Exit of an unusual Eagle – Philip Boamah

Boamah

Except you are a die-hard football fan, a serious documenter of Nigeria’s football history, and above 50 years of age, it is most unlikely that you would know much about a name known in Ibadan football circles as Etu (Yoruba for a Hare) because of his incredible speed on the football field.

Let me start with the bad news. Two days ago, last Thursday morning, Philip Boamah died in Ibadan. He had made that city his home for the past 50 years since he arrived the shores of Nigeria from Accra, Ghana in 1971.

He was a great friend and football companion. I am paying him this little tribute as, yet, another point of reference for the army of great football heroes that served the game and Nigeria very well, but languished in the latter part of their lives after illustrious playing carriers in the silence of neglect and forgotten history.

Philip was without question a most unusual by special Eagle. He was a Ghanaian, a full-blooded Ghanaian, born and bred in Ghana, and honed in the football tradition of Ghana of the early 1970s.

His movement to Nigeria was as a result of the political crisis that engulfed Ghana at the time, and the resultant economic downturn in the country.

At the same time, Nigeria was awash in Petro-Dollars, and the country became the choice- destination for many African economic migrants. Ghanaian football, up till the early 1970s, was superior to Nigeria’s, and Ghanaian players were highly priced commodities in African football.

Some of the best players in the continent were from Ghana – Baba Yara, Sunday Ibrahim, Mohammed Polo, Abdul Razak, Opoku Afriye, Adolf Armah, Opoku Nti, Osei Kofi, and so on.

So, Nigeria, with Petro-Dollars flowing like running-tap water, attracted a whole galaxy of them. Phillip