Actor and television personality Yemi Shodimu in this interview with KELVIN EKERETE speaks about his love for sports as a youngster, support for Arsenal and thoughts on the Ghana versus Nigeria World Cup play-offs
What sports were you involved in while growing up?
I did a bit of athletics in school, I got involved in the relay team, and I always thought I could outrun the other guys but most times they leave me a few inches behind. I played table tennis as well but I played a lot of football and I got punished a lot for it.
I sneaked out a lot to play football and I got a lot of sticks for it. Maybe if I wasn’t really punished for it, maybe I would have made something out of it.
I started with plastic football, balloons. I was passionate about it in my early days.
Why were your parents against you playing football?
Don’t mind them, they had the belief that it had to be education and it was like a taboo if you leave your books to play football, they believe you’re going in the wrong direction and everything must be done to stop you.
Even when we went out to play, we always had it at the back of our minds that our dad must never get home before us. Another thing we were fearful about was having our neighbours or landlord reporting us to our parents whose reaction then was instant chastisement.
I think our parents didn’t see the future of the sport. It was as if you were committing something close to a capital crime by playing football and that was one of the things that stopped us from moving forward but I never stopped my children from doing sports.
Who were your football role models while growing up?
Everyone knew about Pele and back at home we talked about players like Thunder Balogun and much later stars like Segun Odegbami and Christien Chukwu. We had quite a number of names both at club and national level.
Back then we had the huge rivalry between Enugu Rangers and ICC Shooting Stars. There were teams like Super Stores, Mighty Jets. There were players like Haruna Ilerika, those were names we adored.
How disappointed are you that the indigenous league that used to bring so much joy is no longer viable?
It’s a very sad story. Once in a while I always wish I had a magic wand to turn things around in that sector. For as long as we do not pay attention to that sector, we will continue to suffer at the global stage.
We need to get the fans back to the stadiums, we need to get the games back on television, we need to get the excitement back because that is the major secret of the European leagues.
There are so many youngsters that would get out of crime because of sport.
What’s your favourite indigenous league club
From inception I’ve been a Shooting Stars fan. I supported Abiola Babes as well but these days I just admire whatever local club that’s doing well.
What European team do you support?
I don’t think twice about that. It’s Arsenal. My love for Arsenal began when Nwankwo Kanu joined the team. When you see a Nigerian doing well at that level, you want to associate with it and that was how I became a Gunner.
When Kanu left, I stayed back till now. The more you see Nigerians and black players in the team, the more excited and sentimental you become. When the team was doing very well, we enjoyed it but of course it comes with its own heartache as well but presently I don’t think Arsenal is doing badly.
I love the fact that the management of the team stayed with Mikel Arteta as coach because other teams would have sent him away a long time ago but he seems to be turning things around but we’ll keep watching.
What has been the best and worst moment of being an Arsenal fan?
There have been so many good and bad moments since I started supporting Arsenal. The Arsene Wenger era was good. I loved when they won the F.A Cup after a long time of not winning anything. I loved that feeling that one could see them holding a trophy even if it wasn’t the league.
The low moments; sometimes you wonder what exactly is happening when your team is comfortably leading and all of a sudden, they surrender victory. This has happened a lot of times and it hurts a lot.
Who are your top three all-time best Super Eagles players?
Firstly I’ll go with Segun Odegbami, Austin Okocha and as a defence marshal, Christian Chukwu because I believe he did very well.
How will you rate the current Eagles players compared to those that played in the past?
It is difficult to rate these millionaires to those that played with passion. Comparing the current crop of players with those ones that did it with passion could be a very difficult thing because the older generation did well to have laid a very solid foundation on which we are building now.
The current crop are doing well but they could be doing a lot better. I don’t like the fact that we do not have many of our players playing in the biggest clubs. We have a lot of our guys doing well but if we must be up to par with the best nations in the worlds; our players need to be playing for those top clubs actively, not on the bench.
Who are your favourites in this current Eagles squad?
Wilfred Ndidi comes to mind. Victor Osimhen is doing really well with Napoli as well as Kelechi Iheanacho for Leicester City.
Samuel Chukwueze is also one player we really need to watch out for.
When our games are approaching they (players) almost turn us into prayer warriors. We go into prayers so they can avoid injuries because when they are in the squad, they send fear signals to our opponent but when there are injuries, the opponents are happy.
Can Nigeria defeat Ghana to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar?
Any match between Nigeria and Ghana used to give us stiff competition.
Whenever we had a game with Ghana, every other thing in the country temporarily stopped because we always wanted to win. Coming to this particular one, it is a match for us to lose. I think we have the legs that can give us victory but as usual, I only hope administrative incompetence won’t get in the way of our success.
Already, the expectations are high, then the issues of selection always come into play but I’m a bit comfortable with the coach, Austin Eguavoen, and I think if we get our act right, the worst result we’ll get in Kumasi is a draw but if we are able to get a draw or a slim win in Kumasi, then the return leg should be a ceremony for us.
With Ghana’s abysmal performance at the AFCON, I know they will double their effort against us because we’re Nigeria. I just hope we don’t get unnecessarily jittery.
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