May 1990. Standing at the top of the staircase that leads to the art room, it was a day of reflection. 6 years ago, I was taken from the same spot downstairs and punished for watching the athletics team train for free. Memories flood back. From class 1 when there was 175 of us that came in, some have left due to various reasons. Better education elsewhere somewhere else (so they thought), some repeated twice and were expelled, some now juniors, some due to parents moving. But there was one that l felt really angry about on this blessed day. Jide Fagbuyi aka Jendon. The best footballer of my generation that I have seen in flesh. And I have seen footballers in my time. I spent all the rest of my time when I am not reading or playing handball, playing football. I was not a natural talent but I became very good at it due to persistent training and playing with better players whenever and wherever I can. I have played with rugged defenders like Egbon Gani, Abe Akinloye, minefield generals like Ebenezer Adeyeri, Tunde Omotosho and strikers like Jide Omotomi and my great friend, Niyi Akinwale. Great players, excellent visions, skill beyond my thoughts. But none compared to Jide. Full stop. Grace personified. In the ball, he glided past anyone. His ability to shield the ball away was beyond my wildest dreams and his street wise ability? Second to none. Still upset now when I heard in 1996 that he was dropped from U-17 camp due to size in 1993 ( he was 20 years then o!😜) and that team captained by Wilson Oruma won the FIFA U-17 World Cup.
Back to this day. I am looking at the football pitch and I am sad. We have just lost to Omooluorogbo 1-0 in the second round of Akure local government school sports at Omooluorogbo sports ground. How is that possible? What happened to our team? Blame the pitch. I trained for National U-15 handball tournament there and pitch is not bad. Same standard as the one I am staring at. Better players? Not possible. They had one striker that exceptional but not enough. Hmm...
I took a rain check and cast my mind back through the years. I was too sure that there was really no school that could beat us when we were in JSS 3 at football . We have seen them all in local tournaments around Akure. Don Bosco tournaments at Seminary. Local tournaments at Akure High school and Ijapo pitches. The stars of the other schools, their abilities and compared to the experience our boys had were not comparable. We had boys winning local tournaments, playing as units and thriving. But these are the key ones we lost along the way:
Bunmi Skylolo: Dynamic, heavy good with ball at his feet and can dribble at speed
Ebenezer Adeyeri: Our Iniesta at the time. Excellent with both feet, 20/20 vision and a clean striker of the ball
Jide Omotomi: our Speed star on the wings. Can hit a phenomenal shot and was strong like a horse.
Ayodeji Elebe (deceased): Refused to train with the team and never left his class. More of religious recluse, his talent was never exploited but highly respected by colleagues across board.
These guys were real loses but we had a few juniors that came in and to a degree, did a job. Jide Arowolo, Soji Adegulu and Abe are juniors that filled in the gaps but the real loss was Jendon. As of SS2, Jide was in the school team and a main stay; playing as Number 8 or sometimes No10 depending on the situation. He was part of the school team early and had helped the 1989 set get to the Akure LGA finals. He was too good to be true in all the games. We lost to Oyemekun 1-0 in the final but even the opposition was quick to acknowledge his performance and display.
As soon as the local government playoffs started, he was quickly called up to play for Oyemekun. *BIG MISTAKE* . Jide had mulled over this and did not want to do it. He knew our history. Aquinas lost 3-0 to Stella Maris Okitipupa in the 1986 Catholic tournament final because our school will not take in mercenaries but the opposition did. Integritas all the way. Oyemekun approached our sports teacher to allow Jide to play and it was approved. Jide went on to play and they eventually lost in the quarter finals. Unfortunately, Ologba heard about his exploits and learnt he played for Oyemekun; not Akure LGA. He was incensed and the punishment was expulsion 😱. Jide was crest fallen. He loved Aquinas. Now it has become a dilemma and our sports teacher disappeared when the going got tough. Even Oyemekun’s principal came to reason with Ologba but to no avail. The die is cast; Jide was to move to Oyemekun. We lost our talisman.
The rest is history. We played well against Omooluorogbo but what was missing on the day was the X-factor. One mistake on the day and we lost. It was like Man City Vs Fulham and City lose loses to a smash and grab. Jide will have made the difference. Just then, Ologba came walking by and heart was filled contempt. “Why can’t you just overlook that offence?” Was this pride or a principle? I will let you be the judge.
Starting line up on the fateful day:
Niyi Falade
Ibrahim Musayayi
Abe Akinloye
Yaya Ibrahim (SS2)
Gani Lawal
Tunde Omotosho
Jide Arowolo (Deceased)
Soji Adegbulu (SS2)
Niyi Akinwale
Kola (SS2)
Abe (SS2)
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