JULY 23, 2013
Edema Fuludu
Former Super Eagles midfielder and 1994 Africa Cup of Nations winner, Edema Fuludu, in this interview with ’TANA AIYEJINA, talks on why he was dropped from the US ’94 World Cup, mafia in the national team and lots more
Now that you retired, do you sometimes feel like returning to active football again?
Of course yes and that is why we play every weekend at All Stars. When you watch Nigerian players, you are tempted to return to the pitch. Regardless of the funds attached to the game today, a lot of these players still don’t show class. You watch a match for close to 90 minutes and the ovation you have is less than five times. That is not good for our football. Players no longer have the quality to exhibit some things on the pitch that are not common. So because of that, we are tempted sometimes to go and play again. It’s normal.
What do you think led to this degeneration?
Basically, it’s because grassroots football became a zero-level thing. The truth is, grassroots football no longer exist. In my time and the generation before me, we used to play football from the primary school; we were known from that level to secondary school. We had inter-street competitions, inter-community competitions and the Principal’s Cup as well YSFON competitions. We knew each other; people knew quality players even before they started playing for club sides. But today, people come from nowhere and they say they are playing for a Premier League side. These are people no one saw play at youth level. A lot of them are like that. If you see those that played from the grassroots, they are different because of their quality. Club sides and national teams are not where you are taught the basics. When you grow to a certain level, they teach you the techniques and tactics of the game. So our football flair is dead because it normally comes from the beginning, which is the youth level.
You captained University of Benin football team. Was it easy combining education and football?
It’s about priority; there is an option to succeed or fail. I made sacrifices. I was made the UNIBEN captain after the 1984 NUGA Games. I was in my second year then. When I was playing for the school team, I was also playing for Union Bank, a state division one team but I knew when to play football and when to read. One thing must give way. For me, instead of indulging in social activities, I played, slept, woke up and read. A lot of players can do it but they are lazy. They play the game, get excited and forget about education. We try to tell the young players of today that they can combine football and education. They have to read because it is important for their tomorrow. The game will end at a particular time.
How did you feel also captaining a big team like NNB after the exit of Stephen Keshi, Henry Nwosu and others?
Initially I was a bit frightened because when I left the university, the club had very big and experienced players. You don’t talk about education at that time. But my coach, Godwin Izilein, understood the power of education and he said he wanted somebody to mould his team with him. He wanted somebody who could understand him when he talked; somebody the other players could look up to. They were calling me schoolboy footballer but when I came in 1988, the year I was supposed to do my NYSC, I was drafted to become the captain and it took me by surprise. Those who were disgruntled initially realised later that they could not change anything. When it came to social interaction or when we went for post-match conference and they needed the captain to speak, they were very proud of me. So it worked out very well.
How did you feel when NNB was disbanded?
In fact, the demise of that team contributed to the fall of the bank because they had a lot of customers because of the name the team had made. We had a team that went down because of the Nigerian factor; people don’t want to keep legacies. The club I played for in Turkey was founded in 1914 and it exists till now. In Nigeria, Enugu Rangers and Bendel Insurance are about the oldest. Look at Insurance, they are a complete shadow of themselves. In Africa, we have teams like Al Merriekh of Sudan, who have been in existence for a very long time. But in Nigeria, we change nomenclature and politicise everything. We don’t want to keep our legacies. It pains me a lot that a club like Insurance is going down the drain; NNB went down like that. 3SC, formerly IICC Shooting Stars, are a shadow of themselves today as well. So are a lot of clubs. The problem is that most clubs are owned by government. If they were community owned, these clubs would not die. That is why clubs in Europe don’t die. The Nigerian factor is a problem; people are given football positions because they worked for certain political parties.
What was it like winning the African Cup Winners Cup in 1990?
It was magnificent. Coach Shaibu Amodu was not just a coach but a mentor and educator. So, the team was well shaped. The management of the club was also wonderful. There were incentives for us and it was wonderful playing in the continent. Unfortunately BCC is also down right now.
Did you encounter racism while playing in Turkey?
There was nothing like racism in Turkey as far I am concerned. I was the first black player to play in that team and my city was in the sunny side of Turkey. It wasn’t as cold as the east where you have Trabzonspor and Ankara. The reception was wonderful. My team’s colour was black and white. When I came in as a black player, it was complimentary.
Would you say the right preparation helped the Eagles win the 1994 Nations Cup in Tunisia?
