I walked out of immigrations and there they were: hundreds of elated supporters, people, smiling and shouting, chanting and banging drums: there were reporters, several with cameras, microphones, tape recorders and banners!
I began to wonder what was going on! “Mr Zide (with a Z instead of J) welcome, welcome will you deliver the national league championship to our team for the first time in 5 years?” “Is it true that you were recommended by the National Football team coach of Nigeria?” “How many goals did you score last season for your team in Nigeria?” “Is it true that you are in the Nigeria Under 20 National team?”
There were two of us that arrived from Nigeria, and same questions directed at me were being directed at him; what was going on? why so much media frenzy, even at the airport?
You could feel the passion deeply rooted in the hearts of these supporters, so I thought; “5 years wait for the title and we were supposed to win the league and become the messiahs?”
As we meandered the traffic of people and finally found solace in the comfort of the grey sedan, I finally sank into the comfortable leather seat. What a day! Or 2 thus far! We had been flying for one full day and a half, across three continents with 2 stop-overs, culminating in our arrival in Dhaka, Bangladesh. I was relieved to have finally arrived, but was more relieved to escape the sea of heads at the airport. What an experience already
5 club officials picked us up at the airport, but there was 1 of them who interacted with us the most: perhaps the one who could speak fluent English the most, Babu by name, as I would eventually find out.
“Where are we going now?” I asked
“First I’ll take you home so you can get changed and we have to take you to the stadium where you’ll meet the coach and the players. You can also do some training” He answered
I was thinking: “What? Training? we just arrived from the other side of the world, does this guy know we have been on the plane for almost 2 days?”
Before I could reply him, the other guy who had been silent all through suddenly turned around from the passenger seat and spoke in clear English: “I’m Ali, a former player of Mohammedan Sporting Club. I played with Emeka many years ago and I’m now the club Vice president. Emeka was very disciplined professional. We Bangladeshis love foreigners who are hard working and show serious commitment”
I didn’t need to be told what this meant, he continued:
“If you play your football and focus hard you will enjoy Bangladesh and make so much money. The cub pays a lot for you, but you have to deliver on the field”
Wow! This was my first experience at proper professional football and I was learning very fast indeed
This excerpt is culled from my book………… Watch out for its launch