Super Falcons superstar Maureen Mmadu reminiscence on her blissful and colourful career
From loving table tennis as a young girl to playing football with boys along the streets of Onitsha, playing club football in Nigeria and Europe, coaching teams in Europe, coaching the Super Falcons, and now running her own football academy, Maureen Nkeiruka Mmadu is an icon of the beautiful game of football. Last month Mmadu rewind back the clock with JENNIFER OKOYE in Onitsha. Her story should inspire budding sportsmen and women.
Introduction
Like most Nigerian kids who later became legends of football, Maureen Mmadu learned the art of kicking, heading, dribbling, and doing other things we spectators can only dream of doing with football on the street. "I don't normally stay with girls; I mingle with boys. I schooled in Onitsha, I was very popular growing up, and they all know me. So, I do watch the boys play when we are in school, but I don't play with them during school time, I only play with boys after school in our streets.”
Mmadu was forced to choose between her first love of table tennis and football on the eve of a very important competition," I was playing table tennis and football, so there's this competition where we were to compete in the two sports at the same time. They told me to choose one that I can’t compete as a table tennis player and also play football simultaneously, that was how I left table tennis and embraced football."
Made a divine choice.
Mmadu's decision to choose football over table tennis later proved to be a divine one as she went on to excel in the game at home and abroad.
From her humble beginning at Ado Babes, she moved to Pelican Queens of Calabar, later Jegede Babes of Lagos her last club in the local league before moving to Europe where she played in the following clubs in Norway and Sweden, Klepp IL in the Norwegian Toppserien, Kolbotn in Oslo, and Avaldsnes IL and other clubs in the highly competitive European Nations Women Football League.
Mmadu also had a blissful career in the green/white/ green colour of Nigeria representing the country at four FIFA Women World Cups and the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics at the global level and winning the WAFCON on many occasions with the Super Falcons
Recalling how she entered the national team, again, it was another divine intervention because if she had stayed longer in Onitsha when she went to visit her mother, she would have missed the match that she played so well that made national team handlers to invite her to the Super Falcons.
Said Mmadu, “I was playing for Jegede Babes in Lagos then, we were about to play Police Machine, I am the last girl in the family, so my mother sent my elder sister to come and take care of me. When they came to Lagos, they said that my mother wanted to see me. Madam Jegede said no but I started crying, that's how they took me to Onitsha.
“I came back from Onitsha after two days and played that match, that was when I was picked by the national team coaches probably if I had stayed longer in Onitsha, I would have missed the match and the opportunity, so it was divine intervention”.
High and low points of her carrier in the Super Falcons
Mmadu has fond memories of playing for the Super Falcons. She recalled that back then Nigeria was feared by all the countries in Africa. It was an era that Nigeria dominated the WAFCON and won the African Women Footballer of the Year Award on several occasions, but there were also some low moments.
“Making the national team then was tough and highly competitive; it wasn't easy because you know I had seniors then. I was lucky many of my seniors welcomed me and made me feel at home.
“I consider every one of my moments very good but the ones I consider not too good was when we lost some games we shouldn't have and also at the World Cup in Canada, we lost 7:0 to Norway. The USA 99 FIFA World Cup we lost in the quarter-final.
"It was a tough match for us. A golden goal rule was used to decide the match, it was very painful. I remember that Patience Avre was very fast then and we depended on her to break down the opponents with her speed but unfortunately, she was given a red card in that match.
"Then the fear of Nigeria was huge. Every Country wants to beat Nigeria, our opponents dread us. They know they need to prepare very well if they want to play the Super Falcons.
“We need to return to what we were doing then that made countries fear us because we are not dominant as we use to be especially in Africa. Countries like Morocco don't fear Nigeria again like they used to.
"If you really want to get what you want, you have to pump money into it. When I went to Morocco, their facilities were top-notch, and everything is well organized. “
Foray into coaching
Mmadu's foray into coaching was not planned, “To be honest, I didn't know I was going to be a coach, I wanted to go into importation business but when I was with this last team in Norway then they saw that I have what it takes to be a good coach and told me to go into coaching development program which I do every Saturday.
