By Idris Busari
In this interview with UCJ UI correspondent, Miriam Enyi, speaks on his glowing football career.
May we know you??
My name is Enyi Miriam, a 400-level student of the department of history.
Your name is a household one as regards football in the University of Ibadan. But who is Enyi Miriam to you?
Miriam is a fighter. Football to me is like a scar that can never leave irrespective of how much I try to push myself away from it, it still finds its way to come back into my life and Miriam is also as stubborn as football. When she tries to leave, football come backs to her and no matter what thing of importance is going on at the moment, she drops it for football. Miriam to me is a stubborn, selfless fighter who I pray would get rewarded one day.
Briefly tell us how your football career began.
My football career began as early as 5 years old; I could remember but I didn’t actually like football that much but due to the fact that I have 4 siblings, my dad separated us like he wanted us to learn our culture (Ibo culture) as he’s not always around. He took my sisters to the East so they schooled in the East, me and my brother were in Lagos with him and my mum. So growing up was just me and my brother because as small as I could remember, it was only my brother that was playing with me and he was about 10 -11years old then and he loves playing football so each time he was going to play like football, I’ll go with him and from there, I started kicking the ball a little and that’s how I started playing and when he left to the East too. I continued and my dad bought my first football for me, so I started playing from there but I didn’t have like any experience of an academy because it was only on the street that I was playing even till now, I don’t have an academy or a permanent team that I play with.
When you are on the pitch, the crowd watches. They chant your name. What do you think you do differently?
Well, I think football with fans really have a difference with football without fans. If you follow football and you watch Liverpool last season and you watch Liverpool this season, I think they are kind of better this season because of their fans and their fans are like motivates them. Well for me, I don’t think it matters. I even prefer playing football without fans because sometimes when some people talk to you, they’ll start saying different mistakes and me, I hate like losing concentration in football, I just like listening to my teammates talking and not people from the crowd telling you what to do like give the pass there, use this one so it doesn’t feel different. Anyways, if there are fans there, fine and if there are no fans there, fine but I just have to play the same although sometimes crowd can give you motivation but for me, I just feel crowd or no crowd I still play the same way.
Football as it is said is a game of unpredictability; you win or lose. What keeps you going when you win or lose a game?
As a footballer, you have good or bad games but one thing about football is that if you play a bad game and maybe when you are out of the game, you get people telling you that you really played well, I think that thing makes me happy really even if I don’t play well. If my teammates are very encouraging, it makes me like forget about it and the fact that I know that I am going to perform better in the next one, for me it keeps me going so I don’t really take it to heart because it is part of football, you win and you lose. If you don’t lose, you won’t play better in the next match. It’s you losing that will make you sit up. Winning also makes you keep winning too but if you lose, you take a lot in and will make you sit up and you don’t have to put it in heart that this is the end so you just have to sit up. So, for me, if I get confirmation that I know I really tried my best but you just can’t win all the time. So, for me, I just keep my head straight because I know that better days are coming ahead.
What is your best moment in football?
So funny thing is I don’t really have like a particular best moment because I’ve not had like a very best. I’m just you know due to school and stuffs, I’ve not really have chance to playing like bigger space or spaces that are very big or train in a particular place and you know do something that are very recognizable and stuff but being in UI and just playing and just winning, in short, every game that I’ve won have been the best moment in my football career. I’ve not really have a moment that will say it changed my life and stuffs like that but I’m praying for that moment but just winning alone, all the games that I have won, the trophies that I have won, competitions, every medals has been the best moment so I don’t really have a particular moment because I have not had something big due to schooling.
To stay relevant as you have in football is no fluke. You must have devoted a lot of time to hone your craft despite being a student. How do you cope with academic tasks?
So, that has been like the biggest problem that I have like I remembered in my 100 level, you know when I came to UI, I’ve heard stories like people from universities do get scholarships to study abroad and stuff so I remembered some people actually told me that and I was like if I can get that kind of opportunity, it’s good. So when I got to UI, I begin to miss classes to attend trainings because as at then in my 100 level, we don’t have like a standard female team although they had like a team but they were not coming together so I was always training with the guys at AWO stadium and even though no matter how I trained, I didn’t have enough time to kind of showcase my abilities and stuffs so they didn’t give me play time and I was always going for trainings. I always misses classes and after 200 level, my GP dropped a lot and I just told myself, except if there’s a competition but I won’t be going to all these. It’s not easy especially for my course. I’m doing History and it’s not easy. You have to read books; you have to be up to date with a lot of stuffs and you still have to focus on sport so I don’t know. Although in my 400 level due to the inter-faculty competition and I already made promises I was going to play so I could not like ditch people I made promises to but after the inter faculty, I already told myself I was not going to participate in sporting anymore maybe till after UI because I already have like plans that I was going to do next after UI as I am planning like going to a secluded area where I can just play sport and just get a job and work, just football and work, football and work, I don’t want to think of any other thing but for now, let me finish and carry my certificate because I don’t really know up till today, I don’t know how to combine them, I just have luck that most of the classes don’t fall during that period so I had to go but if it falls sometimes, I have to ditch it.
