Enugu Rangers Captain Christian Chukwu, yours truly Segun Odegbami, and ‘tallest’ Emmanuel Okala, on the eve of, probably, the greatest domestic football match ever played in Nigeria, the semi-finals of the 1977 Africa Cup-winners Cup in Lagos.
The picture was on the front page of the Daily Times, Nigeria’s largest circulating newspaper then.
It was taken to douse the tension between feuding supporters of the two teams about to ignite a ‘war’ between the Igbos and the Yorubas in Lagos as a result of the rivalry between the clubs and what they both represented at the time – their ethnic nationalities!
The match in Lagos eventually ended in a goalless draw. The return leg was moved to a neutral ground – Kaduna. It was the largest audience ever seen at the Ahmadu Bello stadium.
Rangers won the match, won the final match against a teàm from the Cameroons, and became 1977 African champions, one year after Shooting Stars had led the way by becoming the first club side in Nigeria to win the same continental club trophy.
That year I became the first Nigerian football player in history to be nominated for Africa’s best player award. I came third.
3 years later in 1980I was second best! Too bad?
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