That team was a combination of determination and long process. Coach Clemens Westerhof came in 1989 and used over 100 players between that time till 1994. In between, he was making changes. But he succeeded because the then vice president, Augustus Aikhomu, was directly in charge of that team and Westerhof could reach him. Funding was appropriate, training schedule was appropriate and Westerhof was a disciplinarian. Nobody could hold him to ransom. He threatened to drop even Austin Okocha if he didn’t sit up. If he said he wanted 30 balls, you had to give them to him or else he would call the vice president. Even the ministers were running around to satisfy the team. That was the major reason they didn’t like Westerhof. Not that he was the greatest coach of all. He had the opportunity to reach the top level. He brought in Jo Bonfrere, a technically sound coach, to do the field work, while he took care of the administrative duties. They gave him everything. Again, every player that was there got there on merit; there were no sentiments. When you were invited to the national team then, you only saw it on the pages of newspapers.
Was it true that a mafia existed in the team during your time?
A team like that couldn’t have been devoid of such insinuations. There was division eventually when we went for the Nations Cup in Tunisia; there was division right from our hotel. But luckily, we already had a winning spirit before we got there. The late (Emeka) Omeruah actually came to Tunisia while the competition was going on and said they needed to sack Westerhof. He said players should vote. In terms of mafia, there was none but there had to be some strong members of the team, who the coach had to work with. If you are a general without troops, you will lose the war, so Westerhof needed some people in the team who were very regular. We had a captain in Stephen Keshi; he was a charismatic leader. You can’t have a team of over 20 players without common interest. That was what happened. But on the field of play, the team was a unit at every time. Unfortunately when late Rashidi Yekini won the highest scorer award and was given some amount of cash with the Golden Boot, most of the people in the team were not happy because he didn’t say thank you to his teammates and he didn’t buy drinks for them. Some people felt, ‘You couldn’t have scored without other members of the team.’ So little grudges like that can cause disunity but eventually, the team triumphed. At the 1994, the team became disorganised because of these little issues.
Why were you excluded from the 1994 World Cup squad after helping to win the Nations Cup?
The Nigerian factor started creeping into the team at a point. Where people remove merit and sacrifices from a team, the end result is not always good. If they didn’t succeed in the US, it was because they tampered with the team spirit. A team was doing very well and suddenly somebody who didn’t play at the Nations Cup comes around and you put him in the team. That means something is wrong somewhere. There were a lot of calls coming from everywhere, ‘This player or that player must be in the team.’ Westerhof begged me when he dropped me from the World Cup and I said, ‘Thank you very much, I’ve had my time; nothing lasts forever and I need to move on.’
Don’t you think you were left out of the World Cup because of lack of playing time at the Nations Cup?
Well, the truth is that we had a complete team and every player was good. But at a point, it became more of those players from Europe. Some coaches feel if you play in Europe, you will have more confidence as a player but I don’t think it is true because I have passed through the rigours too. I also played in Europe eventually. In Tunisia, some players didn’t get the chance to play and their clubs were calling. So it became a factor of where you came from and the managers that were behind you. But Fuludu was a poor home-based boy playing for Julius Berger in Lagos. Emmanuel Amuneke was lucky to have had a last chance to play in the final because they were relegating him because he was playing in Egypt. While we back home looked at him as a foreign-based player, the Europe-based professionals looked at him as an African-based player. So it’s about luck sometimes. When he got in there, he became the African Footballer of The Year.
Do you have any regrets?
I have none. The fact is that we came in at the wrong time but it could have been different too. We had our share of it and we are impacting in the system now. I am the Chairman of Delta State Football League Management Board and we are trying to restructure our football back. After I retired, I went back to UNIBEN for my Masters Degree in Business Administration. I also went to Holland for a coaching course because football is my constituency. With the help of the Delta Sports Commission chairman, Pinnick Amaju, we are doing a lot to restructure football in Delta State. We have a 16-team league powered by Zenith Bank going on and we want to make it a model, where others can learn from. Already players are being discovered and teams are winning away from home.
How has education helped you since you retired from football?
It has been of tremendous help; I probably wouldn’t have been able to communicate with you in correct English if I didn’t have the right education. I also planned for the future. University will not help you to make money but if education is expensive, try ignorance, they say. Most players think when they finish playing, government must cater for them. It’s not correct. Everybody must learn from the fact that football has a limited lifespan; when you finish, you must do something else. So it’s either you take education seriously when you are playing or you learn a trade. If you want to be an administrator, you must have good education before you can impact on the people. Today, a lot of the players are not doing that. Ex-players cannot be crying that they have not taken care of them. We must reposition ourselves. I cannot employ you in my office as a secretary when you cannot write a memo. Everybody cannot be a coach. If you want to coach, you must go to school too. Otherwise government cannot put food on our tables and treat us as destitute. We are not. We want to live with hard work.
What are your best and worst moments?
My best moment was when I won the Mandela Cup (Cup Winners Cup) in 1990 with BCC Lions while my worst was when NNB went on relegation in 1988.
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