A former BCC Lions FC of Gboko defense strongman, Felix Aondongu Pilakyaa in an interview with The Voicesports’ Terfa Alaghga, said his biggest regret in football was when he lost the opportunity of travelling to South Africa, to play professional football. He also spoke on other issues.
Excerpts;
VoiceSports: When and where did you start playing football?
Pilakyaa: I started playing football in the Primary School, at the St Augustine’s Primary School Ihugh in Vandeikya Local Government Area of Benue state. Throughout my stay in the Primary School, I played for the school’s team and when I graduated and proceeded to the Mbawar Secondary School also in Ihugh, I continued playing for the school’s team as well.
VoiceSports: During your play days in the secondary school, did you play in any competition?
Pilakyaa: Yes. I played in the All Secondary School’s Games. Although, we did not win any laurels for the school, but as far as I am concerned, during our time we played the best kind of football in both the primary and secondary schools.
VoiceSports: How did you start playing for the club sides after graduation from the secondary school?
Pilakyaa: After I graduated from the Secondary School, we formed a football club called the Pounders FC of Ihugh and that was where I started playing for a club side in 1985. In 1986, Benro Packaging FC of Gboko, invited me and I honoured the invitation. I played for the team for two seasons and in 1988, I joined the BCC Lions FC of Gboko.
VoiceSports: How were you spotted by the BCC Lions FC of Gboko?
Pilakyaa: During my two seasons of sojourn with the Benro FC, we played in the FA Cup against the Cement Boys for two days and after playing a scoreless draw on the first day, we lost to them on the second day. That was where the duo of Coaches James Peters and the late Amodu Shuaibu spotted me and they invited me to BCC Lions FC.
VoiceSports: Can you recall some of the players that you met at the BCC Lions FC?
Pilakyaa: Why not. I met great players like, Moses Kpakor, the late Alumun Aule, the late John Agum, Aondofa Akosu and others too numerous to mention.
VoiceSports: For how long did you play for the BCC Lions FC of Gboko?
Pilakyaa: I played for almost nine seasons and throughout my playing for the Gboko based side, I contributed immensely to the team by playing all the continental matches and also travelling with them everywhere they went.
VoiceSports: Was there any time that you had the opportunity of playing for any other club apart from the BCC Lions FC of Gboko?
Pilakyaa: No. That did not come to pass because of the injury that I sustained in 1996, and it was a fracture.
VoiceSports: But did you at any time make any attempt to leave the club before the injury?
Pilakyaa: No. Because I had all the comfort that I would have gone in search of in other clubs. We played good football and all the good footballers that mattered in Nigerian football, came to play for BCC Lions FC, we met, interacted together and even travelled to all the places where teams that played good football travelled to in the continent. We won the FA Cup, Mandela Cup. So, what else was I looking for when I had all that I needed to have at the BCC Lions FC. Even if it was the exposure I had it. So, I felt that if I was going to leave BCC Lions FC to play football, it should be outside the country.
VoiceSports: Who gave you the name, ” Iyol ka Iyol” and why?
Pilakyaa: One of the supporters of the BCC Lions FC gave me the name, because I was an extraordinarily strong man, having come from a typical village called Ihugh where I did all that could be done to build my strength. I ate good and body building food and when I combined the natural strength in me with playing football, I was untouchable when it comes to agility and the use of strength in football. And each time an attacker was proving to be stubborn in the game, the fans would ask, where is “Iyol ka Iyol” to go and finish what the attacker is doing and behold, I went and each time such an attacker came in contact with me or even my approach to him, he never dared coming close to our defence ark again rather, he took shots from a far distance which made no impact. That was the reason that I earned the name, ” Iyol ka Iyol”.
VoiceSports: After the fracture that ended your active football career, did you go for a coaching course?
Pilakyaa: Of course I went to the National Institute for Sports (NIS), for a coaching course and I am now a certificated coach.
VoiceSports: Did you coach any team after you graduated as a coach at all?
Pilakyaa: Very well. I started coaching a grassroots football team in Gboko called the Lions FC but it folded up because of lack of funds.
VoiceSports: What would you say were your regrets in football?
