By KATE OBODO
President-General of the Nigeria Football Supporters Club, Dr. Rafiu Ladipo, is a man who has dedicated his life to supporting football in Nigeria. In this interview, he shares the touching story of  how his support for football nearly sent him to his early grave, amongst other issued raised by our reporter.

Enjoy it:

Growing up

I grew up in Ibadan where I had my early education. When I left secondary school, I relocated to Lagos and worked with CFAO Company. I later joined TRANSCAP Nigeria Ltd, a shipping department of CFAO.

I took after my father who happened to be a business man and a dealer in those days. As a shrewd business man, my father was a strategist. In those days, as a kid, my father used to hide his money in my pocket while we were returning from  the market to avoid being attacked by armed robbers.

Dr Ladipo

Romance with football

I played football between the 1950s to 1980s before I had a terrible ankle injury which stopped me from playing.  As a youth, football was everything to me.  Then, I hardly missed any football match. In fact, I would ensure I  saved some money everyday to enable me get to the stadium to watch a football match.

Becoming a member of the supporters club

In 1978, I went to watch a match between  then Oluwole Warriors, which is now Shooting Stars of Ibadan and Bendel Insurance. I paid four Naira (N4.00 )as gate fee. When I entered the stadium, it was crowded and there was no place for me to sit. I had no choice than to watch the game while standing.

Suddenly, something terrible happened, some people uprooted me and threw  me into the crowd. I started rolling and rolling until I landed on the concrete. And before I knew what was happening, a lot of people rushed me.

At a point, I almost gave up the ghost. To save myself from the ugly situation, I had to bite one of my attackers. For the first 45 minutes of the game, I was unconscious. What saved me was the breeze blowing across the outer part of the stadium.

After the first half, I managed to regain  consciousness as somebody then offered me a place to sit.  But from where I was sitting, I still could not enjoy the match because of excruciating pains all over my body. When the match ended, everybody left but I sat still, glued to my seat.

To my greatest surprise, on the network news that night, it was announced that about 32 people died as a result of  the stampede in  the stadium. After the incident, I thanked  God  for sparing my life, but it never stopped me from going to watch football matches in the stadium.

My first contact with supporters club

One day, while a match was going on in the stadium, I saw a group of people in Green and White. They were not up to 20 in number and they happened to be the only people that were not molested in the stadium. I discovered that they were members of the Supporters Club.

So, I went to them for inquiry and I was told that I had to pay N2 as membership fee. Quickly, I paid the money and automatically became a member of the club. Since then, my life has revolved around this club till now.

Early signs of leadership quality

The very first day I joined the club, I brought some transformation into it. Because of my little knowledge and exposure, I suggested to my members that there was need for  teams to get into the field under the national flag. That was how I became the first national flag bearer of the teams. When the teams filed out, I was always ushering them into the field, flying the national flag.

That was how  I rose through the rank before becoming the national chairman in 1990. Today, we have grown in size and number and are virtually in every state of the federation. I am proud to say that the Nigerian Supporters Club is the most entertaining, disciplined and well-behaved group in Nigeria.

My Kind of dressing

My style is simple and smart. However, as a celebrity, wherever I go, I always dress as a proud Nigerian with a touch of Green and White colour on my clothes.  This is a  practice  that does not matter if the dress is English or traditional. And I can assure you that everywhere I go, people admire that patriotism.

Me and my admirers

As a public figure, I have a lot of female admirers but do not have affair with them. The only thing I do is to appreciate them, whether they are male or female admirers.

Meeting my Wife

Meeting my wife was love at first sight. The day I met her,  I  asked her to marry me. She said to me, why me? Reason is that she always saw me with a lot of female admirers and was surprised I could propose to her.

Smoking and Drinking

Right from my youth days, I have never tried smoking because I never liked the smell. For drinking, my fear has always been that I could get drunk and I don’t like how drunks behave. So I totally refrained myself from any alcohol.

My kind of Food

As Omo Ibadan, I like Amala and Gbegiri and Efo soups. I also eat fruits a lot.