Sports
Ike Uche In Charity Pledge
Nigerian footballer playing in the Spanish La Liga is spending his high salary not on fast cars and big houses, but on the less privileged children in the community where he grew up.
Ikechukwu Uche, who plays at Getafe, was born in Aba, Abia State, south-eastern Nigeria
Aba, arguably the commercial nerve of Nigeria has also produced international footballers like Obinna Nwaneri, Kalu Uche, Onyekachi Apam and Onyekachi Okonkwo, as well is home to double African Champions Enyimba.
Beset by several challenges like bad roads and lack of electricity, Aba remains the best city in the world for the soft-spoken Uche.
For him, deprivation appears in clear context after a tough childhood and each day he steps back into a little piece of his past and considers himself lucky to have made fame and fortune from football.
Recently, the 25-year-old continued a five-year trend by visiting the Ngwa Road Motherless Babies Home, in Aba.
The soft-spoken Uche presented food and cash donations there as the kids sprawled and swarmed around him.
This Motherless home is one of all ‘Nine Homes’ the Super Eagle regularly donates to in his hometown state of Abia, donations he often makes in an anonymous position.
“I consider myself to be very lucky in life and where else to spend my holiday than with people who are not as fortunate as myself,” says Ikechukwu Uche.
“The truth is these kids don’t have parents, so who cares? I guess we need to put ourselves in their shoes for a day. “The government has done what they can but each individual needs to make an impact and contribution as well, we must not always wait for the authorities.
“This place, like thousands across the country, need a fresh water supply that will prevent disease from spreading. They also need other things, and I will look into one or two of those while am still around.”
Uche admits he could feel a sense of de javu there and the pulse of these kids.
The year 2003 turned out to be a dark one in his life as he and his older brother Kalu Uche lost both parents in the space of three months, to the cold hands of death.
It’s been six years now but the ugly event continues to live in his head.
Now a famous footballer, the 25-year-old has never forgotten how fortunate he is to be where he is today without his parents.
“That dark moment lingers but life goes on and I will have to live with it.”
“Life out there and the one here (in the homes) is totally different so let us reach out to the less privileged ones. I know they also do similar things but I urge fellow professionals to always reach out to vulnerable children.”
Since he became a professional footballer in Europe, Ikechukwu Uche has often made anonymous contributions to ‘School of the Deaf, Ngwa Road Motherless Babies Home, the SDA Motherless Babies Home and the Nwamaka Motherless Babies Home, all in Aba
England captain Harry Kane netted a hat-trick to guide Bayern Munich to an impressive victory against Stuttgart.
Kane’s goals, plus one from Kingsley Coman, helped Bayern end a three-game winless run in all competitions.
They faced a tough task against a Stuttgart side who sat back and limited their chances, leading Vincent Kompany’s side to enter the break frustrated and with the deadlock unbroken.
Bayern eventually found a way past Stuttgart’s steely defence when Kane drilled a low effort into the bottom corner from around 30 yards out after Joshua Kimmich overturned possession.
Former Nigeria goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph, is full of thanks to God after he miraculously survived another life-threatening automobile accident recent at Kara, along the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, where a heavy-duty truck ran into his SUV.
Narrating his ordeal, the 51-year-old, who guided Nigeria to gold in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, broke the news in a statement on his social media handles on Friday.
“To God be the glory, another death escaped by Grace and Mercy of God. Me and my friend SM were at Enyo Filling Station after Ojodu Berger bus stop to get fuel on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, around 6 p.m. when this MACK truck fully loaded with iron, with registration number LND 470 XX, left the road and crushed my car beyond repairs. Thank God for life,” he stated.
This is the second time the soft-spoken club proprietor will cheat death by a whisker, having been involved in an accident in 1997 that ended his career at 23 and left his spinal cord in bad shape.
He helped Julius Berger win the Nigeria FA Cup in November 1997 shortly a memorable Olympic outing by keeping a clean sheet in the finals against Katsina United. The following year, he was involved in the auto along Ikorodu Road, Lagos, which not only cut his career short but also left him almost paralysed, ending his spell at Serie A club Reggiana.
The former Nigeria international, who also kept goal for Julius Berger FC, said the case has been reported to Isheri Police Station, Ogun State, where the driver is currently detained and the truck also seized.
According to him, the owner of the truck said he can’t fix the badly damaged SUV until after a year.
Ex – Super Eagles of Nigeria, Okwuchukwu Waobikeze has observed that sports development in Nigeria is going down.
According to him, grassroots sports is very important, without it, the administrators cannot get it right. So everybody should key into grassroots sports development, he said.
Waobikeze said this last Wednesday in an interview with sports journalists shortly after the Port Harcourt All Stars Independence football festival (OCTOBERFEST) at the Port Harcourt club, Rivers State.
He explained that for sports administrators to get it right, grassroots development is key. “They should be organising competition at the grassroots level to fish out the young ones for different sporting activities.
“Grassroots sports is very important so the administrators have to go back to the grassroots.
” Sports Development in Nigeria is going down we need to go back to the basics.
“Look at the just concluded Paris Olympics, Nigeria did not win any medal.
” Our football team did not even qualify for the Olympics. We are going down.
” If they should go back to the grassroots, they will get young ones in the games and talents will be developed.
” I started from school games, to youth games before playing for the national team. Now everybody wants to fly board to play professional football and a lot do not know the basics of the game.
” A lot of people did not know the little things about the game, they just want to play. It is not done so,” Waobikeze stated.
Kiadum Edookor