Nigerian goalkeeping legend, Peter Rufai, talks about his Super Eagles career, challenges faced, his expectations of current Super Eagles team, and more, in this interview with PETER AKINBO
What fond memories have you of playing with the Super Eagles?
One thing I remember with fondness now during my time with the Super Eagles would be when I would shout to my attackers upfront. You would have about 40 to 50 meters between you, but I would still have to scream to Samson Siasia and co., calling them into positions. This is probably a part of goalkeeping that most people don’t know; aside from keeping the ball out of the net, we had to keep our attackers on their toes so they don’t get distracted because we can see the whole pitch and they cannot.
How did the iconic teams you played with overcome some very tough tests against opponents?
Football has its ups and downs; just like the popular song by Kenny Rogers, there are challenges in every aspect of life, and so in football. The challenges I had gone through in football and collectively with the Super Eagles are vast. In times of difficulty, to achieve success, we go through pain. Coaches will tell us this is how we are going to train, and sometimes the training sessions are so tedious. Sometimes, you go through these sessions, only for you to come out for a match, and you hope that this is going to be a successful match and you are going to win, but you find challenges on the pitch as well; you find your opponent is taking you tit for tat, taking you every minute, every space, and in every minute of the game. You find it difficult to break through even with the tactical instructions you have gotten from your manager, who for us then was Clemens Westerhof. You will see we still found it a bit difficult, but later on, we broke through and achieved success, and that is something you get from resilience.
Can you tell us one of these challenging moments in your career?
I have had a number of challenges as an individual. There was a time in my career when I signed a contract with a European club, Lokeren, only for me to be released to come and play for Nigeria, which now caused problems. On coming to play for the Super Eagles, the agreement in the contract stated that I should be back in Belgium in 24 hours, and after the match I had with the Eagles, the protocol department of the Nigeria Football Federation could not meet up due to some challenges, and I could not fly back to Belgium. This made me lose my No. 1 jersey for the club, and then since people back home did not understand, a lot of rumours started flying around. Some people in Nigeria started saying Peter Rufai is no longer playing, so for that reason, we should not call him to the national team.
What did you do about that?
That situation was what prompted me to make the decision to go back to school. I went back to the university, and that was when I got my Masters Degree in business administration. When those challenging moments come, it takes me back to the quotation, May your road be rough. It doesn’t really mean your road to be rough; it is the resilience you need to break through.
What was the biggest challenge you surmounted as a footballer?
During the 1994 Nations Cup, I was not called to the national team; the coach, Clemens Westerhof, said no. However, Nigerians went into the streets and said we want Peter Rufai; we want Dodo Manyana. It was at that point that the government and all football institutions in Nigeria took a decision saying to invite Peter Rufai, and that was how they invited me to the national team.
How did that make you feel?
I didn’t know I was so loved by Nigerians before that incident that they would come out to ask for my call-up. My jersey number at the 1994 AFCON in Tunisia was no. 22 instead of no. 1, so that is to tell you I was the last person registered by CAF, but with that no. 22, I was the number one goalkeeper for the team, and I did my best to repay Nigerians for their faith in me as finally Nigeria won their second Nations Cup title in Tunisia 1994.
What do you think about the present Super Eagles team?
Recently, Nigeria have been trying its best to put things together and make sure we get back to what Nigerian football is expected to have achieved. We trust and believe in the present NFF President Ibrahim Gusau; he is really working hard, and he is really doing his best to bring all stakeholders on board and ensure that by doing this, we will be able to achieve a much better result in moving our football industry forward.
What, in your opinion, is Nigeria’s greatest achievement in sports?
We have won multiple African Cup of Nations and the Olympics in 1996; however, we cannot mention those since the World Cup has still been evading our nation on the global stage. This year though, the Paralympics team has made us very proud. Every other department of sports is somehow going through its ups and downs, which the present minister John Enoh is working on and trying to see how they can work on the sector to ensure every area that is loose can be tightened. I look forward to our greatest achievement as well, believing that with the hard work in place, we can achieve that expectation on the global stage.