Africa’s soccer ambassador and one time Green Eagles’ captain, Chief Segun Odegbami,MON, has been speaking about why October 30 is a very significant date in his football playing career.
In a chat with PMParrot early on Saturday morning, the Mathematical Odegbami, as he used to be called in his active playing days said the date, October 30, 1976, 44 years ago, was when he played his first Grade A international football match with the national team, within Nigeria.
In addition, he also revealed that “my last international match for the same national team, the Green Eagles, it was on the same National Stadium ground in Lagos, and, rather uncannily, on the same date, October 30th”.
According to the man who can both be said to be a prolific scorer as well as a prolific writer, “I never knew about these dates until an admirer drew my attention to the dates.”
Odegbami submitted: “Early this morning, I received a rather interesting piece of message from a gentleman, a football buff. He has been on my broadcast list for a while and we have been occasionally exchanging banter.
“Although we have never met in person, I have always been aware that Olabisi Mohammed knows his onions on matters concerning football. His comments always strike a chord.
“Olabisi sent me an interesting message. He pointed out the significance of today’s date, October 30th, in my football career. I would never, on my own, have worked it out that it was on this date, 44 years ago, in 1976, that I played my first Grade A international football match with the national team, INSIDE Nigeria, a 6-2 trouncing of the Leone Stars of Sierra Leone. My proper debut match for Nigeria had been some two weeks earlier in Freetown.
“For record purposes only I was a member of the selected Nigerian national team that played in the first WAFU competition in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire, in 1974 when it was first introduced as a national team championship but was later changed to a regional club competition.
“This my second (but first in Nigeria) full international match was played at the National Stadium Surulere, Lagos, against the Leone Stars. I shone like a million stars in that match and cemented my place on the right wing of the Green Eagles attack for the next 5 years.
“By some divine arrangement that Olabisi drew my attention to again, when I played my last international match for the same national team, the Green Eagles, it was on the same National Stadium ground in Lagos, and, rather uncannily, on the same date, October 30th.
“I was stunned by this revelation today. In both matches, the first and last for the national team in Nigeria, the Green Eagles wore a predominantly White jersey, considered as ‘unlucky’ by close watchers of Nigerian football. Some people claim that the national team is jinxed and suffers more losses whenever it wears the all-White version of their Green and White jerseys. The statistics, of course, don’t completely match the assertion.
“I am not superstitious at all, so I am indifferent to any such deductions and conclusions that cannot stand any serious statistical scrutiny.
“So, this is to thank Olabisi for his eagle-eyed observation. Now that he has said it, I shall dig into the archives to see if there are more such ‘coincidences’ or designs by the elements.
“For now, I see that this date, October 30, occupies a special place in my football history. Join me to celebrate it😁.”
Packaged by Olayinka Agboola
