The Art of Being A Sports Commentator, Why Everyone still Love and Talk About Ernest Okonkwo in Nigeria

To captivate his audience attention spellbound, listening to him for a whole 90 minutes or so and enjoying every moment of the commentary where more than just describing the proceedings of a football match. It is an ART!

We still talk about the old master being preferable to today's breed of commentators who are more or less ramblers, who prioritise quantity over quality, talking for every available second without saying anything memorable

Many have complained of how commentators kill a game, making a football match so boring that listeners just dose off to sleep, but not with The ‘Intercontinental Ballistic Missile’ Football Commentator - Ernest Okonkwo

Here, Benson Chukwueke, a Sport Marketing expert and CEO, GreenHunters Sports International pay tribute to Ernest Okonkwo, one of the finest sports commentators of his age and the very best for all times in Africa.

This article first appeared here @CheerOnNigeria

Although, Ernest Okonkwo held sway as a sports commentator with the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, he was more famous as a football commentator. Okonkwo was one of Africa’s best football commentator, if not the best. He added fun, zeal, desire, and professionalism to his job. Check out this commentary:

“Iron gate Emmanuel Okala throws the ball to Chairman Christian Chukwu. Chukwu taps the ball to the Dean of Defence Yisa Sofoluwe; Sofoluwe sends a telegraphic pass to Midfield Maestro Mudashiru Lawal. Muda Lawal dribbles two opponents and sends the ball to Mathematical Segun Odegbami.

“Odegbami dilly-dallies, shilly-shallies, and locates Elastic Humphrey Edobor. The storm is gathering near the opponent’s goal area, and it would soon rain a goal. Edobor turns quickly to the right and returns the ball to Odegbami. Odegbami kicks the ball towards Quicksilver Sylvanus Okpala who shoots an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile from outside the penalty box. It is a goal! It is a goal! Nigeria has scored!”

The commentary above is a brief reconstruction of the late Ernest Okonkwo’s characteristic descriptions of events in a football match between the then Green Eagles of Nigeria and a foreign national team. Okonkwo was the best radio commentators of all time.

To the latter generation of sports followers in Nigeria, Okonkwo’s name may just be a story out of the museum of sports, but to the older ones, the broadcast journalist represented the best in the running of sports commentaries on the radio.

The Wordsmith

He was a master of descriptive language. Like Segun Odegbami once remarked about the late sports commentator, Okonkwo was “always conjuring words easily, effortlessly and aptly like a magician with his bag of tricks”.

Odegbami wrote, “I recall how people used to turn down the volume of their television sets in those days and turned up the volume of their radio sets to watch a match at home. I recall also how some spectators would carry small transistor radio sets to match venues and listen to radio commentaries of the same match right inside the venue!

“That was how powerful radio commentaries were rendered by great commentators, each with their unique style and strength in delivery.

“Despite the brilliance of Ishola Folorunsho, Sebastine Effurum, Kevin Ejiofor, Tolu Fatoyinbo, Yinka Craig, Dele, and a few others, Ernest Okonkwo stood slightly apart and ahead, shining just that little bit brighter in that constellation of stars that turned ‘commentating’ into an art form and made listening irresistible.

“Mr. Okonkwo was different. He gave players new names, reflecting certain outstanding or defining characteristics in their lives.

“As he ran the commentaries, he would conjure descriptive words delivered in impeccable English and a masterful usage of football lingo. The magic is that wherever he described a particular player and gave him a nickname, it stuck, thereafter, forever.”

In the 1970s through 1980s, despite the preponderance of world-class musicians across the globe, Ernest Okonkwo’s radio commentaries are considered more melodious to listen to than the best of music.

An influential sports commentator, Ernest Okonkwo was a wordsmith. His captivating football commetaries were made of simple, but fluent English.

He was an expert at coining words and new expressions. Football commentary listeners on Radio Nigeria will remember his nicknaming of footballers like Segun Odegbami as ‘Mathematical’, Adokiye Amiesimaka as ‘Chief Justice’, Yisa Sofoluwe as ‘Dean of Defence’, Sylvanus Okpala as ‘Quick Silver’ or other expressions like “Christian Chukwu taking an ‘Intercontinental Ballistic Missile’ type of ‘banana shot’.

That was how he nicknamed Dominic Nwobodo of Enugu Rangers, ‘Alhaji’, after the player sustained a head injury during a match, wrapped his head with a bandage that made him look like a Muslim wearing a turban when he returned to the pitch.

Emmanuel Okala was ‘Tallest’ for his towing 6ft 5in imposing frame. Christian Chukwu was ‘Chairman’ for his commanding and leadership style on the field of play. Alloysius Atuegbu, stocky, short but powerfully built, was ‘Blockbuster’.

Interestingly, Amiesimaka served as Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice in Rivers State after his retirement from football. Was that prophetic?

There were ‘Slow Poison’ (Idowu Otubusen), ‘Elastic’ (Elahor), ‘Caterpillar’ (Kelechi Emetole) and so on. All became household nicknames in Nigerian football.

Some Memorable Commentaries of Ernest Okonkwo

1. Nigeria has scored Nigeria’ - November 12, 1977,

In a 1978 World Cup qualifying match against Tunisia at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, Nigeria needed just a draw to feature in Argentina the next year.

"Alas! In the 61st minute, with the score at 0-0, defender Godwin Odiye headed the ball past goalkeeper Emmanuel Okala into his own net. With a pin-drop silence in the background, you could hear the commentator, Ernest Okonkwo screaming, “Nigeria has scored Nigeria”.

It was the best one could get out of the situation that at least Nigeria scored. To Okonkwo, it was the only way of consoling the brooding spectators.

2. A match between Rangers of Enugu and Raccah Rovers of Kano in 1979, he says:

“He beats Christian Chukwu; he beats Christian Madu; he beats Christian Nwokocha…he beats three Christians in a row! Who is this man? He must be a Muslim. Oh! It is Shefiu Mohammed sending a diagonal pass to Baba Otu Mohammed.”

3. A World Cup qualifying match between Nigeria and Tunisia in 1985, he says again:

“Okey Isima, with a short pass to Sylvanus Okpala. They both play in Portugal. They can communicate in Igbo; they can communicate in English; they can communicate in Portuguese and they just communicated with the ball.”

4. Around 1987, when Iwuanyanwu Nationale of Owerri (former Spartans) played against the African Sports of Côte d’Ivoire right at the Owerri Township stadium, Nigeria’s Rashidi Yekini was playing for the Ivorian club.

"Yekini was a torn in the flesh of Iwuanyanwu Nationale’s defence. No one could mark him! He was taller, bigger, and faster than the defenders guarding him. He knew the terrain and the Iwuanyanwu players quite well. He almost single-handedly destroyed the Owerri ‘war-lords’ that anytime he got a through-pass it was always deadly. So whenever that happened, Ernest Okonkwo would say, “the devil is out of chain, the devil is unchained”.

The death of Ernest Okonkwo on August 7, 1990, apparently marked the death of apt football radio commentary in Nigeria.