When newly promoted English Premier League side Luton square up against Brighton in their first game of the season in the English Premier League, a Nigerian Chidozie Ogbene will be hoping to complete one of the most amazing journey in football, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Born in Enugu State in Nigeria to a family of medical professionals, the initial plan was for the 26 year old winger to follow the family line, that helped them migrate from Enugu to Lagos before finally finding a home in Ireland. Nursing made it happen for his family.
“Both my parents are nurses. Dad is still practising in CUH in Cork.” Elder brother Uche Ogbene recently joined the family business. “I was expected to be a doctor but that didn’t work out as planned”, he told The Irish Times.
“Yeah, I always wanted to follow the medical side. I went to a further educational college in Cork to study sports injuries to understand ‘why do I get injured?’ I didn’t go to university but I think we are all interested in human anatomy in the family.“
While in Nigeria, he didn’t quite have any interest of becoming a football hence can barely recall any memory of if he really played football before his family relocated to Ireland, where he vividly remember how he started off by playing street football.
“I just remember running around with cousins in the street. Back then I didn’t play a lot of football, just watched my brothers play in a sandy field. I never had interest really. It was when I moved to Ireland and started playing street football with my neighbours, that’s when I took it up.”
Despite his desire to be a professional footballer he had a strong leading that he will he a very good Gaelic football player. Gaelic is a form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch.
The objective of the sport is to score by kicking or punching the ball into the other team’s goal or between two upright posts above the goal and over a crossbar 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in) above the ground.
“I always wanted to be a professional footballer, but I had a God-given talent with Gaelic football,” the Luton winger told Sky Sports.
“I’d been juggling both sports, I had to make the call to my coaches. I had the attributes required to play Gaelic football at a high level, but it was a decision I had to make for my own dreams”.
He held on to that dream until 2015, when he made what can now be described as the most important phone call of his football career till date while at league of Ireland side Cork City.
“I played against a mate of mine who was at Limerick and I text him to ask for the manager’s number so I could have a three-day trial,” he says. “Cork City were a very strong team at the time and I didn’t really see a position for me in terms of game time. At that age, I just wanted to learn men’s football.
At Limerick he was spotted by Brentford and handed a three year deal, but he didn’t have the best of time adapting to the demands of English football leading to a loan move to Exeter in League two, a move that shaped his understanding of the game.
At the end of the season he moved to Rotherham, where he put his lighting pace, strength and dribbling ability to use and it led to his first call up to the senior national team of Ireland. A move that made him the first African born player to represent the the country.
With four goals from 15 caps one would have thought that he has put behind his Nigerian roots but that isn’t the case as he still speaks the native dialect Igbo when around his family and says the Nigerian culture will forever leave with him.
“My parents always pushed me to make sure I improved my English, they always wanted to hear it, but they also want us to remember where we come from, and the culture is something we take huge pride in. I’d come home from school and would switch to Igbo. My girlfriend Sandra used to come around and she would be looking at me, ‘I hope you are not talking negative about me!’, he said.
“Our household is quite Nigerian dominant. That is just something in our DNA. That is something that my parents and brothers and sisters take huge pride in and hopefully we pass it on to our kids; to share the cultural differences of being Irish and Nigerian because it is important to know where you come from”.
From wanting to be a medical doctor to having dreams of playing Gaelic football, Ogbebe is itching to get into the mix for Luton in their first top flight game since 1992, after playing a huge role in helping them beat Conventry in the promotion play off to seal a spot in the English Premier League.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
