For David Alaba Oyeleke, growing up in the hustling city of Sekondi in Ghana was a big expose to sports while the presence of a local club in the area spurred his interest in football. When some footballers began to take him to training, little did he know that he was in for a big deal. And though his parents decided to return to Nigeria afterwards, this did not stop the young Oyeleke from pursuing his dream. An instant opportunity eventually came his way when he was selected as a member of the Bodija-based New Eden Primary School team. After playing a few matches for the team, he was named captain.Oyeleke also shone like a star at Iwo Grammar School and Abadina High School in Ibadan. He became so famous for his dexterity in the game that he was invited to the Western State Academicals under the tutelage of coach Niyi Akande in 1979. Oyeleke captained the academicals to the 1979 National Sports Festival ' Oluyole '79 - but the team was edged out in the quarter-finals of the competition. However, Oyeleke would forever cherish shaking hands with then Head of State, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, before the quarter-finals tie against a Northern Academicals. Now based in the United Kingdom (UK), the UEFA Licensed football tactician toldOLALEKAN OKUSAN during his recent visit to Nigeria that his early involvement in sports was all the impetus he needed to face life's challenges.UNLIKE his elder brothers, who were famous in athletics, young Oyeleke decided to embrace football, which today has become his source of livelihood and validated his passion at the tender age, when he began participating in sports. Sports was something that ran in his family, and born in Ghana, they found out that a lot of children living in the middle class area were into sports.However, the third of a triplet would rather each of them pursued something different in life within the same sports fraternity: 'I personally took to football as my senior brothers took to athletics,' he said. 'Being the third of the triplet, my Taiwo took to running while Idowu was doing long jump and I was into football.' When we returned to Nigeria, I was enrolled at New Eden Primary School in Bodija, Ibadan, and a lot of people in the school knew I just returned from Ghana and also discovered I was good in football. So within the two years I spent in the school, I was made the captain until I got admission to Iwo Grammar School.'Growing up in Sekondi really spurred my interest in sports. There was a stadium in the area where a popular club used to play while most of the players lived in the area. So whenever they were going for training or matches, we used to see them and that actually enticed me and I became known to the players and they started taking me to the stadium. I was going to training with the players after school because my father knew most of them. This really inspired me to love football.'At Iwo Grammar School, Oyeleke continued playing football but his stay in the school was cut short when his parents decided to transfer him to Ibadan. He added: 'We were all at Iwo Grammar School and were also doing well in sports, but we discovered that our house was empty as there was nobody with our parents.'So they decided to transfer us back to Ibadan to continue our education. I was admitted to Abadina High School and I began to play for the school as well. It was during my secondary education that I started playing for a youth club in Ibadan and was also invited to the Western Academical.When I finished at Abadina, I started playing for the Oyo State Academical.Despite his popularity, Oyeleke also faced the wrath of his father, who had apathy for the game: 'I can remember that my father was against my taking to football because I devoted more time to training and playing matches. At that time, matches were played in the evening or Sundays and this often made me to get home late.'I skipped church service to play football on Sundays and he could not tolerate this. Sometimes I had to put on my church wears and hide my kits in a nylon bag and leave for training, and I ensured that I returned to church before the end of service so that I could go home with my family.'Unfortunately for me, there was a time my father caught me because we went to play a match at the Liberty Stadium and won. As captain of the team, the late Lekan Salami had to present the Cup to me. So the following week the picture appeared in Sketch Newspaper and some of my father's friends saw the newspaper and told him. My father could not believe and wondered when it happened and how I played the match on a Sunday when I was supposed to be in church.'I could not get the right answers to all these questions, but some of my father's friends pleaded on my behalf that he should allow me to do what I loved. It was then he backed down, knowing that my brothers also did sports. At a stage, coaches used to come and look for me at home.'In readiness for future challenges, Oyeleke took his education serious and never allowed his passion for football to interfere with his academics. According to him, 'you have to balance your involvement in sports and academics because if you don't, you won't have opportunity to take part in sports while that was the only opportunity to play football.'Then, if you are not going to school, you don't have the opportunity to play. It is only when you play in the Principal's Cup or the boys club when you just left school that the coaches would see you. In those days, there were no professional coaches because most of the coaches were attached to schools.'It was from the schools that players were picked to represent the state. Aside this, we knew that the intention of our parents was to be successful in education, so