You lost the UISU Inter hall football competition finals. You certainly must have felt bad. What did you think contributed to your defeat?
Aside missing a penalty during the penalty shootout, maybe I kind of…. I really don’t know how I contributed to the defeat because the fact that we played a draw and I know it was decided through a penalty so penalties are really very…. If you watch football, you’ll know that it’s any man’s game no matter how good you are, when it comes to penalty, you might just lose and people will think that you are bad but it doesn’t matter but I think that the fact that we had a lot of chances to score especially me and I kind of I didn’t make those chances and sometimes I just sit down and just think like if I had known like made those chances worth it and had played it a different way maybe we wouldn’t have gone to penalty because I was avoiding penalty, I hate penalties because I know that I’m not good at playing penalties especially in small goalpost so I think apart from the penalty. I don’t think I had any mistake that I made because the equalizing goal was a mistake from one of my teammates.
What are the awards playing football has given you?
I can’t really count them but most of the awards I’ve gotten from my faculty and my department, I’ve always been the best player of the year due to our competitions that we have won and then the just recent concluded inter-hall competition, I won the highest goal scorer so those are the only awards I’ve gotten and also certificates in participation in inter-hall competitions and faculty competitions.
What football club do you support?
Agbero FC as people call it #Chelsea
Who’s your favourite player?
My favourite Chelsea player of all time is Frank Lampard and my current favourite player is Mason Mount
You’ll agree with me that grassroot development in sports, especially football is nothing to write home about. What do you suggest the government implement to change the narrative?
Well, seriously I agree like 100% especially in Nigeria, it’s so poor like I just recently stopped going to a training because the bills were too much on me. I was going to pay like fees for training. Aside that, I was also going to pay fees for going to the competition we are playing for. Although I can’t blame them because there’s no like sponsors and stuff so you have to cater for yourself and due to fact that it was a growing club but the bills were too much especially the fact we have to be paying all the time as most of us don’t have work especially me, I’m a student so I have to stop going for the training. Like I really hear stories of lot of footballers that they sponsored them especially Brazilian’s footballers, they sponsored them when they were like little playing on the streets and these club will put them in their academy but in Nigeria here, it doesn’t happen because if they put you in an academy when you’re little, they’ll only make you suffer as they won’t help you. you will only be used and when you have an injury that is kind of threatening, they will dump You and get another player that will benefit them. So for me, I just feel grassroot football is really…because why are we asking footballers that don’t even start for their clubs outside they already get matches to play, why are we begging them to play for Nigeria because they are kind of…. foreigners? It doesn’t make sense. There are lots of footballers in Nigeria, maybe experience can also attributes to most of the things but I just feel why going outside when there are lot of talents here. Nigeria is a country of over 200 millions. If you look inside, you will see players so you don’t have to go outside so for me, I just feel the Nigerian government, in short, the sport council of Nigeria have to do something maybe they can start by organizing competitions because competitions don’t even work. In the competitions they organize people that they pick, they’ll just help them one way and the remainder of the way , the people they meet will them to bring some certain amount of money and we’ll help you get this, we’ll help you get agent but they end up getting scammed so I feel that if you want to help, it is not about …. because I know some people who tried to go grassroot and organize competition to get players but they don’t give these players adequate help because you want to help them, you’re helping them halfway, you’re not helping them full to the end so I just feel the government aside helping people grassroot football, you help them fully till the end. You don’t just leave them half way. If you can organize competition whereby grassroot footballers can showcase their talents aside showcasing their talents, they can make deals with clubs outside because I know some countries that actually invites all these clubs from other countries to come and watch their competitions that they host so I feel that Nigeria should try and get connected to all these foreign scouts or something to help scout all these grassroot footballers at least those ones can go a long way.
What’s your parting word?
First, I want to thank the UCJ for granting me this interview and also you for interviewing me and also to every footballers out there with the dream of playing football and also feeling that help might not come, you know, don’t give up because I also almost give up but this year, I just kind of thought it well, I was like I’m going to be done, I just want to leave everything both NYSC, I don’t even want to do it, let me just focus on football only and when I’m done, I can just come back to that. For every person that has the dream o playing football or doing something that will help you, just don’t give up because you might have issues on the way, like me now, I have school stopping me from going to some places because sometimes I get invitations to come and play in some states because I’ve gotten invitations from Osun state but I’ve not have the chance to go because, if I leave, UI is waiting behind and I can’t leave my books. Just don’t give up, have faith and God will do it for you. Thank you very much.
Thank you for your time.
