Veteran coach, Adegboye Onigbinde, has extolled the virtues of Nigerian football legend, Teslim ‘Thunder’ Balogun, as Tuesday marks 41 years of his demise.
In a tribute to the soccer icon for his prowess and contributions to the development and promotion of the game, the FIFA/CAF technical instructor, Adegboye Onigbinde, described him as “a fantastic footballer with bullet shots on both feet. He had the speed and could dribble. Ghanaian newspapers once described him as the greatest centre forward that Africa has ever produced.”
In the same vein, a former Lagos Island East Council chairman and a close relation of the Teslim Balogun family, Alhaji Nosiru Kadiku, revealed that Teslim was nicknamed “Thunder” particularly because of his spectacular performance in the Nigerian Challenge Cup finals of 1949.
Kadiku recalls: “The match was between Nigerian Railways and Marine football club.
“Marine was leading Railways 3-0 until it was about eight minutes to the end of the game when Teslim Balogun busted loose and netted three goals within seven minutes to level for his side.
“His shots were like lightening.
“When he scored two goals, the fans stood on their toes.
“Then, unbelievably, he took the Marine defenders on again and proceeded to score the third goal.
“At that point, many of the fans fell off their stands in jubilation and there were some casualties.”
One of the soccer legend’s son, Olamide Balogun, said the children still uphold the legacies that was left behind by their late father, stressing that their believe in it has assisted the family to continue to wax stronger.
Olamide said: “We believe so much in charity and sponsorship programmes and this has been the bedrock of the family.
“We have been giving people a lift with our foundation and we recently hosted an Under-17 tournament in his honour where the winner carted home with Two hundred naira and other mouth-watering prizes.”
Thunder Balogun is reputedly the foremost Nigerian professional football export to the English league before he returned to join the Western Region Government for the development of the game in the local communities.
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