‘Peter Rufai, give us this day.’ The distinct voice of the veteran radio commentator, Late Ernest Okonkwo, echoed through the airwaves. The highly dramatic and tense match being beamed live on both radio and TV had gone 120 minutes with the scores at one goal apiece between Nigeria and Algeria. It was for a place in the final of Maroc 88, one of the most keenly contested Nations Cup tournaments ever, hosted by Morocco, the North African country that will host the tournament again later this year.
The tension-soaked penalty shootout after the 120 minutes saw all the players on the pitch take a kick, including Peter Rufai, the Nigerian goalkeeper, who did well in converting his own. Then came this particular chance to win it. As the Algerian soccer star Lakhdar Belloumi faced Rufai for the second time in the shootout, and as Ernest Okonkwo was making the passionate plea on the radio, a magical moment was captured. Belloumi changed direction this time to hit the ball to Rufai’s right, and then, the way a magnet does a metal, Rufai sprang to catch the ball, stood up to hand the referee the ball, and did a macho jubilation run as his other teammates rushed to celebrate with him. It was sheer ecstasy. Nigeria had won the match and booked their place in the final of the Nations Cup. Rufai would only be beaten in the final by a penalty kick taken by Cameroonian ace defender, Emmanuel Kunde, who recently just passed away, like Rufai.
That victory over Algeria was the second time Rufai would be saving Nigeria in a penalty shootout at the Nations Cup. The first was four years before in Cote D’Ivoire ’84 against Egypt, and a third time would come six years later in an equally important encounter against Cote D’Ivoire in Tunisia ’94. Three crucial and gruelling semi-final matches of the Nations Cup, and Rufai, borrowing Ernest Okonkwo’s expression, gave his country the day!
Between that Côte d’Ivoire ’84 to Tunisia ’94, Peter Rufai, with the nickname Dodo Mayana, was clearly Nigeria’s first-choice goalkeeper. It was ten years of his dominance out of the seventeen he spent with the national team. If not for the inconsistencies of the ‘Papa Eagles’ era, from 1985 to 1988, when the senior national team apparently underperformed compared with the exploits of the U-21 Flying Eagles and U-17 Golden Eaglets, and the experimentation of Clemens Westerhof coming in as technical adviser of the national team in 1989 and building a new team all through the early ‘90s, Rufai would have had more caps than the 65 he had for the national team. Other great Nigerian goalkeepers at that time, Alloy Agu, Wilfred Agbonavbare and David Ngodigha, manned the post in some matches and tournaments, but whenever Peter Rufai was in camp, he usually would be the one to be fielded.
Before 1984, Rufai was learning from the masters in the Green Eagles’ camp. In an interview Rufai himself granted while alive, he shared how, on getting to the national team camp in 1981, he understudied veteran Nigerian goalkeepers in the national team then, Emmanuel Okala, Best Ogedegbe and Peter Fregene, the one that actually gave Rufai the nickname Dodo.
According to Rufai, he literally served these senior goalkeepers, carrying their boots from and to the training ground. That positioned him to really learn from them. This part of Rufai’s story may not be the most talked about, but it probably birthed and formed the iconic Peter Rufai that we came to know. It’s a true lesson in humility and service worth telling as it appears to have made him tap the great qualities of these great keepers. Rufai apparently picked Okala’s charisma and reliability, Fregene’s reflexes and shot-stopping ability, and Ogedegbe’s skill and agility. Rufai combined all these qualities and, as a result, could be arguably said to be greater than his predecessors.
Peter Rufai was a complete goalkeeper. Save for his susceptibility to crosses, maybe because of his preference for catching the ball rather than parrying it, he stood tall in every department of goalkeeping. When the 22-man list for Tunisia ’94 was released by the football authority in Nigeria, it was adjudged then as the best selection of players by many football followers in the country, and Rufai was back in the team as the first choice goalkeeper after his absence in the last two Nations Cup of 1990 and 1992. The 1994 Rufai made a huge statement that he was still the Dodo Mayana that we knew, helping the country to win the Nations Cup in Tunisia, and playing the tournament of his life at the USA 94 World Cup, being the acting captain except in the match against Greece, the only match that the actual skipper Stephen Keshi played at the tournament.
