His Royal Highness, (HRH) Ogiefo Festus Iduozee, 66, the Enogie of Evboesi in Orhionmwon Local Council of Edo State is a great lover of football and this he exhibited when he was a student at Immaculate Conception College (ICC) and Edo College, both in Benin City, in the 1960s. At ICC, he made the schools senior team as a junior student and when he was at Edo College for higher school, his performance against Government College, Ughelli (GCU) during a friendly prompted his principal to hand him the captains armband.Even at the University of Ibadan(UI) during his first degree in Botany, he was quickly sighted and invited to the school team and throughout his sojourn in UI, he was an integral part of the school team and was three-time school footballer of the year. Aside playing football, Iduozee is a triple jumper. The former Director of Forestry in Edo State told OLALEKAN OKUSAN in his Benin residence that his active participation in sports made a vital impact in his academics, just as most of friends he met on the field. However, he charged athletes not to allow their involvement in sports affect their academics whatsoever.FOR over two decades, HRH Iduozee was neck deep into football, playing an active part in his school teams at ICC and Edo College in the 1960s. As a student, he was also involved in other sports to the extent of setting a record in the triple jump at ICC. Despite these other involvements, however, his love for football remained unparalleled.Recalling how his romance with the game began, the now royal father said: My mother told that I started playing football when I was still crawling because whenever she bought a ball, I would kick it and crawl along with it. But I could remember in my street in Benin City each house used to have an open space, which served as playground, and we used to play inter-house competitions.Before being enrolled in St. James Anglican Primary School in Benin, football had been part of me and it was easy for me to make the school team. After three years at St James, I moved to St Matthews Anglican School, where I completed my primary education in 1957. Even at St Matthews, I was part of the school team and we took part in various competitions.In 1958, Iduozee was admitted to ICC, where he followed his passion by quickly joining the schools junior football team known as the Rabbit Team. What a name! He stated: When I got admission to ICC in 1958, it was easy for me to begin to play for the school team because the school had a team for the junior classes called the Rabbit Team and I was an integral part of it.In those days, junior players were not allowed to play for the school senior team until they got to class four. But during one of the training sessions, the school principal, late Fr. Donnelly, was supervising the training and he was so impressed with my performance that he instructed me to join up the senior team. That was how I started playing for the main school team even as a junior student. For four years, I featured for the senior team and we played a lot of matches.After finishing at ICC in 1962, Iduozee was engaged by Edo College as a laboratory assistant and in further pursuit of education, he sat for the Higher School Certificate Examination in the school in 1964. Fortunately, he passed and joined the school. For Iduozee, combining football with academics was a good tonic that made him successful in class, and at Edo College, he quickly worked his way into the school team.After finishing at ICC, I had to wait for some years before getting a job as a laboratory assistant grade two with Edo College, he noted. It was at that time the school started the Higher School Certificate and I enrolled for the examination. I passed and I was offered admission in 1964. Having played football throughout my secondary school, I quickly made the school team at Edo College.The principal at Edo College, Mr. A.A.E. Sagay, was sceptical about making some of us, who were not former students of the school, prefects because the impression was that he did not know us that much to entrust us with any position. But I remember in one of our matches, we travelled to (the present-day) Delta to play against Government College, Ughelli in 1964 and beat them 2-1.Prior to the match, we never knew that our principal had betting with one of his friends, an alumnus of GCU. They both drove to Ughelli to watch the match and the funny thing was that the match was played during raining season and ordinarily people in Delta know more about playing in the rain. At half time, GCU was leading 1-0 and in the second half we equalised and won at 2-1.In most of the matches we played I always score and I also scored against GCU as well. But the interesting thing was that after the match, the whole of GCU compound was like a ghost town because for 10 years they had lost a match on their pitch. I could also remember that Mr. Awala, who was GCU games master, started shouting, GCU on your ground, GCU on your ground, which means it was a disgrace that an away team defeated them on their ground.The feat at Ughelli forced the principal of Edo College to bend some of his rules. Iduozee said: After the victory at Ughelli at that weekend, the following Monday morning, we were at the assembly ground and the principal invited me to his office. It was then he told me how he had betted with his friend before the match and that he felt so elated that he decided to give me the school colour. Aside from giving me the full colour, he decided to hand me the captains armband as the first student outside the school to be named captain of the school team.So, throughout my period at Edo College, I was the team captain and led them to various competitions. As the captain of Edo College football team, I was not just a captain but also a footballer who scored in