Nigeria’s oldest international footballer, Titus Okere is dead
Titus Okere, the oldest living Nigeria international, is dead.
Okere died at the age of 94. He was a member of Nigeria’s first national team, the famed UK Tourists of 1949.
According to Sports Village Square, Okere who clocked 94 in March 22 died on Tuesday morning in Kent, in the United Kingdom (UK), as disclosed by his grand daughter, Frances Okere.
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“Good evening Kunle, I’m very sorry to tell you that my grandad died of old age this morning at his home, he will be greatly missed,” his grand daughter said in a message to a sports journalist.
“Thank you again for highlighting all his achievements and for including him in your book.”
Until his death, he remained last point of contact for the famous 1949 UK Tourists.
Okere, the left wing wizard of the team who was initially projected to captain the 1949 squad, lived a quiet life in Kent, some 61km to London in the UK.
His 94th birthday coincided with the 43rd anniversary of Nigeria’s first victory at the Africa Cup of Nations. When the then Green Eagles lifted the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time on 22 March, 1980, it was like a divine tribute to the pioneer Nigerian left winger. He was 51 on that day.
Similarly, Joseph Meads, the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) inaugural secretary who was also the convener of the 21 August 1933 meeting in which the Nigerian football body now known as NFF was founded (not 1945 as wrongly claimed), was also born on 22 March in 1907.
He should had been 73 years; the day Nigeria beat Algeria to win the Africa Nations Cup for the first time in 1980.
Okere in 1949 was described by Edgar Kail in UK’s Daily Graphic as having a net worth of £15,000 and a row of houses.
The Liverpool Echo edition of 1 September 1949 was astonished about the speed and brilliance of Titus Okere at the outside left and averred that given his experience, “he could find a place in most European League sides.”
Four years later, Okere found himself in the UK at the height of winter. Since his 1953 venture abroad, he seemed to have escaped everyone’s radar.
Having left Nigeria in February 1953 and never came back, he was believed to have passed on.
He was the first Nigerian citizen to play football abroad and registered as a professional when he signed for Swindon Town.
His adventure abroad after the initial UK tour of 1949 had an element of luck. He was highly rated by the British press during the UK tour of 1949 even though like most of his colleagues, he was playing barefooted.
Until now, Okere was widely believed to have died since he never return to Nigeria since he left Nigeria in February 1953 as the country’s first ever professional footballer.
©Sports Village Square
