DISTANT RUMBLINGS :

Take a rainbow colored plate in one hand and a mirror in the other then smash them over a bed of assorted green creepers sitting by a pond and the mesmerizing end result is exactly what Aba looks like from the sky. It is an absolutely gorgeous picture easily mistaken for a Roscoe masterpiece bearing living testimony to the native African’s proximity to nature as well as his relentless effort to tame it. Located at Latitude: 5,11 North and Longitude 7,35 East Aba once known as the "gateway to Igbo land" initially served as a primary Administrative Center for the Crown as well as a major spring board for excursions by the West African Frontier Force into Southern and Western Nigeria. Within comfortable traveling distance of the then capital Calabar and the Atlantic Ocean she would use her location even then to her advantage and evolve into the commercial and industrial giant that makes her the 9th largest city in Nigeria and 2nd largest East of the River Niger.

Located in one of the most densely populated places on Earth, Aba remains not only a confluence of Trunk A roads and railway lines; but also a manufacturing Mecca for an array of products including cement, textiles, pharmaceuticals, shoes, plastics, soap, beer as well as assorted palm oil based commodities. It would bask in this opulent position of economic bliss right through Independence till the clouds of war arrived in form of the Biafran war. Amazingly the city was spared very serious damage during that confrontation because the ferocious battles that took place between both sides were on the outskirts of town at places like Ugba junction and Ogbor Hill. So mercifully, it inherited a relatively in tact infrastructure which would be the foundation for her post war expansion that would soon include the famous "Aryia-Aryia" West Africa's 3rd largest open-air market.

As far as I can remember, Aba and soccer have always been in love, however I can only guess that the love affair must have started sometime long before the Royal Niger Company introduced the game to the Southern Protectorate when more than likely local traders taking advantage of their proximity to then German Kameroon (where organized games was already being played) copied and brought back their version to the shores of meandering Aba River. I say this confidently because throughout Igbo land Aba citizens are know not just for their feisty women who as we know charged English guns in 1929 rather than pay new taxes, but also as the ultimate "Copy-Cats" with the uncanny trait of observing, dissecting, copying and re-engineering anything – hence the term = "Aba Na Anya"! Furthermore the Enyimba Club is located on no other place than yup you guessed it...Cameroon road.

But back to the beautiful game. The first documented Aba team that made a name for the region was the semi pro-part time trader slash company backed squad in the early 60's called the "Giant Killers" and were known not just for their hyperactive security entourage who were called and looked like "Cowboys" but also for their stoic black and white kit and for the difficulty the gave arguably Nigeria' best team at that time - the Dan Anyam led Red Devils from Port Harcourt. Hence the appropriate name - Giant Killers.

The war as it did to many things, not only brought an end to that blossoming rivalry but as can be expected also stumped the further development of the organized game. With the focus of such previous commercial sponsors like BATA, S.C.O.A, Nigerian Breweries, the Textile Mills and May & Baker retrained on rebuilding their disrupted businesses; the wind in Aba professional football was soon replaced by the more entertaining and competitive Academical Cup High School competition. While at first the local entries from National, Ngwa High and Sacred Heart were dismantled by the other juggernauts that included the 2 National Powerhouses from Onitsha - Christ the Kings College and DMGS their day did come in the form of the amazing Eziama High led by notorious Idika "Pele" Aku. Despite not having Upper and Lower Sixth classmen the younger Eziama team's all out style of play coupled with their eccentric flamboyance (not only did they feature shaved heads but they shaved their eyebrows as well) implemented by their Ex Ranger Coach Nowbodo soon had the fans predictably clamoring for more on the professional scene. Inadvertently the seed had been planted and it would soon find and fertilize an egg. Ladies And Gentlemen. - The Elephant was coming.

ALONG CAME AN ELEPHANT

After this turbulent and much extended pregnancy ENYIMBA aka "The Elephant of the People" was finally born in September of 1976 along with the Spartans of Owerri by the then new Imo State Director of Sports Jerry Enyeazu to compete with the more dominant Vasco Da Gama and Rangers teams now located in the rival Anambra.(1) Right out of the gates the Government threw her full weight behind the Owerri based Spartans adopting them as the unofficial official State team and treating Enyimba and Nationale with at best suspicious scorn. Despite this unfair standard the original Enyimba team buoyed with veteran Vasco Da Gama GK Umelo as well as Uzoh, Abua, and Mmerenini beat the Spartans the next year to win the A.W. Ibe Cup thanks to 10th minute monster goal by Thankgod Ozurumba. (2)

