Ex-Super Eagles goal keeper (now trainer with the Super Eagles), Ike Shorunmu, is so, so humble. At gifted designer, Mudi Enajemo’s place on Friday, April 18, 2014, YES INTERNATIONAL! Magazine Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, AZUH ARINZE, got him to do an incisive on-the-spot interview. The renowned goal tender who once plied his trade with clubs like Stationery Stores, Shooting Stars, Basel, Besiktas, Juventus and so on opened up on a lot of issues. Born on October 16, 1967, the one-time first choice goal keeper of Nigeria’s national team was indeed a delight to discuss with. Enjoy…
What makes a good goal keeper?
A good goal keeper? Very, very sensitive question. You’ve got to be patient and you’ve got to be a family person, because you are the last person in the post and sometimes when you make a mistake and the whole world is on you, you’ve got to have courage to carry on the show. In-between, you have to work on your reflexes and your ball handling. But if you don’t have these qualities and that courage and the confidence, there’s no way you can be a good goal keeper.
What is the costliest mistake that any goal keeper can make?
There’s a lot! Some top goal keepers, the kind of goals they concede, they call it cheeky goals. They are the most dangerous goals ever. Maybe from a distance – like 40 metres, 45 metres, 50 metres. Ah-ah! What’s going on? With your experience; people are just saying what’s going on? But you need to have something in mind – that you’ve been there before; you saved your club, you saved your country before. But sometimes when a mistake comes, you just need to be yourself.
In your active days, what did you enjoy most as a goal keeper?
I will say being with the team, being with the players, because it’s amazing. Family affair is different and before you can transform that into a family affair, you have to know the set of people you are working with, the kind of ideas that you share together. Sometimes some are the craziest, some are so nice you are thinking of things that will make it better.
Which was your most memorable match as a goal keeper and why?
There’s a lot. But there’s a particular one that I will say was more, more, more interesting, because the whole world was seeing you – that’s our match against Argentina – because we were playing against top players. Again, the stage was the World Cup and the whole world was watching.
How about the worst game you had in your entire career?
There’s a game that I played when I was in Besiktas. They scored a goal from about 35 metres. Like I said before, people said Ike, with your experience, for you to concede this kind of goal, it’s not acceptable! But thank God the following week, I tried to do something nice and to forget what happened the previous week.
What do you still miss most about those days that you were active?
One thing I want you to realize is that life is growing and life is changing and the most important thing is that during your time, in my professional time, I used to keep something for the future that I will say oh, thank God and there’s no regret for me as a player. I will say that football has been nice to me and to my family.
Who was your closest friend or who has been your closest friend as a keeper?
I won’t say has been. I have a lot of closest friends. I did share rooms with players – Mutiu Adepoju, Finidi George. Most of the time I stayed with Finidi George and people used to think that I’m an Igbo person because of the way I related with them, but I just want to be nice to everybody. For sure, I can’t be 100 percent good. But that’s why everybody, they accept me. The players; Ike did this, he did that…
What’s the greatest thing that being a goal keeper has done for you?
The greatest thing I will say is to play for your national team, because when you play for your national team and you are doing well, your country knows you, they appreciate you and I appreciate them too. And again too, I will probably say that what I’m doing, I’m doing it right and that’s why they give you that support.
What didn’t you get from football that you would have loved to get?
You know we can’t get everything. But the little I got, I appreciate that and I thank God for that and I’m contented with it.
Most footballers step into hard times after their active days, but people like you have sweet stories to tell. How were you able to do it?
It’s not by my power. I will say it’s by the grace of Almighty Allah who gave me that wisdom. You see, whatever thing you are doing, when they are praising you, that is the time you need to be very, very careful, because then, people will be looking at you, the way you relate with them, the way you respond too, because football will end. What next? About two years to the end of my football career, I started planning – what next after my football career? Because I have seen some ex-players, the way they live, the way they are and I now said to myself, it’s time for me to relate with people outside of football. So, I now found out that this is the best way because I still have a long way to go after my football career. The career is very short, but people think it’s long. It’s very, very short. So, I will say I thank God for that vision that God gave me and the kind of adaptation and the kind of people that I met on my way; the way they relate to me, I really appreciate them.
Most footballers attain success, but find it difficult to sustain. Where do they get it wrong?
Well, I don’t know, because one thing I just want people to realize is that as a professional player, you have everything; anything you can talk of. Because as a player, everybody wants to associate with you and some players forget one thing – that one day, that thing will stop. When it stops, how do you want to relate with the people that come around you then? So, that’s the advice we are giving to the young ones now that come to us. We try to tell them that you might have the millions, but the money is not the joy; the joy is in the people you are relating with. When the people are happy with you, you are happy. You might have your money and people are running away from you, that means your money is nothing and the joy and the happiness you are looking for, you won’t get it.
What is the best way to manage fame and stardom as a player?
Just take everything easy, because it comes and it goes. But for you that you don’t want it to go, you need to embrace it with care.
Other than football, what else do you do for relaxation?
I don’t do anything (Laughing). Because I did some things before and they didn’t pay off and I said to myself, it’s better to just face what I know, and from day one… The little one that I got when I was playing, I don’t want to lose it again. I lost it when I was playing, but now, I’m a little bit more careful about things.
God or rather Allah, like you put it, has been so nice to you, what more do you want from Him?
Whether Allah or God, they are the same thing. Either Christian or Muslim, we are the same thing; it’s the same God that we are calling. Well, just only health. I pray that good health continues. I’m healthy and I thank God for that and I just pray that it continues.
NB: First published May 2014