Football on the menu as
Odegbami buries mum

The sleepy town of Wasimi on the outskirts of Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, played host to the cream of the Nigerian football elite penultimate Saturday. It was at the funeral of the mother of the man we all call Uncle "Big Seg". He is Segun Odegbami, one of the greatest football legends Nigeria ever produced.

Odegbami burst into national limelight in 1976 when he, alongside his compatriots like Sam Ojebode,Kunle Awesu, Muda Lawal won a continental cup - the Africa Club Winners Cup - the first for Nigeria.

Odegbami added glamour to Nigerian football. He mesmerised defenders, goalkeepers and fans alike, with his measured dribbles as he characteristlically raced down the touchline with mathematical precision. The iconic commentator, Ernest Okonkwo, christened him aptly when he nicknamed him "Mathematical Odegbami". He captained the Green Eagles,was at the Olympic Games twice, won the Nigerian League and the Challenge Cup and twice got to the very final African qualifying match for the World Cup. Odegbami was named third best player in Africa in his prime.

A legend of many stories. It is said that during the epic semi-final second -leg match of the Africa Cup Winners Cup between IICC and Rangers FC in Kaduna (1977) , Emmanuel Okala,Nigeria's greatest goalkeeper of all time, had queried Christian Chukwu,his central defender who later became captain, and much later Coach, of the Super Eagles,why he allowed Odegbami a free reign in the danger zone of the team. Chukwu in exasperation, reportedly retorded in Igbo language, "Odegbami a di tough ( this Odegbami is tough). If you mark him on the left you find him on the right. If you wait for him in the centre, he disappears." It was in the aftermath of that historic match that i realised,very pungently, how biting and intoxicating the love of football could be. The IICC lost the epic match on penalties and a wife in our neighbourhood in Sango,Ibadan, saw in the defeat of her husband's darling team an issue withvwhich to taunt her hurting husband. In the unfortunate and condemnable fistcuffs that followed, the wife lost two front teeth.

Growing up, i fantasized about a career in football, a fantasy that actually took me as far as the football team of my school, Anwar Ul Islam High School, Iseyin, in Oyo State.The motivation was of course, the likes of Segun Odegbami. So much was the glory that football brought to Odegbami that when he wedded in 1977, it was a national celebration signposted by a dedicated album specially waxed for the occasion by no less a celebrated artiste than the choice musician of the kings, Ebenezar Obey. "Odegbami se'gbe 'yawo,aye gbo, orun mo, gbogbo IICC lo pe ju..."( When Odegbami had his wedding, the whole world was aware as the heavens also know. All members of the IICC ( the reigning African football champions) were in attendance..."

Odegbami and his likes indeed changed the fortune of football in Nigeria. Before then, been caught unawares playing football in the neighbourhood was usually punished with strokes of the cane or heavy knocks on the head or the much dreaded " Kneel down at the corner of the room and close your eyes". The coming of the likes of Odegbami, armed with tertiary education certificates, changed all that. From playing football being a sort of "treasonable offence" to be embraced discretely, the sentiment became "even if you will play football as a career, finish your education first like Odegbami".

It is a counsel that Odegbami's life story has proved invaluable. Although he stopped playing active football over 30 years ago, he remains evergreen in the consciousness of the nation because of his education and self- development. He remains a respected voice in sports administration and youth development. In Big Seg, Nigeria has a prodigious reservior of knowledge yet untapped for sports and its utilisation for youth development.

As a gubernatorial aspirant in Oyo State, my policy initiatives on Sports and Youth Development have benefitted immensely from insights provided by Uncle Big Seg.

Oyo State is blessed with a huge population of youths although their potential remains just that; potential. Our programme of youth development emphasises sports because it is an instruement for mental, physical and spiritual development. The checklist of our schools will include a sporting arena. The curriculum will emphasise sports. Every school at primary and secondary levels must have physical development and sports instructors. Community sporting centres and local stadia will be developed and sporting clinics for major sports like football, lawn tennis, table tennis, swimming and athletics will be promoted in concert with the private sector. Oyo State in partnership with the private sector and possibly,major football clubs around the world, will have a football academy to train and groom world class footballers. Just as John Kennedy charged Americans to go to the moon,we will put our youths in the national sports teams, in the English Premier League and other major football leagues in the world just as our priorities in education will put our youths in commanding positions in all spheres of life around the world.

We will identify our talented children and youths early and hone their skills so that we can produce world champions. I am always excited thinking of what six or more indigenes of Oyo State playing in the English Premier League or Spannish League or the Bundesliga could do to the orientation of our youths back home and build their confidence that they also can conquer the world. We have to go back to the days in the 1970s when indigenes of Oyo State dominated the national football team and were permanent features of the major national sporting teams.Our teams like the 3SC and the Crown FC must return to national reckoning.This is the Oyo State of our dream. It is possible. We CAN do it