Today, I boldly undertake a double task – to celebrate coaches who made things tick during the glorious years of National Grassroots Dream Team in Surulere, Lagos and to correct a major error that many people keep committing regarding the nomenclature for youth football in Nigeria.

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First and foremost, I earnestly celebrate four coaches who toiled willingly, committedly, untiringly, charitably and effectively in making National Grassroots Dream Team a household name for youth football development in Lagos State from 1988 to 2009.

Today, I doff my hat once again for the late Coach Anthony Onuoha (who was our foundation tactician in the highly-acclaimed centre of excellence), as well as Coach Chijioke Gabriel Osuagwu, Coach Osahon Emokpae and Coach Iyke Chijioke Anyaji.

I also quickly apologise to them for how I made them work for charity and did not try to turn the ‘goldmine’ we had into a money generating platform that could trive into the future through lucrative contracts with more than 200 hugely talented lads who turned up for three different rounds of training sessions (junior, intermediate and senior categories) every Saturday at White Sand Field, Orile Iganmu, Lagos.

When I see how several ‘uncertified coaches’ keep garnering huge amounts of money daily nowadays, in the name of training kids (including one of my sons) at so-called football academies, I simply confess that I was wrong to have run National Grassroots Dream Team as a charity venture. Instead of collecting registration fees from players, we paid them allowances instead from our personal funds!

Today, Coach Tony (aka Chief) is late and virtually forgotten. Coach Chijiioke was employed then dumped by Abia Warriors, Heartland and Enyimba. Coach Osahon recently suffered a major physical setback after serving as sole administrator of Badagry Division Football Association (BDFA). Coach Iyke toils on tirelessly but unsung in the interior localities of Ojo, Lagos.

They all served judiciously (but for free) as gaffers with the very busy and ubiquitous National Grassroots Dream Team. Together, we groomed seven players for the Super Eagles – Ayo Makinwa, Ifeanyi Emeghara, Kevin Amuneke, Femi Ajilore, Kazeem Ayila, Sunday Stephen and Nnamdi Oduamadi – but have no recent contacts with any of those former players in appreciation of their achievements.

Together we produced other top stars who shook Europe for some years – including Benjamin Onwuachi at Juventus of Italy, Daniel Chima Uchechi at Leicester City of England, Ezekiel Henry (Henty) at AC Milan of Italy, Rilwan Hassan at FC Midtjylland of Denmark, among many others – but nothing to show for us in the form of peps from their pro-contracts.

I hear Paul Ebere Onuachu is still in touch with Coach Osahon, but their connection was at his youth club, Young Stars FC of Satellite Town, Lagos – not at National Grassroots Dream Team. So, why have our direct products from National Grassroots Dream Team failed to keep in touch with people who worked to make them grow?

It all boils down to my insistence on treating them as sons instead of placing them on contracts that would yield long-term dividends to our team and provide emoluments for the coaches who worked for gratis. So, we could not get FIFA development grants on any of the lads we groomed.

Some even set up academies of their own after retirement, without thinking of continuing with the foundation that produced them. Many of them would rather credit the last step of their breakthrough and forget about their small beginning. So sad!

Today, I admit where I erred and I again beg for forgiveness from those four coaches who looked up to me to augment their future, but I disappointed … because I failed to realise that life is such a long road to travel on and human character changes along the way.

That’s why those players who appeared to be loyal and trustworthy as teenagers ended up thinking of self-first as fathers.

Call it the basic instinct of survival or a factor of assertiveness – especially in these days of harsh economic realities.

Apart from pleading for forgiveness from the coaches that I failed to make provisions for into their future, I hereby humbly appeal to football administrators, corporate bodies and philanthropic individuals to please kindly reach out with helping hands to uplift these true heroes before they die.

In the final analysis, I make bold to clarify that instances of the round leather game at youth and school levels are not the same as grassroots football.

Someone in the Baby Eagles, Golden Eaglets and Flying Eagles is playing youth football, while anyone at Holy Ghost College, Sardauna College, CKC College, Baptist Academy or Saint Finbarr’s College is in school football – not at the grassroots.

Real grassroots football can only be seen when you go to interior places in Eket, Kafanchan, Gboko, Ubakala, Atakunmosa, Bwari, Ajangbadi, et al. Leave the city centre and visit the slums. Grassroots football occurs only in the distant community and suburbs of a city.

At the same time, while many teams now parade themselves as football academies, they must realise that it’s just in nomenclature alone and an abberation.

Can there be an academy without a hostel, training pitch, classrooms and proper academic curriculum owned by the team and officials of the ‘club claiming to be a school?’