Umuawulu, a sleepy settlement in Awka, the capital of Anambra State in the South-East, is the unlikely origin of one of the greatest sporting resumes ever to come out of Nigeria. In the bowels of this village lies Holy Cross High School, the site from which the story sprouted.
In 1970, Emma joined a football club created around the talents of a few young men most of whom had been demobilised from the war. Its name was Rangers International Football Club of Enugu. At the time, the leading continental footballing super-star was Robert Mensah, the legendary goalkeeper of Ghana’s Black Stars and also of Ashanti Kotoko Football Club. After Mensah was killed in a stabbing incident on November 2, 1971, the continent cried out for a new goalkeeping supremo.
That story of hope was not confined to the soccer pitch. The Rangers Football Club for whom both Christian Chukwu and Emmanuel Okala were leading super-stars, embodied the hopes of the people of South-East Nigeria as they emerged from the ruins of an utterly destructive civil war at the beginning of 1970 bereft of both capital and dignity.
Of the members of that original Rangers International team of 1970-1975, fewer than 13 are now alive. In addition to Christian Chukwu, Emmanuel Okala and Johnny Egbuonu, the others still around include Dominic Nwobodo, Francis Nwosu, Kenneth Abana, Patrick Ilouno, John Uwanaka, Godwin Adimachukwu, Johnny Azinge, and Sylvester Onwuekwe.