Calvin 'Emeka Onwuka

Publisher, Documentary Maker, youtube: #NaijaHeroes. @acl_sports. Host: #YourSportsMemo Podcast. Author: #LLandL

[Calvin 'Emeka Onwuka @CalvinEmeka]

".... I came round in ICU and then later my phone was given to me. First thing I did was send a text to a friend. Have we signed Michael Carrick yet?"

https://t.co/ry2Yyd6IFo

#LLandL

[Sai Ishaya @Sai_Ishaya_]

Lol there will be no revisionism.

The truth is that the smoke reached the South b/c the North refused to put out the fire. We don't get to look down South & smirk, "it's finally happening to you,"to say that requires a level of blindness we can no longer afford.

The Northern establishment spent yrs coddling this crisis. How many people even admitted there was a "Northern problem" in the first place? For a long time, the strategy wasn't to confront the rot, but to mask it under the guise of political correctness & regional solidarity using religion as a mesh.

There's no form of insecurity in the North that didn’t find a significant Northern bloc of politicians, clerics, & natives defending, justifying, and supporting it. We literally watched active, decisive attempts at destroying Boko Haram get sabotaged from within under the banner of "you're killing our brothers."

Ironically, Southerners were often some of the most vocal voices sounding the alarm against Northern insecurity. They understood a fundamental truth that our leadership chose to ignore : you cannot be part of a single body & watch a limb rot with gangrene, expecting the rest of the organs to stay safe. Eventually, the sepsis spreads to the heart. We are in "SIRS" now.

The Northern elite silenced the alarms and coddled the arsonists. We are not going to pretend even for one second about this reality because if we do, we will not find any way forward.

[Calvin 'Emeka Onwuka @CalvinEmeka]

@NGfanactivist @G46393681 You could drive a 2-ton lorry through our midfield.

[Calvin 'Emeka Onwuka @CalvinEmeka]

@G46393681 @NGfanactivist The Denmark result was inevitable, really.

As well as we played vs Spain, it took dreadful goalkeeping for us to win. Then a 1-0 win over Bulgaria but got hammered 3-1 by Paraguay in the last group game.

We were such a disjointed team all tournament with no coaching. So..

[Calvin 'Emeka Onwuka @CalvinEmeka]

@SelecaoTalk What made the decision worse was that Mr Thomas went to talk to the Swedish keeper as they were getting ready for that corner-kick.

[Calvin 'Emeka Onwuka @CalvinEmeka]

Re: Not knowing of Chidi Imoh. Please read 👇🏾

[Calvin 'Emeka Onwuka @CalvinEmeka]

@MrSawyerr It is the fact that we don't deliberately show our history and heroes on our TV programmes that is the problem. It is not the time/year.

I don't blame those who don't know him. It is the culture that has allowed that to happen that is a problem.

[Calvin 'Emeka Onwuka @CalvinEmeka]

@demosho_ Atlanta '96 Football Gold wrecked whatever would have happened in France 2 years later. It is the reason I don't write anything about it or even interview any player about that Olympics Gold.

It is the reason we did not make the semis in France, at least. For me.

[Calvin 'Emeka Onwuka @CalvinEmeka]

@Xtopherewesi That's why I wrote this

https://t.co/EAsWaYEW39

[Calvin 'Emeka Onwuka @CalvinEmeka]

@MrSawyerr It is the fact that we don't deliberately show our history and heroes on our TV programmes that is the problem. It is not the time/year.

I don't blame those who don't know him. It is the culture that has allowed that to happen that is a problem.

[Calvin 'Emeka Onwuka @CalvinEmeka]

Someone wrote about Chidi Imoh here yesterday, under the comments at least 2 said they had never heard of that name before.

I mean, Imoh ran in colour TV o. Those guys in the CS talked about other Track and Field athletes they can recall but not Imoh.

I was weak.

[Greg Nwoko @nwoko_greg62705]

Plenty know the company he founded but many don’t know his face:

This is Julius Berger. The construction company owner some of us claim died in Nigeria.

Julius Berger never set foot in African soil.

[Calvin 'Emeka Onwuka @CalvinEmeka]

@NGfanactivist Should go down as an owngoal. Zubizaretta had a nightmare in goal for Spain.

In the 'World Soccer' preview of Spain for the tournament, the writer had said that Zubi will cost Spain and should be dropped. Man was prescient!

Santi Canizares should have been in goal.

[Calvin 'Emeka Onwuka @CalvinEmeka]

@NGfanactivist First choice RB Jero (I don't want to misspell his surname) dislocated his shoulder in the 2nd to the last friendly. Mobi was his cover and had played a few qualifiers.

Plus, we were not coached by Bora. The players basically picked the team. We were actually a rabble.

[Calvin 'Emeka Onwuka @CalvinEmeka]

@yemiTM442 Archives are there, Yemi.

Brands are more interested in PL, LaLiga, UCL and the sort.

[Calvin 'Emeka Onwuka @CalvinEmeka]

@Real1_balogun Country fell off.

Badly.

A long time ago, too.

[Calvin 'Emeka Onwuka @CalvinEmeka]

@AyoOyalowo Wallahi, we do! 😁

It is why I have reduced my interactions considerably.

[Calvin 'Emeka Onwuka @CalvinEmeka]

@Amoky Forget history in schools for a bit, Oba.

This is what happens when Brands in the country would prefer to spend billions (collectively) on everything foreign rather than on anything about Nigerian sporting history.

[Calvin 'Emeka Onwuka @CalvinEmeka]

@Olusayo1 It is not just on AFN, Sayo. It is the whole country.

We were kicked off air during Euro '96 England vs Scotland match because they wanted to go to Mobil Trials at Stadium LIVE. 😁

That is how important it was!

A culture that abhors Nigerian history exists now. Sadly.

[Better Red Than Dead @BRTD1989]

With all the chat about the World Cup past and present. Where better to start on ITV than this classic encounter.

[Calvin 'Emeka Onwuka @CalvinEmeka]

@BRTD1989 Gerald Sinstadt (?) in commentary alongside Ron Atkinson. 🔥

I genuinely believe France would have beaten Italy in the final. West Germany weren't very good.

[Calvin 'Emeka Onwuka @CalvinEmeka]

@RingwayPaul @WhitesideOne @NormanWhiteside A horrible assault on Ramsey, even for that era, should have been a red.

Rarely gets talked about for the effect it had on Brighton that afternoon and for the replay.

Ramsey was still struggling which allowed Stapleton to equalise. And then Gatting played at RB in the Replay.

[Calvin 'Emeka Onwuka @CalvinEmeka]

@sid_lambert @IanWright0 I remember that night. As soon as Wright pulled away, I was thinking, "Can Scholes find him?" I wasn't familiar with Scholes' long ball game at the time.

Gorgeous pass. It would have been rude of Wright to mess up there.