How he put together the 1949 UK Tourists team

Nnamdi Dan-Anyiam is one of the sons of the first captain and coach of the nation’s football team, the Red Devils, late Pa Dan Anyiam. In this interview with OLAOLU OLADIPO, Dan-Anyiam who is a pastor of a Lagos based church talked about the accomplishments of the late football administrator. Excerpts

By all standards your late father was a pioneer in the sporting fraternity, who was late Chief Dan-Anyiam to you as a father and what kind of husband was he to his wives?

The late Dan Anyiam was a disciplined man in terms of work. He took no quarters because he always worked hard and achieved excellence in all he did. Like you said, my father was a pioneer who was noted for so many firsts. I don’t think that he ever believed that anything could not be achieved; once he put his mind to it, he went the whole hog to make sure that he saw to the end of it. That is the same reason wh by the time he left Europe to come back home to Nigeria just before the war, he was so insistent that the former Eastern Region must be highly represented in sporting activities. He started with the then East Central State Academicals which won a lot of laurels. Later on, he formed the then Enugu Rangers International. Everyone can attest to the feat of Rangers International of Enugu in terms of regional and international competitions. Thereafter the East Central State was further divided and Imo was carved out of the East Central State and he was moved there. When he got to Imo State, he was appointed a director, he was instrumental to the establishment of the then, Spartans Football Club of Owerri that later became Iwuanyanwu Nationale and now Heartland of Owerri. He was primarily responsible for those firsts.

What about his family life?

I must say that he was a family man to a large extent but with the way it was in sports circles because he was always moving from one place to the other, he also got into some other relationships different from what he had with my mother. So, what that means is that I have step brothers and sisters along the way. My father couldn’t be said to have been a one man, one woman person.

With the little you saw of him, what kind of a father was he?

He was a man not given to too much n o i s e . He preferred to act rath- er than talk. He was very disciplined on issues concerning his family. He was conc e r n e d and wanted his family to go in a certain way. He disciplined us real good when he felt we had stepped out of line. This has really helped us as adults in our different areas of responsibilities that we are all operating from. He was a loving father too. He wasn’t able to communicate all his desires to us but it was clear to us the kind of father that he was. His underlying principle was his love for us all.

You spoke about him being a disciplinarian, was there any occasion when he had to wield the stick against you as a kid?

(Cuts in) Several times; I remember on one occasion that I didn’t think that what I failed to do meant so much to him. He made sure that we maintained discipline at all times. Many of the footballers that he trained will attest to this fact. My father went out one day and a friend of his came to the house, I was still very young then. His friend told me that he would come back and for one reason or the other, I forgot to tell him when he came back. He became very upset and flogged me. He told me that such things are not to be toyed with, saying that they are vital information. He said that I didn’t know what the visitor came to his house to tell him. After all said and done, he went to the kitchen and made me a sandwich. I saw that he didn’t want to separate discipline because he didn’t want it to be skewed to one side. His approach to training us has been of immense benefit to us today because I too now have become someone who pays so much attention to details. He didn’t tolerate excuses and he never liked lazy people. He wasn’t given to frivolities and that is the way we have all turned out to be.

You said he was a disciplined man who moved from one place to the other. What was his usual day like when he came home?

A lot of the time, due to the fact that he was a sportsman, the first thing he did was to keep up with his fitness schedule like jogging around the vicinity. He made sure that he kept himself fit. My father was very fit till he died. I think that helped him a great deal because he remained fit till he died. He never had any form of medical complication. Incidentally, his death came as a result of poisoning. We discovered this much later after his death. He got to know that he was actually poisoned. Anything medical wasn’t an issue for him.

What was his favourite food? When did he eat his breakfast?

His preferred breakfast was mostly continental dishes; you know he lived in Europe for so many years. My mum used to prepare his meals. He was not the kind of person that ate outside. He never really ate much. I think that’s one of the things that he got from his involvement in sporting activities. He was not also a drinker. He was a social drinker; he drank when his friends came along. He drank only a quarter of a bottle.

What did he do after breakfast?

He would go to the office to work because he had so much to do.