That was all they wrote though because for the next years to come Enyimba would be so mauled by both Owerri teams, that one can only wonder what prevented the team from folding or developing a permanent inferiority complex. For a long stretch the team served no other purpose than being that of a Farm team for others to loot, raid and steal their developing players. There are too many to name but some that stick in this authors mind are my personal friend and old school mate at Government College Umuahia the fabled defender "Man Mountain" that was snapped up by the Spartans as well as Chibuzor Ehilegbu and Ben Okorogu who joined the Rangers camp.(3)It would be a bridge too far for us to cross in a couple of pages let alone a paragraph if we were to try to accurately and adequately cover this quasi depressing period. However just as surely as Monday follows Tuesday and Wednesday precedes Thursday we can be rest assured that the team's very survival depended on the unconditional love and gratuity of her cult like and nameless fans.

NZOGBU NZOGBU

Having said that lets now fast forward to the mid 1990's and immediately on arriving in Aba we see that things have changed. I mean don’t get me wrong the Motor Park is still a felonious symphony of irritated horns and angry voices, and some of the pot holes in the streets could still swallow up any errant Malu – but it's the people that have changed. It is late Sunday morning and the collective having risen and paid their respect to God extra early, are now heading en masse towards the Stadium. Spruced up in their best they are a mish mash of old and young making the earth tremble as they punctuate their "Enyimba Enyi" war chant with a unified stomp mimicking the gait of the great Loxodonta Africana. While broken up into an intricate hierarchy starting with "the notorious Area Boyz" and ending with the "Senior Oga’s", all share the common strut of arrogance and are not afraid to neither hold eye contact nor get into a spitting contest with anybody daft enough to try. And who can seriously blame them? After all their team consistently rules supreme over all 923,768 square kilometers of Nigeria. In a few short years it has wrapped its trunk around the necks of the competition and has slowly squeezed the life out of the teams from Enugu, Port Harcourt, Lagos and Kano. Make no mistake about it the Elephant lumbering down Asa Road is no longer the cute, cuddly one from the detergent box - it has evolved into a fully gown monster from which all quiver.

Had we hit the play button seconds before arriving at the mid 1990’s would have arrived at the cross roads of Enyimba's Golden future and the appointment of Governor Orji Kalu "The Elephant Whisperer". They say dreams, like children need constant encouragement to blossom and encourage is exactly what the Governor did. Taking a cue from what the big wigs in Owerri had done decades ago he would fasten a permanent umbilical cord between the State house and the team providing it with unquestionable support. Nothing he did though could match his appointment of the Club’s Chairman Felix Anyasi Agwu who despite repeated adversity has proven to be the nations top Administrator. Make no bones about it the best run team in the Nation is not the Super Eagles…..it lives in Aba.

Despite the frustration and Monday Morning quarterbacking created by many so called experts when the teams national success initially failed to carry over to the International scene, both the Governor and Chairman's support remained as if etched in Nkalagu cement. Even after the 7-0 dismantling of the Nigerian Champion by Ronaldo and friends who mopped up the Aba team the way one uses a chunk of bread to soak up sardine oil or months later after the 6-1 disaster in Cairo their answer remained a unified and confident "We shall eventually triumph". Repairing the gaggle of shattered egos as well as nurturing all the bruised psyches back into formidable fighting shape to eventually beat the very team that just dissected you - has to be considered one of the best managerial jobs in recent history.

Rather than fold and cave in the team was retooled under the skilled eye of the other part of the Holy trinity the humble Coach Ikhana (MON). Non-conforming disruptive "Ich Menschen" regardless of productivity were let go and slowly the team lost its predominantly Igbo look by featuring a more ethnically diverse team with players coming from as deep as the Yoruba interior and as far as Ghana. And so it came to pass that on an inhospitable Friday evening in Cairo featuring an almost anti climactic vulgar game the resilience of the Nigerian fighting sprit-tested for 35 long years- finally was rewarded and the most glaring omission on the Nigerian Football resume was corrected not by one of the so called great historical teams but by a community project from Aba.

REFERENCES:

ENUGU 2 - THE MAKING OF NIGERIA'S SUPER EAGLES

Robot  Villager

# 1 ://www.cybereagles.com/images/uu. DISTANT RUMBLINGS :...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 28.11.2007 13:09