Some years ago, I did a piece on the above topic. In that write-up, I examined the ordeals that football coaches pass through in their line of duty. The stress, anxiety and uncertainty that usually precede matches, the intensity during matches and the agony of defeat conspire to pile up pressure on them. The aggregate of these situations results in hypertension which is the cross that coaches are condemned to carry. Hypertension, as we all know, is the forerunner of cardiac arrest.
The cross becomes a bigger burden when the coaches are growing older and the trip to Golgotha is usually on the fast lane.
Not many coaches are lucky to escape bearing the cross to the Golgotha where they are eventually crucified. Stephen Keshi and Shuaibu Amodu, two former gaffers of the Super Eagles, were among the unlucky ones. Keshi’s final arrival at the Golgotha was announced in the early hours of Wednesday, June 8, 2016. Fondly called the “Big Boss” by his team mates, Keshi was said to have complained of a serious pain in his leg late into the night. A massage was administered on him. When the condition did not improve, the masseurs decided to ferry him to the hospital. But the “Big Boss” did not make it. He was pronounced dead on arrival. Nothing could be more shocking than this. As a central defender during his playing career that spanned over 19 years, Keshi must have tackled many opposing strikers with those legs and came out unscathed.
It is an irony that those legs that brought him fame and fortune were the forerunner of the cardiac arrest he suffered en route to the hospital in Benin.
Then came 72 hours later… in that same Benin City! We again woke up to the shocking news of the passage of Shuaibu Amodu, the one-time boss of the “Big Boss” in the Super Eagles. He was said to have complained of chest pain the night before his own final summons came and he never made it to the next morning. He gave up the ghost in his sleep. Amodu had been battling with the cross for a very long time. When ex-Super Eagles’ chief coach Sunday Oliseh jumped ship some months back, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) again toyed with the inherent idea of recycling him to hold the fort.
But he refused the offer which would have rushed him to the Golgotha much earlier.
I remember my days as the chairman of the Standard FC, now Plateau United in the late 70s. I tried to avoid the cross, refusing to watch most of their matches. It was James Suleiman Peters that was condemned to bear the cross as the team coach for close to three or so years. James went on to handle the national U-23 squad and the women’s teams at various times. I know a number of coaches who must be bearing the inevitable cross but have managed, to my dismay, to slow down their trip to the Golgotha.
Former Super Falcons’ chief coach and my skipper in the Highlanders FC of Jos, Ismaila Mabo, is one of them. So also Coaches Bitrus Bewarang and Bernard Ogbe, who were my players that later went into coaching. And they do not appear to be in a rush to the Golgotha. Then, there are cross-bearers like Adegboye Onigbinde, Christian Chukwu, Austin Eguavoen and Samson Siasia who have at various times handled the Super Eagles in recent years and they do not even look like men bound for the Golgotha any time soon!
But coaches are not the only ones condemned to bear the burdensome cross. Footballers themselves are carriers of the cross too, although their own circumstances may be different. Instances abound: Nigerian mercurial midfielder, Dr. Sam Tochukwu Okwaraji, was the first high profile player to have slumped and died during an encounter between Nigeria and Angola in the race for Italia ’90 FIFA World Cup Finals at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, on August 12, 1989. In October, 1995, Amir Angwe died during an Africa Cup Winners Cup duel involving his club, Julius Berger FC of Lagos and Maxaquine FC of Mozambique at the Onikan Stadium, Lagos.
Long after that, a former U-20 skipper, Tunde Charity died during a topflight domestic league match in Benin. Then John Ikoroma, ex-Golden Eaglets player, died during a trial session with a club in the Middle East. Following in his heels were ex-Super Eagles ‘keeper, Sam Okoye and defender Charles Nduka who were brought home dead from Iran and South Africa, respectively.
On March 6, 2010, in faraway Sudan, ex-international Endurance Idahor collapsed while starring for his clubside, El-Marreikh. Barely six weeks later, another Nigerian player, Wilson Weyinmi Mene, slumped and gave up the ghost on the pitch while playing for PrekPraKeila FC of Cambodia. Aside from Sam Okwaraji, the other players expired around age 25 and the blame was laid at the doorstep of cardiac arrest.
Note that coaches of other sports also bear the cross but their football counterparts are more stressed up.
Referees are also not spared. Towards the end of September, 2012, death blew the final whistle on two grade one referees, Messrs Oyetola Adetunde and Bankole Faloye, during a fitness race at the National Stadium, Abuja. They were among the 50 FIFA-badged and national referees that converged on the Federal Capital Territory. The duo were said to be unfit for the grueling cooper test which is mandatory for the referees to undergo. Nevertheless, the twosome needed the refereeing to augment their earnings. So, they smuggled their way into the contest. But their hearts failed them in the final round of the 10-lap race, resulting in cardiac arrest.
My candid advice to those who are presently bearing the cross: It is very necessary to undergo regular medical check-ups before and after every match to weigh the state of preparedness of the hearts which are the ultimate carriers of the cross.
The last time I saw Amodu was in 2009 when I went to see James Peter. A seminar was organised for coaches and the duo were resource persons. Amodu worked as an assistant chief coach to James Peters at the BCC Lions of Gboko in the 80s. Amodu should have learnt the delay tactics (to Golgotha) from his former boss.
May his soul and that of Keshi rest in perfect peace, Amen.
