The 2013 SWAN Media Games may have come and gone, but the memory of the games will forever remain fresh in the minds of the players, coach and management of the Federated Chapel team, having surprised everyone by winning the prestigious trophy for journalists.
This is because of the way they went about winning the trophy.
Firstly, this is a team made up of players from different backgrounds, who prior to this competition, had never played together and perhaps some of them had never met each other.
Secondly, most of the players that made up the team are those who have never before in their lives gone through the tedious trainings in preparation to each match of their group.
All of these were very evident on the first day of training the journalists-turned players who were put through different kinds of physical therapy by coach Kite, a well-known coach in this part of the country, so as to keep physically fit for the mission ahead.
Team Federated Chapel were never counted by pundits as one of the pre-tournament favourites, and this was because of their poor record in the history of the SWAN Media Games.
The team found themselves in what could be called ‘group of death’ after the draws for the competition was done: being put group B also consisting pre-tournament favourites Atlantic Waves, NTA Chapel and the Correspondents Chapel.
This further dampened the chances of Federated Chapel to make it pass the group stage of the games.
First came Atlantic Waves in the first match of the group for Federated Chapel, a team consisting of players who stay together, have been training together for a long time, and probably knew each other’s weakness and strong points of the game.
And this Atlantic Waves showed by breezing past the Federated Chapel counterparts 3-1, with all of their 3 goals scored in the first ten minutes of the game.
The manner of the defeat was one which did not go down well with coach Kite and perhaps acted as a wake-up call to the players and the whole team.
Federated Chapel team now had to win their remaining group matches if they were to make it to the quarterfinals, and their second group match opponents came in the form of Correspondents Chapel, who also were expected to win their second match, having recorded a draw in their first match against the NTA Chapel.
The pre-match talks and more tedious trainings coach Kite put the Federated Chapel through were evident as the players stepped up their game and recorded their first win of the group, courtesy of a lone goal scored by their prolific striker, Ubong Inyang.
All the Nsibiet John-captained team needed now was to win their final group match against a certain NTA Chapel team who needed a win badly having lost their second match to the high-flying Atlantic Waves, and they would win a quarterfinal ticket.
The match began with both teams finding it very hard to find a clear-cut chance on goal due to the tight defence of both teams. Despite this, the Federated Chapel players who were now finding their feet as each game went by used the only opportunity they could find to score the only goal of the match: Ubong Inyang yet again stepping to the rescue of his teammates to score his third goal of the tournament to lead the goal scorers chart.
Having won two group matches, thus gaining six points, Federated Chapel qualified for the knock-out stages of the tournament behind group leaders Atlantic Waves who had seven points.
The quarterfinal fixtures placed the team, who people still considered to be riding their luck, against group A leaders, the Pioneer Machines, and the match had to be decided by penalty-kicks after normal time ended in a goalless draw. After the end of the penalties, a winner emerged, and yet still Federated Chapel team defied all odds to get to the semifinal of the competition, much to the surprise of football pundits and perhaps even themselves.
When their semifinal opponents were made known to the public, people now unanimously agreed that this was definitely the final bus stop for the coach Kite-led team, as they were to play against perhaps their most feared foes and the only team to defeat and also score against them: the tournament favourites, Atlantic Waves, which made it to that stage after recording a 2-1 win over the Correspondents Chapel.
Even when the boys from Federated Chapel took the lead via a Victor Ufot free-kick in the first ten minutes of the game, the on-lookers still predicted victory for the Atlantic Waves team. It took a second goal from the in-form Ubong Inyang in the dying minutes of the game for the spectators and the Federated Chapel to realize what they had just done: depriving Atlantic Waves the chance of proving football pundits right, defeating the journalists from Atlantic FM 2-0 and doing so in a spectacular fashion.
One team now stood in the way of the Federated Chapel of surpassing the expectations they had before the beginning of the Championship, and this team was from the Information Chapel, a team which had to defeat the Consolidated Chapel via penalties in the semifinal stage of the games.
The final suffered postponement upon postponement, a trend common in this part of the country, in what the organizers blamed on financial difficulties. After what seemed like eternity, the final was finally fixed to take place on Monday, October 7 at the Uyo Township Stadium by 4.00pm just after the Losers final may have taken place between the Atlantic Waves and Consolidated Chapel.
After the third-place match which was won by Atlantic Waves, then came the time everyone who was at the stadium was waiting for, as players from both teams lined up for kick-off formalities. The blowing of the whistle by the center-referee signaled the beginning of the first half of the final.
Both teams struggled to play well, with spectators forced to watch both teams play what is known here commonly as ‘goal to goal’, and this continued till the end of the first half with none of the two teams doing well to threaten the defence line of the other. This continued in the second half as both teams could not use the few chances they created to great effect.
This led to 20 minutes of extra time being played: ten minutes in each half. Yet still no goal was scored and when the whistle was blown by the referee, the players and the crowd knew that this final was actually going to be decided via penalties.
At the end of the spot kicks, a winner had emerged and guess which team came out victorious: the Federated Chapel team, winning by 5-4.
A new winner for the SWAN Media Games had emerged, and it was not the pre-tournament favourites Atlantic Waves, neither was it the Information Chapel, it was a team made up of players who were never given any chance of making it to the final, not to talk of winning the much coveted trophy: the Federated Chapel team coached by Kite and captained by Nsibiet John.
The team did not just take home the trophy, but one of their players, Ubong Inyang, was awarded the most valuable player and the highest goal scorer of the games.
The Federated Chapel team had come, saw, and conquered their counterparts from other Chapels of the NUJ.
A big congratulation to the players, coach and management of the Federated Chapel for recording such a rare feat.
The victorious federated chapel squad list
Nsisong Affangideh, Gideon Ekere, Ekemini Simon, Godwin Antai, Ukpono, Okokon, Nsibiet John(C), Victor Ufot, Ubong Sampson, Ifreke Nseowo, Bright James, Solomon Nkem, Maurice Robert, Umoh Umoh,Wisdom Godwin, Ubong Inyang, Bassey Sunday , Emmanuel Akpan, Godwin Sam.
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