Marine Nigeria 1949

AN ARTICLE BY SUPERSUB

On the 10^th January 2021, Marine FC, an amateur football club based in Crosby Liverpool, hosted Spurs in the 3^rd round of the FA Cup.  Marine, who were playing in the 8^th tier of English football, became the lowest placed club in the football league pyramid to ever reach the 3^rd round & the gap between the two club’s league positions at the time, was the largest ever in the history of this competition.

The game was broadcast live by the BBC & images of Marine’s Rossett Park ground were beamed all over the world. Rossett Park has a capacity of just over 3,100 but, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the official attendance that day was, sadly, zero. Such an important game in the club’s history & their fans couldn’t go to see it.  Such a shame.  It’s a cracking little ground to go & watch a game of football.  There’s always an enthusiastic, though friendly atmosphere there, even when they’re playing a club from Manchester, and the place would’ve been bouncing for this one.

 There was however, a ‘virtual attendance of 30.967, with many people (including over 3,000 Spurs supporters) buying virtual tickets for £10 each, thereby giving Marine a much needed source of income.

For anyone who watched the game though, the images of spectators watching from their back gardens, cups of tea or glasses of wine in hand, provided a surreal backdrop to this FA Cup tie.  There was even a cardboard cut-out of Jurgen Klopp there, with an intense look of concentration on it’s face.  It was, in many respects, a unique day for Marine & one which will stick in the minds of many of those who watched the ‘drama’ unfold on their TV screens.

In 1949 though, an even more remarkable game was played at Rossett Park, one which had an estimated ground record attendance of around 6-7,000, and one that also had a massive impact on many people, inside & outside the world of football.

On the 29^th August 1949, the Elder Dempster ship, MV Apapa, arrived at the docks in Liverpool, having set sail from Lagos, Nigeria two weeks previously. Amongst those on board, were eighteen Nigerian football players (plus entourage), who were arriving to play 9 pre-arranged football matches against English amateur sides.

This was the first time that the Nigerian national side had played outside of Africa & also the first time that a West African national team had played overseas. It was all part of a plan which was ultimately aimed (football wise), at the Nigerians being in a position to compete in the 1954 World Cup competition.  Two days after arriving in Liverpool, the Nigerian players were due to play the first match of their tour at Rossett Park, home of  Marine FC.

The game was played before a packed crowd, which included a large contingent from the Nigerian communities in Liverpool & Manchester.  One of the main talking points about the game, was the fact that the Nigerian players were not wearing boots.  They played with strips of white adhesive plasters around their big toes to prevent them splitting & also wore white elastic ankle and knee supports plus green football socks with cut-off feet. Ten of the players played with their bare feet except one player, Dokubo, who wore lightly soled canvas shoes because he was used to them. (1).   More of this later………

Nigeria won the match 5-2 and, at one point, the local fans were jokingly urging the Marine  players to take their boots off in the hopes that it would help them play as well as the barefooted Nigerians. After the final whistle,  the spectators surged on to the pitch and carried the victorious Nigerians shoulder-high to the dressing room. Marine FC donated the total gate receipts from the match to the Nigerian Football Association.

Nigeria went on to lose the remaining eight games of the tour, including their final one against South Liverpool FC, a strong local amateur side where, many years later, a couple of young Scouse lads, who go by the names John Aldridge & Jimmy Case would learn their trade, before going on to (what could be described as) bigger & better things. 

All-in-all, the tour was seen to be a success & paved the way for further tours by West African football sides, and also for Nigerian citizens to come & live in the UK. Another significant outcome of the 1949 UK tour was that it opened the door for the migration of Nigerian footballers to the country. Some members of the 1949 tour would return and become the first generation of Nigerian footballers to play for English clubs – Ottun (South Liverpool F.C.), Titus Okere (Swindon ), and Tesilimi Balogun (Peterborough Utd and QPR).

There was however, as there often is, another side to this story.

For many, the tour which included a visit to Parliament, a tea-party at the Colonial Office & trips to Westminster Abbey & Wembley Stadium, was little more than a publicity stunt, in which the British establishment could portray a positive image of their occupation of Nigeria (and others).  The organisers were seen as wanting the players to ‘present a collective face to the British public, that went some way to dispelling racial myths about Africans’.  As a part of this, there were requests from the organisers, for the Nigerian players to wear football boots (even though they didn’t do so at home).  This would also be seen to be heavily reinforcing the vision of the ‘westernisation’ of colonial Africa. 

