Ajegunle, the cradle of Nigerian soccer stars, is a ghetto town with so many poor people in the Apapa area of Lagos state.
It’s a shanty town that evidently lives up to its nickname: ‘Jungle City’ or ‘AJ City,’ as it is called by many for the good, the bad and the ugly. Its uniqueness is in the fact that it has many ethnic groups concentrated in one place, with the Niger- Delta and the Yorubas taking a large chunk of the people living in the slum that has kept producing star players for the country’s various national soccer teams, both in the male and female categories. Nigeria, hides a secret that has made lots of families to become so rich and their sons earning millions of dollars abroad.
The area and its relatively filthy environment is considered as a slum.
But notwithstanding the hustle and bustle life of the area, it has continued to produce countless talents that have lifted and has kept lifting Nigeria’s soccer prowess at the world level.
When Nigeria appeared for the first time at the FIFA World Cup, USA 94, three of the prides of Ajegunle, Samson Siasia, Peter Rufai and Emmanuel Amuneke were members of that team, with one of them, Siasia, scoring a wonderful goal in the team’s second game against the Argentinian team that had Diego Maradona.
The various talents are found in four different locations across Ajegunle: They are the popular Navy Playground beside Boundary market, the Maracana playground, inside the Tolu School Complex, Olodi Apapa, the Sandfield Playground, Orile-Iganmu by Lagos-Badagry Expressway, Orile Lagos, and the Prisons Playground, beside the Maximum Prison, Kirikiri Town, Lagos.
Because of the magical nature of the soccer playing fields in Ajegunle, some notable Nigerian legendary soccer stars, like Sunday Oliseh, Victor Ikpeba, Nkwankwo Kanu and Finidi George among others, that, were discovered either outside Lagos or outside Ajegunle, frequently visited the sandy Navy Playground where they often participated in annual Mock Nations Cup. Players had to visit Ajegunle so many times.
New Telegraph
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