"Why I could not become a lawyer", former Nigerian international, Dimeji Lawal reveals

Here we bring you the concluding part of the interview with Dimeji Lawal. Enjoy: 

 How did your interest in football develop? Or was it the only sport available when you were growing up?

 

You know then in school, you just had to participate in sports. It was compulsory then; Physical Education was in the curriculum. I remember I played a bit of volleyball, I ran for my school, but football was the final choice because I was in Prospect High School, Abanla and we had a senior, Tosin Adebambo, he played for Shooting Stars. From secondary school, he was invited to the Super Eagles; I think he was about the first player to be invited to the Super Eagles from secondary school for a championship.   

When he came, we were on the assembly when he was presented as a good ambassador of the school. He came back with what is called digital wristwatch now; you know that old school watch that makes music; so the principal played the music for the whole school because he presented the watch to the principal. Since then, I decided that come whatever, I want to be a star like Tosin Adebambo. I started working towards it and thanks to God, I was opportune.
 

How did you feel after the penalty shootout that saw Nigeria losing the final of the U-17 World Cup to the USSR in Canada ’87?

 

The pains cannot be described; you know we were young and if you looked at the newspapers the following day, most of them had photographs of where I was crying. We all felt we had disappointed the nation and it was so painful. I remember our Pillar of Sports then, Chief M.K.O Abiola consoling and talking to all of us that we were young and that in a game of that magnitude, a winner had to emerge and there would be a loser, unfortunately, we were at the losing end.

 

Two years after that, you were in Saudi Arabia, a member of the team that played the “Dammam miracle”. People that were around then still talk about the historic comeback and eventual victory over USSR. When you remember that game, as a Nigerian and a footballer, what goes through your mind?

 

I think that was the day I really knew I was in the right profession. Just like I could not describe the pain of Canada 87, I cannot describe the joy that came after the game in Saudi knowing fully well that it was the same team that caused us pains in Canada that we now came back to cause them pain too. So it was a really happy moment for everybody because I remember when we were four goals down, we were like “guys, how would we go back to Nigeria? People will break our heads o”. We saw it as the highest form of disgrace for a team or a nation and when we were getting in for the second half, what was on our mind was to redeem our image and maybe score one or two goals to reduce the margin but at the end of the day we won the game. Everybody doubled their efforts in the second half.

 

Good you won that game, but what would you say did the magic?

I will say the fear of coming home with a deficit of four goals; there was no way you could face the nation with that. So it was sheer determination from everybody that whatever it takes let us reduce the margin. And when everybody doubled their efforts, it was like 22 against 11 and it eventually paid off.

 

Many have a feeling your national team career ended with a role played by Clemens Westerhoff, the then Technical Adviser; there was a match you were warming up and the spectators started shouting for your inclusion. After that match, Nigerians saw less of Kabongo in the Super Eagles. What happened between you and Westerhoff?

 

To God be the glory; I am about the first Nigerian that graduated from the Golden Eaglets to Flying Eagles and from there to the Super Eagles. I had my time in the Super Eagles, though it was very short; short in the sense that the then gaffer was Westerhoff and the obvious reason was that I had no kind of benefit to him playing in the Super Eagles then.  I was already playing in Spain and he was preparing a new set of players for the national team; who I can say are equally good. And from that moment in Lagos when he was playing one of his players and the team was not doing very well and I was on the bench; people started throwing water nylon, cans and stuff towards the bench requesting for me to come in. I remember I was rushed in by my then coach, Tunde Disu, who was the assistant coach to Westerhoff. I was just beginning to warm up; they didn’t even allow me to warm up because it was becoming a big issue at the National Stadium.

I was rushed in, I remember my first move resulted into a goal and eventually I scored a goal myself. I remember my late skipper, Stephen Keshi carried me shoulder high. Since that very day, I started having issues with Clemens Westerhoff because he thought if the nation can rise behind a player like this, he might start having problems about having his way in the future. And at that time, Finidi was playing well.

The last straw was the injury I had during the qualifying series; I got injured while playing for my club in Belgium and I was off football for a whole year.  So I could not continue participating in the qualifying series not to talk of the World Cup. That was the end of my stint with the Super Eagles.

 

Even many people who know your real name would rather call you Kabongo Ngoy; how did you come by that name?

 

Like every other player in my early playing days, my nickname was “Peledona”, a combination of Pele and Maradona. After the performance in Canada ’87, Ernest Okonkwo, the ace commentator said “I call him a new car”, that was because of my speed. Later on, in 1988, Kabongo Makanacky Ngoy was voted the best African player at the Nations Cup. And some people just felt I play exactly like him so they started calling me Kabongo Makanacky Ngoy.

That was how the name came about; unfortunately, Kabongo Makanacky Ngoy’s career ended because of a serious injury just like mine, a bad coincidence.

 

Looking back at the challenges with your club, the issues on ground and what retired footballers are facing; if you were given the chance to choose a career again, will you still choose football?

 

Whatever I have done in the past, I don’t regret. If I were to come to this world again and you ask me what I want to become, I would want to come back as a footballer because there are so many opportunities and there is so much money in it. I like artistry, I like applause, I like making people happy, I like to see people clapping, I like surprising people and giving them fun. That is my life, so I will choose football over any other thing.

I wanted to be a lawyer; the only regret is that the Nigerian system does not provide the avenue to combine the two together. The Nigerian system makes it so difficult. About a week ago, I was reading about a Bayern Munich player defending his Masters’ degree thesis in Poland. You see how easy it is for them. Rashford wrote exams recently; all he had to do was to train in the morning and go to school in the afternoon. I remember when I was in the university, the lecturers made it so difficult for us; especially with their belief that we were wasting our time doing sports. And the way things are going, every footballer needs a bit of education but the education a footballer needs may not come within the four years of a university. Football management courses can take six months while coaching can take a year. There is no need to sit in a university for four or five years.

We must strike a balance and if I have the opportunity I really want to address that.

 

Can you recollect the toughest opponent you faced as a footballer and the toughest match you played?

 

The toughest match I ever played was in the local league between Femo Scorpions of Eruwa and Sharks of Port Harcourt in 1988. Toughest opponent was Adokiye Amasiamaka. While I was the right winger for Femo Scorpions, he was the left winger for Sharks. The match was played in Eruwa and we eventually won the match 2-0 but instead of me attacking, I was defending. It was a very difficult match.

 

At 46, you still find time to engage in sports and you still look younger than most retired footballers of your age. What is responsible? Is it discipline or there is a routine you stick to?

 

Discipline is part of it. I tasted my first bottle of alcohol after my professional career, I never smoked. But what I try to do is to make myself happy in any condition. It is not that I don’t have problems but you know I am a model to some people and I wouldn’t want them to see me sad. If all they encounter around me is sadness what kind of model am I?

So I put problems aside because I know we don’t have control over some things. And I do a lot of exercise; and there is something I like a lot and that is women. (General laughter) I like women and when I say I like women, it doesn’t mean I am stupid with women or I don’t have control over what I do. I laugh when people try to depict stars as womanizers; tell me a job that has to with the public and doesn’t involve women. All you need to do is control yourself.

My wife knows and that is why throughout my playing career and even till now, she has never come across a negative report about me and I haven’t recorded any scandal. It is because I am in control of what I do.