you cannot hide from education. All I know now is what I tried to know from my early days in schools. In those days, sports was very popular regardless of the sports you do.'You are also popular, as most people know you very well. Even in school, you get away with some things because most teachers know you are a great athlete need you when it comes to sports. But at the same time, you have to study hard because there is no favour in terms of education. You can easily get away with late-coming to school and also enjoy other privileges from the prefects as an athlete.'Donning the school's colours was a pride for Oyeleke, which he admitted was not based on material gains. According to him, 'playing for the school team was a big pride because you are famous. You have a say in some decisions in the school and you get involved in certain things. Most of the teachers know you and parents of your colleagues know you whenever they come to watch the school team.'So it was a pride for us, not for monetary gains but a personal and natural pride, which means, you have the talent and are using it to the glory of the school. Also, there is a kind of self-satisfaction that you are doing something for the school. Sometimes the junior students look up to you and also assist you to carry your bag whenever you are going to school. You enjoy all these in school, and sometimes you escape being punished because of your involvement with the school team.'After leaving Abadina High School, Oyeleke enrolled for his Advanced Level Examination at Muslim College and also made the school team. He added: 'I did not spend much time at Abadina High School but did my O' Level and A' Level at Muslim College, where I played for the school team. It was one of the coaches called Aro that invited me to the team though I was an external candidate.'It was during one of the matches at Polytechnic Ibadan ground that coach Orlando of Ibadan Housing Corporation saw me, though he had earlier seen me play at the Liberty Stadium and decided to invite me for trials with the team. I was later signed up by the team after the National Sports Festival in 79.'In our days, there were inter-school football competitions and I remember one of the matches we played against Government College, Ibadan (GCI) at IITA field. At that time, I was playing for Muslim Grammar School because I was trying to do my Higher School Certificate Examination (HSE) then. So I was recruited to play for the school and in the match, two coaches came from Housing Corporation to watch. The match was very interesting and ended 4-3.'But the standard of the game was so high that the coaches had to pick five of us for trials with Housing Corporation. That year I signed for the club under coach Orlando. I was not only playing for the club but also represented the Western Academicals that year. So I joined the academicals camp under coach Niyi Akande. My team-mates in the academicals included Kayode Balogun, Wole Odegbami, Folorunsho Okenla, Muyiwa Soyombo, Raymond King and a host of others.'A lot of players were picked and we all went through the trials with some of the players dropped before the selection for the National Sports Festival. Some of us who were selected were in camp at GCI for four months and I was named captain of the team for the Oluyole '79. Also, many other players were picked from Ilesha Grammar School and other schools from the Western Region, because it was not just Oyo State.'1979 will remain indelible in Oyeleke's memory: 'My most memorable moment was during Oluyole '79. I was introducing my team-mates to the then Military Head of State, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, during our quarter-final encounter with a Northern Academicals, which we lost,' he disclosed. 'It was a great honour and my first time of meeting the president one on one.'But what we did that day surprised the spectators. After he greeted the northern team and came to us, all of us just prostrated before him and the whole stadium just shouted that our team had bribed the president. After, we stood up and I started introducing the players to the president. Prior to the match, our coaches had told us that the president being a Yoruba man, we must show how we greet an elderly person in the region.'After the Oluyole '79, Oyeleke joined Housing Corporation in Ibadan in 1981 and played alongside Samuel Asaolu, Clement Okoli, Jide Balogun, Jacob Adebowale, Wale Odunayo and a host of others. From Housing, he moved to Water Corporation but ended up joining Abiola Babes in 1983.He was part of the Abiola Babes' team that won the FA Cup in 1985. He captained the team after Best Ogedegbe stepped down as skipper. At Abiola Babes, some of his team-mates were Rashidi Yekini, Clement Temile, Dominic Iorfa, Dahiru Sadi, Muda Lawal as well as Toyin Ayinla.In 1986, Oyeleke left for the United Kingdom (UK) where he featured for Ipswich Town, but a knee injury in his first season brought his career to a sudden end. Meanwhile, at Abiola Babes he was able to pursue his academics. He noted: 'When I was at Abiola Babes, I went back to do my A' Level because my transition from Housing to Water Corporation was very sweet and I could not settle down.'But in 1983, I joined Abiola Babes and I was able to settle down to do my A' Level. After I moved to UK, injury halted my career and I had to go to the University of Greenwich for a course in sports.'For him, sports was a positive venture and taught him discipline. Now 52, he still looks 42, he said, just as sports has exposed him to people and made him patient to achieve his goals painstakingly and with determination. He summed that skill requires strength and stamina to be effective.
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