And it’s right here, that the players not wearing football boots at Marine, gains a little more significance.

The British organisers of the tour wanted the Nigerian players to wear football boots for all their matches.  The players refused, and so the decision to play barefoot, could also be seen as a sign of defiance, the retention of a traditional  Nigerian identity, within a tour that quite clearly sought to  establish an image of a modern ‘British’ Nigeria.  Given the political situation at the time, this was a brave decision by the players & the images of them playing football not wearing boots, hides the hidden story behind this & how this group of football players openly defied the (unreasonable) requests of their hosts.

In their next game, against an Athenian League XI, the organisers insisted that the players wear boots for this one game.  If they refused here, it’s reported that the tour was to be cancelled & the squad were to return home.  They eventually played with borrowed football boots & lost 8-0.   There’s an interesting aspect to this, in that there were quite a few members of the ‘establishment’ who didn’t fancy making the trip up to Liverpool (I can’t think why) and so would be present in numbers at the game against the Athenian League XI, which was a league for clubs based in the London area, the ‘centre’ of the British Empire.  Go figure.

For me, these players deserve to be known and their memory honoured. 

They proudly made a stand.

GOALKEEPERS: Sam Ibiam (Port Harcourt), Isaac Akioye (Hercules, Ibadan)

DEFENCE/MIDFIELD: Justin Onwudiwe (Lagos Railway), Olisa Chukwura (Abeokuta), Ahmed Tijani B. Ottun (Lagos Marines), Isiaku Shittu (Lagos UAC), John Dankaro (Jos), Hope Lawson (Lagos Marine), Dan Anyiam (Lagos UAC), Okoronkwo Kanu (Land & Survey).

ATTACK/MIIDFIELD: Mesembe Otu (Lagos Marine), Peter Anieke (Lagos Railway), Sokari Dokubo (Lagos Railway), Godwin Anosike (Lagos Railway), Tesilimi Balogun (Lagos Railway), Titus Okere (Lagos Railway), Etim Henshaw (Lagos Marine) and Edet Ben (Lagos Marine).  (2)

I’d like to thank;

(1) Olaojo Aiyegbayo for allowing me to use his article, which also covers details of the rest of the tour. https://www.horebinternational.com/the-story-of-the-1949-nigerian-football-teams-uk-tour/. 

And, (2) Eunice Awosika, for the names of the full squad of players.  Her late father was Paul Edet Ebenezer, otherwise know as Edet Ben. He’s the player sitting down in the changing room picture above, third from the right.

YouTube link;  Marine vs Nigeria

Greavsie was right ya know, football is a funny old game.  We’ve had recent articles about how football evokes emotions & where we all were when ‘Istanbul’ happened.  So many stories & so many feelings.  And that’s the power of football. 

I love stories like this one. For me, it’s what football is all about.  Yes, it’s great to win trophies and qualify for competitions etc & all that’s a huge part of  all the excitement.  But it’s the human stories behind all of this that can really capture the imagination at times.

Just thinking about this game that was played 72 years ago, just down the road from here.  6-7.000 people crammed into Marine’s little stadium.  Hundreds of Nigerians from local communities, mingling with the, predominantly white, working class locals.  No reports of any trouble whatsoever & the locals rushing on to the pitch at the end, to carry the Nigerians upon their shoulders in celebration, after their local team was beaten 5-2.  Football did that.

But the overriding thought about the game for me, is the business about the football boots, or lack thereof.   The Nigerians would’ve known that there was a (not so) hidden agenda behind the tour, but they weren’t gonna let that prevent them from being themselves.  There was probably quite a lot of pressure behind the scenes, to try & get the players to wear boots for all the games, but they weren’t having it. They didn’t use boots at home, so why should they wear them for this game…??

If you look at video clips from the game & watch the players as they walk out onto the pitch, you can see the excitement in their eyes & the enjoyment that they’re getting from being there & also from the fact that they were about to play a game of football. 

You can see summat else too.  You can see pride. 

Those players were, in effect, telling the British ‘establishment’ to do one & football helped them to do that.  It’s a funny old game.