with OKEY MUDAFORO 
At the age of 70, he is still standing at over 6ft tall. That leaves one to wonder how tall he was when he was the number one goalkeeper of the then Rangers Football Club and the then Green Eagles, the Nigerian national team. He had come to witness the official inauguration of the Awka City stadium by Governor Willie Obiano. Emmanuel Okala, the Special Assistant to the governor on Sports spoke with OKEY MUDAFORO in Awka
How do you feel today as the Anambra capital city gets its first football stadium?
What else can I say but to thank Governor Willie Obiano for what he has been doing for sports development in Anambra State? What he has done is to bring back those days of Academicals Football tournament that was the cradle of football in the old Eastern Nigeria.
When he talked about the return of the Academicals, people thought that it was one of those campaign promises by politicians but today, it has come to pass while people like us are alive. I also want to thank Chief Tony Oli, the head of Anambra State Sports Council for what he is doing to sports development in our state.
This started with the hosting of the Nigerian Police Games, which indeed reawakened the love for sports in Anambra State and our state now has facilities to host the National Sports festival with the inclusion of other facilities.
Anambra has produced great sports men and women that have made the country proud and it would be improper for the state not to have a facility like this.
What indeed made the Rangers Football Club special in those days?
Determination and love for the game. We played with our hearts and we had no much emphasis on money. It was not that we did not need money but patriotism and being the only football team from the Eastern Nigeria after the Nigeria Civil war, that Igbo spirit was with us and we saw the team as our own and every footballer dreamed to play for Rangers . When you walk the streets, people want to associate with you as their hero and it was a thing of pride. Our first coach and captain then was Godwin Achebe and later Christian Chukwu became our captain.
There was this rivalry between Rangers and Shooting Stars of Ibadan…
Yes! It has always been and whenever we met, it was like a war because they know our players and we know their players. So, it was the match of the week and a match to watch any day .
Also, at the formation of the Nigerian National team, it was a blend of Rangers , IICC Shooting Stars , Bendel Insurance, Mighty Jets of Jos and later Stationary Stores, where the likes of Peter Rufai came from but that was much later.
In the past, the Nigerian National League was interesting but today it is nothing to write home about?
No, we are still producing stars from our league. The only thing that we need is management and good sponsorship. We had teams like the New Nigerian Bank, ACB and Water Corporation and these were private organisations. Yes, everyone is talking about Chelsea, Liverpool but they did not make it in one day. So, you cannot write off our teams here in Nigeria. With good management and sponsorship, our local league will do better.
We have heard of cases where our Nationals are abandoned when they retire?
You are not totally correct because we still have public spirited individuals that have been supportive to us. The Anambra State government has been assisting us, paying us stipends and even taking care of our welfare.
Some of us who have died also got support of the Wille Obiano administration during the funerals and some of their children were given assistance. Even in Enugu State, I know that we are benefiting. I am also certain that other states in the South East are doing the same thing in one way or the other.
You talked about the Academicals. Are you comfortable with the fate of our youth programs?
We started well with the under 17, Under 20- junior National teams and some of them made it to the National team. However, it is not late to replicate that success story of the past and all we need is to be focused and inject new ideas into the program such as the talent hunt which Obiano has started and today, we saw young men and women proving themselves as great stars of the future and if all the states in the country can continue like this, our football would surely return to what it used to be. I am not saying that our football administrators are not working hard but there is still room for improvement.
Recently Cameroon named ex-National footballer, Samuel Eto as the chairman of the Football Federation. But here, we still use politicians?
Well, everything has a beginning and we shall also get there . It is now clear that this is possible in Africa and I can assure you that someday, our ex- internationals would be made chairman of our NFF and I know that we have many of them that can do this job and produce results.
Don’t forget that Christian Chukwu had coached our National team and we all know that he did his best and the records are there to show.
So, one day, someone who played for our National team would also become the Chairman of our NFF. Even the late Stephen Keshi also coached our National team and made remarkable results and when you go to our junior National team, you will also see some of them.
There is this controversy about employing foreign coach instead of our local coaches?
It is not all about foreign coaches or local coaches. You remember we had some foreign coaches but they stayed longer with us and understood our players and from there, planned and built the team.
If a coach comes in and you expect him to perform magic, it will not work. So, they need time to study our players, hunt for new talents and make them improve. I also wish our country well in the coming African Cup of Nations.
How was it like when you won the Nation’s Cup for the first time?
It was a task and a challenge because we were hosting and you know what I mean. How would it sound if we failed to win as a host country?
We came prepared, knowing that Nigerians are behind us and we cannot afford to lose that tournament and when you remember the case of how we lost during one of our World Cup qualifiers, we had no choice but to work hard. All the same, luck has a role to play and God Almighty was with us.