Could you tell us some of the players that had the privilege of training under your father?

My father trained people like Adokie Amesimaka, Segun Odegbami, Muda Lawal, Alloysius Atuegbu; players who formed the core of the old Ranger Football Club found their way into the national football team. This goes to show you how his mentorship programmes and initiatives worked. To show you how his mentorship impacted on his players; there was a time Chief Odegbami saw my younger sister and that became the reason for meeting the family. I don’t think that if you have a poor mentorship plan that would happen. I have had the cause to meet with one or two other players that passed through my late father. Some of these players didn’t play with him but they said they were motivated and inspired by him.

Did he tell you the circumstances that led to the first national team touring the UK in 1949?

No! I wasn’t born then.

I’m asking if you had the opportunity to discuss the trip with him?

No! Not really because he was hardly ever around but my mum told me something he told her about the trip. He was very busy, always on one trip or the other. He was also a very stern man and I didn’t really hear much from him directly about the things he did but from what I heard from my mum, she said it had been a dream on the part of my father to tour the UK and show them the stuff that the Nigerian team was made off. He had some connections with some clubs in the UK then and it was very easy to arrange the visit and by the time they were able to go, he just gathered some of his friends together for the trip. They played all their matches without wearing boots. They won their first match and they were beaten in their second match. That’s the most that I know about the trip.

So, it was more like he gathered his friends to undertake the trip?

Oh yes! They did all the work with the late Teslim Balogun and a number of their people. At that time, the British and the Nigerian societies interacted very well. The relationship was so cordial that it was easy to arrange the visit in a very short time. I think the visit provided the opening for the country to be reckoned with as a global force in football. Could it be said that the team was the first national football team of Nigeria? Yes! Definitely; they took players who were doing very well in their respective positions together for the trip, so that was definitely the first national team of the country.

What was the reception accorded the team by Nigerians when they came back?

Was a decision made to make the team the first national team of the country? Yes! I think something to that effect happened but the way he approached it (building teams) was to start from the academicals, to nurture players that would play in the national team. He did that in the Eastern Central State that produced several players that eventually played for th

tional team. He was always intent on putting some back for the country.

Do you know the circumstances that led to his emergence as the nation’s first indigenous football coach?

I believe that at that point in time, the country needed someone who was exposed enough who had sound knowledge of football. Fortunately, he was one of the first set of Nigerians to go abroad for a coaching course. My father was a good manager of human resources. He knew notable personalities in the country and he was eventually considered suitable for the job. Sports administrators were not initially disposed to having a national coach until his case came up.

What were the successes recorded by your father as the coach of the national football team?

One remarkable success was the beating of Ghana at home by the team. Until then, the Black Stars usually defeated our team. That was his major accomplishment. By the time he left the team, he went abroad for more coaching courses. When he came back, he had a second stint at the national team as coach.

When was that?

That was around 1964 and 1965.

What was the relationship between him and the late Teslim Balogun?

They were close friends. Teslim Balogun was a striker while my father was a defender. They were close in the sense that they were football mates. They played for the country together. Their friendship was because my father stayed mainly in Lagos when he came back from Europe.

So, your father was an ‘Omo Eko’?

Yes! He stayed in Bamgbose area of Lagos Island.

What benefit has the name Dan Anyiam accrued to you?

It’s a really great thing to bear the name because it gave us the right pedigree in the eyes of the people. There is no way I will go to the states making up the East Central State today that doors won’t be opened to me. The same scenario here in Lagos and Abuja. We get a lot of favours from organisations and individuals. I have heard tremendous testimonies from all parts of the country about my late father.

Where were you when he died and what were your initial reactions?

We were all here in Lagos. It occurred in 1977 when he had just been posted to Imo State as the Director of Sports. The family, I mean my mother and my siblings, were all at home when the news broke. It was so saddening to hear the news because he hadn’t even spent a year at his duty post when he passed on.

What was your immediate reaction?

I was oblivious to what was going on. I was in school when the news broke. I got back to the house and I saw people weeping. My elder brother was weeping uncontrollably and it occurred to me that something bad had happened. I later discovered that people were crying for my father.(Saturday Telegraph)