almost all matches for the team. I was well respected by my team-mates such that the junior students began to look up to me.While in school, his skills were admired by all and sundry and it did not take long before other schools began to look towards him. It was at this period the Provincial Teachers Training College, Abudu, came looking for him. He narrated further: During my stay at Edo College, Mr. D.N. Oransaye, who was one of the parliamentarians in the Western Region in those days and at that time the principal of Provincial Teachers Training College, Abudu, came to tell my principal that he wanted me to play for his team.My principal called me to his office one morning and I met Oransaye sitting in the principals office. The principal later asked me whether I knew Oransaye and I said no. He introduced him to me as the principal of Provincial Teachers Training College, and that he wanted me to play for his school team, the Abudu Rovers, and he has consented that if Edo College had no match, I should go and play for Abudu Rovers. That was how I stated playing for Abudu Rovers until I finished my school.He added: Between January 1966 and the time I went to the university, I was still playing for Abudu Rovers and we were only given some stipend. Aside playing football, I was also teaching at St. Columbus, Agbor, which was a stone throw from Abudu. So I had to shuttle between Abudu and Agbor. That same year, we became the champion of the Midwest State Challenge Cup and went on to represent the region at the national level.Iduozees exploits in school also earned him a call-up to the Midwest academicals alongside players like Sam Bazuaye, Prince Adedoyin (alias Palongo), Taju Lawal, Donbraye, Idigbe and a host of others. This involvement in football aided his performance in class, as he revealed: My playing football alongside my academics did not disturb me in class because our principal at ICC took special interest in the academics of athletes, especially the footballers. He would give us an egg everyday and we were really catered for.We also found that playing football helped us to be fit because I found out that any evening I did not practice, my study would not go well and I easily sleep off while reading. But once I practice I was always alert to do my studies and I know that a good number of my friends I played football together with were not dropouts. Also, my parents never disturbed me because I was passing my examinations and they did not see anything wrong in me playing football.Apart from football, Iduozee was also involved in other sports: I did all games at ICC because I was a triple jumper and before I left the school I made the longest distance of 44 feet in the event. In Edo College, I also did triple jump.In 1966, he got admission to study Botany at the premier university, UI, and it was easy for him to be spotted out by some of the students. He said: I got admission to the University of Ibadan in 1966 and one of my seniors in secondary school, who had got to UI before me and was in Independence Hall, where I was also posted to, told the hall football co-ordinator about my skills in the game and this prompted my invitation to the hall team.And because of my introduction as an Abudu Rovers player, I was later nicknamed Abudu Rover by most of the players, such that at UI, most of my colleagues did not know my real name - they only know me as Abudu Rover. It got to a stage in UI that if we had a match against another school and I was not playing, some students would not want to watch because I was not playing.For three sessions, Iduozee won the footballer of the year award at UI and even after leaving the school, he started playing for a clubside in Benin. He disclosed: For three sessions in UI, I won the footballer of the year award and after graduating in 1969, I was still playing for P&T Rocket in Benin and most members of the team were my contemporaries at Abudu Rovers.Some of my contemporaries were Joe Onaghise, Bazuaye, Adedoyin, Taju Lawal, Peter Aiwekhoi, Teddy Ogboghodo, Humphrey Agbamu, Godwin Izilien, Alabi Aisien and Emmanuel Woghiren, among others.However, he gave up on the game following what he termed neglect of injured footballer by all and sundry. He explained: What discouraged me then was that when you had injury as a footballer, nobody cared until you returned from injury. I just decided that having played so much football I needed to stop playing because I was satisfied with the income I was making as a teacher at Baptist High School in Benin. So I decided to focus on my studies.For Iduozee, beating GCU at home will ever remain in his memory and he was quick to admit that his engagement in sports actually made lot of impact in his life. According to him, sports made a big impact in my life because it was through sports that I made so many friends across and outside my state. I also got exposed to other parts of the country. It was a good exposure to me, and most of my friends I met while playing football in schools.It was quite interesting but nowadays there is no school sports again because most schools dont even have playground. But at that time, we had competitions among schools at primary and secondary levels. But today, there is nothing going on in schools, most of them now use stadia for sporting competitions. In those days we had an all-round training. Sports is an activity that makes you really alert and gives you good health because I rarely get sick even up till now.There is nothing wrong in taking part in sporting activity. In fact, exercise generally gives you healthy growth and makes you alert. In the process, your brain system is developed and you have healthy life, including alertness for studying. I believe sports and academics go together.
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