INTERVIEW: I Was Proud Seeing My Son, Brian Playing For Nigeria At FIFA World Cup – Sunday Idowu

 Brian’s dad, Sunday Idowu

Mr. Sunday Oyeyemi Idowu is the father of Super Eagles player, Brian Oladapo Idowu, who is playing for Lokomotiv Moscow of Russia . Mr. Idowu, who hails from Ilero, Iwa local government, former Kajola Local government in Oyo State told PM EXPRESS’ FRANCIS ACHI exclusively during the recently held Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup about how his son, Brian started football, the call up to the senior national team and other interesting issues.

So you are from Oyo state. I hope that Brian can speak Yoruba language fluently.

No. Brian only speaks Russian and English languages. Brian’s mother, my wife is half Russian, half Nigerian from Ibo speaking part of the country. Her father is from Imo State and her mother is from Russia. My wife speaks Ibo language fluently. At the age of three years, Brian left for Nigeria with his mother when she came for her housemanship as a medical doctor. Brian was in Owerri, Imo state with my in-laws and he lived in Owerri for three years and when I came to Nigeria to take him back to Russia, he was already speaking Ibo fluently as a result of living with my in-laws in Owerri. I brought Brian back to Russia for his studies.

Can you tell us more about Brian and football?

I could remember that during USA ’94 FIFA World Cup, there was  time difference between Russia and United States . The matches were shown live in Russia late into the night. By 2am, when I was watching the football matches of the Super Eagles and before I knew what was happening , Brian would walk to the sitting room to join me, I would take him back to his room. He was just two years old then. He will not sleep and he would come back to join me to watch the matches, so I had to allow him and that was when I observed that he was passionate about football. So father and son watching Super Eagles matches together in the sitting room.

In Russia, they have good and quality education system, but I had to take him to a private school to avoid him being bullied in schools owed by government. He was therefore registered at a private school. We observed that he was a young boy full of energy , so I asked him which sport did he want to engage in, was it basketball or football?  He answered me that he wanted to play football. I took him to Zenith St. Petersburg Football Academy. He wrote the examination and he passed. That was how his journey to football began. He was seven years then.  After school hours, Brian would call me that Daddy, where are you, come and pick , it is time for my training? I saw the passion and zeal in him to play football and I encouraged him, but on one condition that he must combine football with his education. In Russia, at football academies, if a student does not study well, he will not be allowed to play football.

Brian had an experience in Nigeria unknown to me. When he was in school in Nigeria, the teachers used to use rulers to beat children at the back of their palms. Brian experienced this, but he never told me. Rather he told the Nanny that was taken good care of him then when my wife was away in Nigeria doing her housemanship. His Nanny later told me about this. So, whenever he misbehaves, we always threatened him that we would take him back to Nigeria. I gave him a condition that he must take his education very serious, else he will go back to Nigeria where the teachers use rulers to spank children. In Russia,  teachers are not allowed to beat or flog the children. He was serious with his education and we allowed him to play football too. His mother is a medical doctor and I am an Architect. He studied very well and passed the examination to gain admission to the university with 282 points out of 300. We told him that without a university degree, no way for football. Brian has a Masters Degree since 2014 at the age of 22 years.

Brian Idowu (right) with Lionel Messi of Argentina during the recently held FIFA World Cup in Russia

How did you feel that your son played for Nigeria at the Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals?

I did not believe it. It is a dream come true for me for my son who was born in St. Petersburg here in Russia to play for Nigeria. I remember that when Brian was 14 years or thereabout, the Russian national team coach at the age grade team called me that my son was being looked upon for invitation to the national team. I was happy, but it did not materialise. He was voted as the best defender in the North West region of Russia Federation when he was 16 years old, but no national team invitation was extended to him by the Russian Football Federation. I cannot blame the Russia Federation for that. Later, Brian just called me one day that one of his teammates in Amkar, a Nigerian player, who had played for the Super Eagles in the past. I think his name is Fegor Ogude. He informed Brian that somebody called from Nigeria making enquiries about him and the person was requesting to have his number for discussion on the possibility of playing for the Super Eagles. Brian told me about it and asked if he should send his number to the Nigerian. He gave his number and a call came from Mr. Tunde Adelakun in London. Mr. Tunde told Brian of the plans of the technical crew of the Super Eagles to invite him to play for Nigeria. I was very happy when he told me about the discussion he had . I gave him my blessing to play for Nigeria. But the problem is that, Brian was born here in Russia. He speaks Russian language fluently , so he was wondering how he will fit into the national team set up. I told him not to worry , that if the invitation comes, he should honour it and forget the rest. Along the line during that period, his club got to know about it that Nigeria was interested in extending invitation to him. The club started to threaten him that if he honours the invitation to play for Nigeria, they would not feature him again. He would be dropped from the main team. It was a very difficult and stressful period for Brian that time., but the club has been bankrupt now and Brian will definitely leave for another club. In Russia, most people only recognise or support CSKA Moscow or Zenith St. Petersburg and if a player is not playing for these two big clubs, he is not that recognsied in Russia.

Tell us more about the invitation from the Super Eagles.

As his father , I had to make a call to one of the coaches of the Super Eagles . I told him that Brian’s club might not want to release him. The coach then told me that Nigeria might call him for a friendly game. Brian later called me that if Nigeria called him, he would be glad to honour the call to serve his country. He eventually got his invitation to play in the international friendly game against Argentina here in Krosnador. It was a big test to make your debut against Argentina. I told Brian, this would be a big test for you and I hope you will pass this test. He smiled and replied that he would work very hard and hope for the best in the game if the coach decided to play him. To my greatest surprise that day, Brian played and scored against Argentina.

How did you feel when he scored against Argentina.

I was very excited , I shouted and lost my voice at the stadium. Some of the Nigerian Embassy people at the stadium that recognised me as his father, pointed to me saying that this is Brain’s father and they all came to my side to congratulate me as if I was the one that scored the goal for Nigeria. It was a wonderful feeling that evening. I want to thank all the players in the Super Eagles whom Brian met in the national camp. These players did a good job to accept him into the team. These players welcomed him into the team at the time of the friendly game with Argentina. They made him feel as if he has been part of them for long and this really helped him to adapt into their fold. This kind gestures from the players fully helped Brian to make up his mind to play for the Super Eagles . He later made the World Cup squad and played all the three games that the team played at the group stage of the World Cup, the last one was the game against Argentina, here in St. Petersburg, the city of his birth. I thank the technical crew of the Super Eagles for making this dream a reality.