“The club told me to do it as a community service, so I started doing it and the whole community started coming because where I lived, they see me as their role model.
"So, the club now advised me to go into coaching, I was adamant about that. The first time they registered me I didn’t participate in the program, later the management brought the coaching program to our club to see if I will give any excuse.
"So, I agreed to do it because they told me that these players said they want you to be their coach. So, I went to a UEFA coaching course and from there I started till I was promoted to the first league as a coach.
"Before I started coaching officially, they were afraid because they thought I don't understand Norwegian language, because sometimes I pretend I don't understand.
"I was the only lady among 35 men.
"If you really want to do something, you will have to go to the grassroots, so I started from the basics."
Difference between Nigeria League and European league
Mmadu played in Europe for about two decades and for her there were many shocks and surprises,
“When I traveled, I was really shocked because it was the first time of going to play in another country and it was too cold.
"I had to adjust to their weather. At home I was used to eating swallow but there, I had no choice but to change.
"When I got to Europe I knelt down and prayed to God to please do it for me. I only played three minutes and the coach who initially said we will have to come back to Nigeria to get our work permit said I should stay, that I won't go back because it will delay my debut for the club. I was very happy.
"Playing in Europe was fantastic because, in the Norwegian league, every team flies to go and play their games if it's more than three hours by road and the Football Association pays 50% of the expenses.”
Coaching the Super Falcons
Just like her playing career, Mmadu's coaching career in Norway and the success she made of it attracted the attention of football administrators in Nigeria, “It was Sola Ogunowo the head NNL who called me to inform me that former NFF vice-president Seyi Akinwumi wanted to talk to me.
" He said I was afraid to coach my country I said no I am not, but I have a contract with my team I don't think I am ready.
“I was opportuned to be working with one of the best coaches in Norway, he was coaching men. My club brought him, and I found out that the man has a lot to offer.
"So, whenever he's talking about tactics, I sit down as a player, not as a coach, and listen to him.
"So, I was learning when he was doing all this, for about one year, I was his assistant.
"So, when Nigeria called me again, that was when I said yes, I am now ready.
"So, I focused on players that are in Sweden so that I will know immediately I start working. I stay up late at night to watch matches even at the midnight.
"My experience was fun because you can't give what you don't have. I really thank God that it was my talent, and I was successful in it.
Honoured along with other Amazons.
In the sports family, Mmadu may not have gotten the honour and respect she deserved but the National Centre for Women Development (NCWD), has recognized her immense contribution to football as a player and a coach and in June 2019 she was inducted into Women Hall of Fame alongside 22 other prominent Nigerian women.
Mmadu in an interview then said “I thank Almighty God for the honour; it made me understand that wherever you are you have to put in your best no matter the circumstance. It made me know that it pays to be hardworking, honest, and dedicated to whatever you are doing knowing that it will put you in limelight,” she said.
Prominent Nigerian women on the list are Oluremi Tinubu, the first female to win the senatorial seat in three consecutive parliaments, and Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa who is the first female president of the Court of Appeal.
Others are Folorunsho Alakija, the richest female of African descent; Blessing Liman, the first female Nigerian Military Pilot, and Adenike Osofisan, the first woman to obtain a Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science.
Also on the list was Stella Adadevoh, a Physician who curbed a wider spread of the Ebola virus by quarantining a Liberian, Patrick Sawyer, in spite of pressure, also made the list.
The Nigerian Women Hall of Fame was established as a national repository to document and celebrate every success that has been achieved by Nigerian women and young girls, considering the difficulties they encountered to attain their status. Hopefully, maybe one-day Mmadu constituency and the sports family, will recognize and honour her.
PULL QUOTE:
“Making the national team then was tough and highly competitive; it wasn't easy because you know I had seniors then. I was lucky many of my seniors welcomed me and made me feel at home.’’
Then the fear of Nigeria was huge. Every Country wants to beat Nigeria, our opponents dreaded us. They know they need to prepare very well if they want to play the Super Falcons.