Pilakyaa: My biggest regret in football, was when I couldn’t travel to South Africa to play professional football. It was that same year in 1996, that I was to travel that I had the fracture which shattered my dream.
VoiceSports: How did you get the offer?
Pilakyaa: It was when we played a continental match against the Orlando Pirates FC of South Africa, that they spotted me and then offered me the deal. Even when we lost 0-1 to them in South Africa, they still wanted to have me at all costs. When we returned to Gboko and as arrangements were in the pipeline for me to leave, in one of our training sessions I sustained the injury which eventually shattered not only my dream of playing professional football abroad but also my active football career.
VoiceSports: What were your best moments in football?
Pilakyaa: Throughout my play days, I have always had the best moments.
VoiceSports: How did you feel when you were playing with great names in the football world like, Toyin Ayinla, Sam Elijah, Oshof Oshogbone, Taiwo Oloyede, Sam Pam, Christopher Edem, Cashmire Mbachu Hanafi Mohammed, Mike Usen, Bolaji Douglas, the late John Okon, Patrick Mancha, Monday Eguavoen, the late Amir Angwe, the late Terfa Kpakor, Edema Fuludu, to mention but a few
Pilakyaa: I felt very great and each time we were playing, coach Shuaibu of blessed memory, would say ” Pilakyaa come and show us how to kick the balls” because I had good kicks and I was very happy with it.
VoiceSports: You played together with the late Amir Angwe, what calibre of the player was he?
Pilakyaa: The late Amir Angwe was a dangerous striker of all time and I liked him because he was such an attacker that would never play football backward throughout the ninety minutes of regulation time. If he faced the goal line, he would not look back and no defender would be at ease with him. Even at our training sessions, no defender was comfortable sighting him with the ball.
VoiceSports: How did you receive the news of his death?
Pilakyaa: I received the news of his death with shock and heart rendering.
VoiceSports: What would you say is the difference between the football during your time and that which you see boys play these days?
Pilakyaa: There is a great difference. We played hard football and there was that willingness to score goals and we were indeed scoring the goals. You no longer see that kind of determination, zeal and enthusiasm in the football which they play today. During our days, you see deadly strikers like Amir Angwe with the ball approaching the goal mouth, no matter how much the defenders kicked him, it would not make any difference of what he wanted to do with the ball except he made a mistake in doing what he wanted to do with the ball.
VoiceSports: As a trained coach, what kind of coach would you prefer?
Pilakyaa: A very serious coach and not the lazy type. A coach that trains the players to be serious and not tolerate any lapses in the game. If you go to the Gbuushi Primary School in Gboko, where I was coaching the boys before I left, you would hear them saying that in my youthful days, I was a no-nonsense player. I love players that mark their opponents very well and not that kind of a player that people would say, he plays well but he is not a good marker. I love hardworking players who whenever they are with the ball, they build the confidence that any tackle behind them will be a foul and they will continue to push forward. That is me for you.
VoiceSports: What kind of coach was the late Amodu Shuaibu?
Pilakyaa: He was a wonderful coach who knew the calibre of players in his fold such that if there was a free kick, he would not want any player to go for it except me and if it was a penalty no one went except Sam Pam because we were always getting the training for that purpose. So, I respected him that much for that.
VoiceSports: Are the Super Eagles’ players of today playing well the way the yesterday ones were?
Pilakyaa: Not at all. When the likes of the late Rashidi Yekini, Daniel Amokachi, Sunday Oliseh, Emmanuel Amunike, George Finidi, Friday Ekpo, the late Sam Okwaraji, Samson Siasia and others were playing, you saw the game moving but I don’t know what is happening to our Super Eagles players of today.
VoiceSports: What is your advice for young players?
Pilakyaa: They should concentrate on playing football and stop drinking alcohol, they should stop smoking and betting. Some of them don’t sleep at night, they are with their phones betting when they know that they have a match to play the next day and when they are supposed to be resting their nerves preparatory to a match. That is why when they go into a match, they find it difficult to mark their opponent let alone read their opponent. A good player is supposed to read and understand the opponent that he is marking but they don’t do it. That is not good.
