 |
| Late Samuel Okwaraji |
BY AMOS ETUK
It was a lovely Saturday in Lagos State. The sun shone brightly and the excitement not only in the commercial city of Nigeria was also across the country especially as a crucial World Cup qualifier was to be played later that afternoon. The city of Lagos is one town where football fanaticism remains at its highest in the country and when any favourite team fails to live aboard expectations, then you must be ready for the scathing attacks passionate Lagos fans would dole on you especially during the days of rivalry with ferocious supporters of Stationary Stores Football Club, ACB, First Bank, Julius Berger and others.
Watching the Green Eagles play as that time was an exciting experience and relieving the glory days of my childhood growing up in Lagos and living close to the Games Village Camp of the national teams in Surulere was a memorable experience I cherish till date.
As such, the World Cup qualifier for the country on August 12, 1989 against Angola for a place at Italia 90 was another game every passionate Lagosian would dare not miss especially with hope and great expectations that Nigeria would qualify for the mundial for the first time.
The Green Eagles needed to win at home against the Angolans and as early as seven in the morning, the National Stadium, Surulere was already jamming with supporters outside the gate waiting to cheer the team to victory.
It was indeed a memorable day because never in the history of our football as a nation had I seen such an overwhelming an intimidating crowd at the National Stadium once a pride and fortress of our national teams.
The gates were opened by eleven that morning as I recall having gone with my late cousin Daramfon Udeme to cheer the team with an empty stomach but with loads of excitement of being witnesses to the history of another victory for the team filled with superstars.
By two in the afternoon, the stadium was jammed all over with no space as spectators had to find means of getting to the tartan tracks to sit and watch the game as the stadium had passed its limit filled to capacity but the fans kept faith waiting to see the likes of Samson Siasia, Stephen Keshi, Samuel Okwaraji who was one of the star attractions in the team as the newest revelation and Peter’’the rock’’ Rufai one of the best goalkeepers in the country whom we love to call ‘’ Dodomayana’’.
By the time the game started over nine persons had passed out due to exhaustion and some bodies were parried from up the stands to the tartan tracks for urgent medical attention. I also recall seeing some after being revived, lying helplessly on the tracks, but the game went ahead with Nigeria making the best of a home advantage till that dreadful 77th minute when the clock suddenly ticked to stop for our brightest and versatile player on the pitch that sunny afternoon as the country lost a patriot when the light went out suddenly on the mercurial midfielder, Samuel Sochukwuma Okwaraji.
Yours sincerely saw it all and how the closest person to him on the pitch Samson Siasia desperately signalled to the medical crew to rush in even before the referee gave the go ahead. It was shocking watching all the players surround him as the Red Cross stretchered him into the ambulance parked at the stadium.
No one ever believed that those were the last moments of the energetic midfielder who re-defined patriotism in football and died serving his country as the news later that night on television took the shine off the sweet two goals victory we earned over the Angolans.
It was surely and still remains one of the darkest days of our football history losing a player on the field as his death ensured new measures of assessing player’s health status for the national team in subsequent matches.
Samuel Okwaraji was a delight to watch especially with his pace on the pitch and his braided hair style which gave him a certain distinguished class as a player in the likes of Rudd Gullit as his short spell with the then Green Eagles put him on the focus of the football world as the rising start on the continent.
He remains one of our first and few senior national team players who was a graduate as he read Law and also had a Masters in International Law from the University of Rome. His intellectual depth made the difference between himself and his colleagues as he never waited for the Nigeria Football Association to send him tickets as he would use his funds to pay his way down to the country and was never involved in any imbroglio with his employers.
Samuel Okwaraji started his football career with the youth side of AS Roma between 1984- 1985, moved on to play senior football with Dinamo Zagreb between 1985 – 1986, moved to Austria between 1986-1987 where he played for Austria Klagenfurt and joined VFB Stuttgart in Germany between 1987-1989.
He played for the Green Eagles Eight times and one of his memorable outings we would relish was the goal he scored at Maroc 88 against Cameroon from outside the eighteen yard box which left the goalkeeper flat footed. That goal was the fastest in the tournament of the competition and led the team to the finals of that completion where the team lost to Cameroon.
He became an instant hero with the fans and the media as he kept his cool never allowing the success he was breaking into distract him. He looked forward to playing at the Italia 90 World Cup in one of his interviews after the 1988 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco. He worked hard to ensure that the Eagles qualified to break the jinx.
He was a leader that his team mates cherished especially with the new dimension of quality and patriotism he brought into the camp as he kept to himself and avoided the mafia groups of the Eagles as he believed that his focus to ensure the victory of the team remained paramount.
When he died, the football house as usual failed to honour this great son of Nigeria who died in active service and after many years of uproar by the media especially the sporting press, an image like monument of him was unveiled in front of the National Stadium, Surulere to immortalise him. That statue is the only remembrance of this football icon that changed the football pattern of our senior national team and added value with his intellectual depth and approach on the field also in the likes of the current Super Eagles Coach, Sunday Oliseh.
Not much has been done to ensure that his memory lives on. No academy has been named after this great Nigerian hero whom even in death has not been post- humously honoured. The National Stadium, Surulere where he died is today an eyesore with dilapidated facilities and criminals dwelling there. No competition has been named after him, no trophy has been named after him to win and I wonder if the Super Eagles or the Nigeria Football Federation would remember to inform the team to wear black arm band in her next match in his honour of if the next set of League matches across the country or the next Federation Cup matches taking place this week would honour him with a minute’s silence.
I recall writing about the Late Samuel Okwaraji and the need to immortalise our players and athletes especially the ones who died on active duty for the country but as usual, our administrators have paid lip service without any meaningful rewards even to the families.
This brings us to the issue of a proper insurance policy for our players in all the national teams and the female teams and the sincerity of these insurance firms to abide and support the next of kin of the affected families on time.
Wearing the national team jersey is always a moment of pride especially walking down the tunnel, facing the teeming supporters and beaming with smiles of faith as the national anthem blares from the speakers and the moment the blast of the whistle goes, the need to give your best rings in you knowing that your output is needed to lift your team and if in the course of national service, the clock stops to tick, then it will only be appropriate to honour the deceased family handsomely as a motivation to other players that their efforts will never end in vain or forgotten.
Samuel Okwaraji died at the age of twenty five. If he were alive today, he would have been fifty one years and who knows may have had a shot at handling the Super Eagles or would have been comfortable practicing as a legal icon in one of the European countries, but he chose a path to honour country and died on duty.
Its been twenty six years down the line since that fateful Saturday afternoon in Lagos but the fans and Nigerians who recall and watched you go down will never forget the dynamics of the pace you brought into the pattern of the then Green Eagles with your one touch passes that made the difference and broke down strong defence lines and the stamina you breathe on the pitch kept you going even beyond ninety minutes of play.
We honour you as we remember you this great hero of African football, for your exemplary exploits and determination to succeed and for the milestones you laid before your untimely exit. You were a legend who changed our pace of football and a star that twinkled as the Eagles soared.
History will always remember you, Samuel Sochukwuma Okwaraji. You were indeed a legend.
No comments:
Post a Comment