Nigeria was the toast of football lovers across the world as the second-best entertaining team at the 1994 World Cup in the US, and Rufai made a huge impression in goal. The two goals he conceded against Argentina were circumstantial, and he was almost not conceding any against Italy until two minutes before the end of the match when his fully stretched hand narrowly, and agonizingly, missed Roberto Baggio’s precise low shot to the far corner of the post. Baggio would later beat Rufai again in the extra time of the match through a penalty kick, and Nigeria were out of the World Cup, leaving however with their heads high for a major mark made on the world football sceneeven as World Cup debutants, despite their exit earlier than it should really be, based on their performance and form.
Four years later at France ’98, Rufai would make his second appearance at the World Cup with his Super Eagles team mates, but he had obviously passed his prime, and he wouldn’t have been in the team at all if not for the injury sustained by then first choice goalkeeper, Ike Shorunmu, who happened to be Rufai’s mentee. Rufai was called to camp close to the commencement of the tournament when Abiodun Baruwa was not so impressive at the friendlies played before the mundial. It wasn’t Rufai at his best, but it didn’t count so much against his built achievement and pedigree. Despite the not-so-impressive outings of France ’98, Rufai was still too tall in the mind of the average football fan to be dragged unnecessarily for conceding nine goals in just four matches.
Such respect Rufai commanded for his competence and dependability between the goalposts from his days at Stationery Stores Football Club of Lagos, early in his career. According to the Nigerian football legend Segun Odegbami in a recent piece attributed to him, in a match back then between Stationery Stores and Shooting Stars of Ibadan, Rufai kept the best forward line in the country, comprising Muda Lawal, Felix Owolabi and Odegbami himself from scoring until late in the game before the deadlock was broken by him (Odegbami) scoring for the Ibadan club. Stellar performances like that earned Rufai, then a rookie, his call-up to the national team in 1981. From Stationery Stores, Rufai would later move to Femo Scorpions of Eruwa, before leaving the country for Dragons Football Club in the Republic of Benin, and then club sides in Europe, starting from Lokeren FC, Belgium.
Rufai was iconic, no doubt, and legendary, a status one could say he attained along the line during his career by his commanding presence behind the defence line and his agility and ability to make saves from distance or close range. His presence at the back was always reassuring to his team mates, and was a threat to opponents.
For instance in 1989, in the last qualifier match for the 1990 World Cup between Nigeria and Caneroon, it was reportedly a shocking relief for Cameroonian officials and fans not to see Rufai in goal for Nigeria, because they knew about the yeoman’s job he did In the earlier encounter in Ibadan, Nigeria, when NIgeria beat Cameroon 2-0 on home soil, goals scored by Stephen Keshi and Samson Siasia. Rufai had 10 out of 10 performance rating in that encounter in Ibadan, and many Cameroonians couldn’t understand why he wasn’t in goal for Nigeria in that return leg in Yaounde, which Nigeria eventually lost 1-0, and was denied a place at the World Cup in 1990 as a result.
The safest hands perhaps in the history of Nigerian football have just passed on, but his greatness still stands. It is learnt that Peter Rufai was planning to release an autobiography before his demise. Regrettably, he didn’t live to see the dream of that book fulfilled, but nothing should stop the publishing of that book in his honour. For one reason: only Peter Rufai and Stephen Keshi, both late now, had such a length of time with the national team that they almost connected the two golden eras of Nigerian football. Both of them mingled and played with some of the members of the Nations Cup-winning team of 1980 in their early years in camp, and also played with the equally glorious 1994 set of players in their latter years. Rufai’s story of his journey with the national team, well documented and edited, will therefore be a rich, valuable and enlightening resource showcasing events, accounts and lessons ‘From Green Eagles to Super Eagles’.
Omisore writes from Lagos, via mdomisore@gmail.com @ThePUNCH
