The ‘Return’ of Tony Igwe – ‘world 2’

Segun Odegbami

Who is the greatest right-full back in the history of Nigerian football? About a year ago, I asked football fans the question above, and conducted a small poll to get an answer. The response from Chief Dele Adetiba, a veteran journalist, broadcaster and guru of advertising, who has seen most of Nigeria’s generation of footballers since the 1950s to date, was not surprising. It coincided with that of a few others who watched Tony ‘Parkins’ Igwe play in the 1960s in Nigerian football.

For about five years, between 1966 and 1972, ‘World 2’, as Tony was nicknamed at the time by adoring football fans, could not be touched. He was way ahead of his generation in technique and skills as a defender.

Tony owned the right full-back position. He introduced to football at the time, a defensive style of play that flourishes in modern football today as the wing-back. Tony was the first player to consistently do the overlapping run, an elegant gallop down the right flank like a traditional winger, joining the attack and delivering beautiful pin-point, final crosses to strikers (Amusa Shittu, Sunny Oyarekhua and Peter Anieke) in the box. It was a style that was decades ahead of the time. He made it popular, doing it so well and owning the ‘patent’ with a nickname ‘World 2’, the best number two in the world.

He was a member of the Second All-Africa Games gold-winning Green Eagles in 1972. He was selected amongst the African XI team after the Games. He was also a member of the first Nigerian national team to qualify and to participate in the Olympic Games. That was in Mexico in 1968.

Tony Igwe relocated to the United States of America soon after the Second All-African Games. He was one of the first set of Nigerian athletes to