Bright Omokaro
He is known for his no nonsense approach on the pitch. But looking at
him now, he does not depict the player that sent shivers down the spine
of attackers with his hard tackles both locally and internationally
during his playing days. Bright Omokaro is however strongly of the
opinion that he would have stopped mercurial Argentine super star,
Lionel Messi, if he were still playing active football. He talks to
Kunle Adewale on a number of issues
"Defenders of today give strikers too much room to operate and do not
create fears in their mind. If I were to be playing actively now, I’ll
stop Lionel Messi. He (Messi) has many things to think about but my job
as a defender is very simple and that is to take the ball away from
him," Omokaro said. When reminded about how the Argentine made a mess of
German international, Jerome Boateng during the semifinal of the UEFA
Champions League between Barcelona and Bayern Munich and how
exceptionally fast the four times World Footballer of the Year is, the
former Bendel Insurance of Benin defender retorted: “As long as he does
not carry a power bike, he can’t beat me.” It's unfortunate that you'll
see some footballers now who wear weird hair style with studs in their
ears. Such looks doesn't in any way project a footballer in a positive
note," said Omokaro.
According to Omokaro football runs within the family, his father played
for the then Midwestern State “And that was where I took up the game,
it was more of hereditary. All my brothers played football, though; they
never got the limelight.”
The fearsome defender realised his football talent as early as 1973 and
from then on, he knew what he wanted for himself and he gave the game
everything he had. So, it never came as a surprise to him when in 1977
he was invited to the first ever Flying Eagles and from there, he went
on to play for the Super Eagles.
If there is one competition Omokaro would never forget in a hurry, it
is the 1988 Africa Cup of Nations tagged 'Maroc 88', where he was
nicknamed '10-10' as a result of a vicious tackle on an Algerian
attacker. During the semifinals between Nigeria and Algeria, the Eagles
were one man down, no thanks to a red card to Ademola Adesina, and were
under serious pressure. But a crunchy tackle from Omokaro at an Algerian
attacker reduced the Desert Warriors to 10 men after the North African
side had completed the maximum two changes. (Teams were only allowed to
make two changes then)
"Each time I'm on the field I, tried to give my maximum best, and the
match against Algeria was one match I thought I needed to rescue the
country and that was why I did what I did to make sure we defeated the
Algerians,” he said.
Asked if it never crossed his mind that the tackle might maim the
player for life and thereby ruin his football career, Omokaro said: “I
don’t care the effect of my tackles; what matters to me most is victory
for my side at the end of the day. It’s not that I really go out to ruin
the career of my opponent, but it’s just that any time I go for a
tackle, I am always very hard. I derived a lot of joy in winning because
people love to associate with winners and if it demands that I should
kill to win I wouldn’t hesitate.”
In spite of everything, Omokaro never took his football career outside
the shores of the country. "Professionalism was something that was
lacking in our football then and it was not until some New Nigeria Bank
players had problems with the then Nigeria Football Association in which
about six of the team's players were suspended and the likes of Stephen
Keshi and Henry Nwosu left for Ivory Coast, which eventually opened the
floodgate for professional football in Nigeria. I had some contracts to
consider but somehow it didn’t materialise and I accepted my fate," he
said.
On how he was able to cope with pressure from the fans of Bendel
Insurance when he left them for NNB, he said: “It was a very big problem
then but because my grandmother was very close to the palace of the Oba
of Benin. The fans of Insurance could not encroach into my house. Even,
Humphrey Edobor that we left the team at the same time had to seek
refuge in my house. We really had it hot, in short it was terrible. The
supporters did everything to ensure we return to Bendel Insurance, but
we stood our grounds and later we were left alone."
Continuing, he said, "there were lots of amenities that we enjoyed at
NNB. It was the remuneration that was really the attraction. We were
like a family and all that we needed was provided for us and some of us
were even aspiring to becoming a banker at the end of our football
career."
Omokaro refuted the popular believe that there were 'Mafia' in the
Super Eagles then. "There was never a group known a mafia, what happened
was that some of us always wanted things to be done the right way. For
example, when Samuel Okwaraji first trained with the Super Eagles in
preparation for an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier match against Algeria
in Enugu, after four days we saw the vigour in him and we appealed that
he should be included in the team. We had our way and he was included
and aside from the fact that he had a wonderful game, he went on to
score one of the two goals in the 2-0 defeat of Algeria. When a player
is good we want him fielded because all we wanted was result. When
allowances are not paid on time we protested and these were some of the
reasons why some chieftains of the NFA who were not comfortable tagged
us mafias," 10-10 said.
If there is one moment the hard tackler hate to remember, it was that
fateful afternoon of August 12 1989 when Okwaraji slumped and died at
the main bowl of the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.
"It was a very sad moment for us to see a great player like that fall
and die. It was terrible, I could not stand it. That is life and we
would all go one day. I hate to recollect that moment," a sad Omokaro
said.
Continuing he said: “The country has not been fair to Okwaraji and his
family aside the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola who
immortalized him the other time, various governments had really done
nothing for his family. Some members of his family are trapped
financially which is not fair. He was a hero, and he died serving this
country. Visiting members of his family would go a long way in uplifting
the family, and it would give them a sense of belonging. Federation
officials should visit the family and ask how they are faring. They
might be having one or two problems which might not even be finance.”
In spite of Omokaro having no regret playing football, the father of
three is discouraging his only son from taking after him. He rather
prefers the boy concentrating on his studies. The former international
said he would have been an engineer if he had not settled for football.
"I would have been an automobile engineer because I love cars a great
deal, and I would have aspired to read engineering. But all-in-all I am
satisfied with myself, at least am comfortable, not lacking and the Lord
has taking His decision in my life and that is what I am complying
with,” the father of two girls and a boy said.
Omokaro is now assistant coach of Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) of Ibadan.
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