This document summarizes a lecture on the heritage of sports given by Charles Oladipo Akinde. The lecture discusses the importance of sports in society and highlights several international and Nigerian sports heroes. It also mentions some traditional Nigerian sports that should be preserved, promoted and developed as part of Nigeria's cultural heritage.

1. Heritage of sports
Lecture delivered by Charles Oladipo Akinde Ph.D.
On the occasion of International Day of Heritage and Sites,
Organized by National Commission on Museums and Monuments, (NCMM), Akure station. On
18 April, 2016 at Federal University of Technology, Akure.
The Distinguished Chairman of this occasion,
The Honourable Curator of NCMM, Akure Museum,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,
I appreciate the National Commission on Museums and Monuments, (NCMM), Akure office for
organizing today’s event which is meant to create awareness of our common heritage as Homo
sapiens everywhere in the world. I want to particularly convey my gratitude and appreciation to
the Director General of the National Commission of Museums and Monuments, Alhaji Yusuf
Usman for his efforts in promoting and showcasing the rich heritage of Nigeria.
It is my pleasure to be here today to give this talk on this important occasion of International
Monuments and Sites Day. Today’s occasion is a special day to remember our almost forgotten
heroes in sports, it is also a day to deliberate and ponder on the importance of Sport in personal
and collective lives of human beings everywhere.
For the benefit of those of us who do not know the significance of International Monuments and
Sites Day which is being celebrated today worldwide; it is a Day set aside to create awareness
about the world’s common property called heritage.
This 18th
of April has been celebrated every year since 1972 that the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) during its 23rd
session, passed a resolution, based
on the recommendation of the International Council of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) that this
day be set aside every year as a day to ponder on our common patrimony.
Every year new themes are selected for the celebration. International Council of Monuments and
Sites (ICOMOS), is the arrowhead of this celebration. The theme for this year’s celebration has
been selectedto lend support to, and show the importance of sports in the lives of human beings
in society.
According to ICOMOS, “TheOlympicGames willtake placein Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in August 2016.
ICOMOS wishes to dedicate the 2016 International Day for Monuments and Sites to the heritage
of sports.”
“Thepractice of sports has ledto the creation of specificfacilities(stadia, grounds, circuits, courts,
etc.) which not only bear witness to the development of the sports themselves but also to the
evolution of architectural design, use of technology and aesthetic expression over time.”

2. “Since sports have developed from the origin of mankind onwards and have left testimonies to
the diversity of installations and facilities related to their practice, many of them bearing
outstanding values related to the development of architecture, art and techniques.” Therefore,
“dedicating the 18th
April 2016 to the heritage of sports has the purpose of celebrating the role of
sports in the improvement of human life through the recognition and enhancement of specific
types of monuments and sites, raising awareness on their values and the role they hold in shaping
the cultural identity of concerned communities, at national, regional or local levels.”
Sports are what we all know to be any activity that we as human beings use as pastime or
recreation, such as Football, boxing wrestling and so on. Let me quickly add that whenever we
talk about sports, we also mean Games. In fact both words are often used together as sports and
games. Hence sport is a physical or mental competition conducted according to rules in which
the participants play in direct opposition to each other, each side striving to win and to keep the
other side from doing so.
Sporting activities emerge wherever humans live. From time immemorial human beings have
taken joy in entertaining themselves to easetheir tensions away from daily work activities. Philip
Carter, as president of the British Football league, said that “football provides all the emotions
that are essential for superb entertainment; spectacle, competition, drama, agony, ecstasy and
fulfilment.” Sport is one of the activities if not the most important of the entertainment industry.
Sports importance is unlimited depending on the way one views it; and circumstances that
surrounds its emergence. There are many types of Sports and Games in existence some have
gone into historical past not practiced in modern society, some new ones are born, (car racing
for example is a relatively new in the arena of sports, it’s a product of industrial revolution) and
their forms are different from one another.
There are for instance, combat sports such as Judo, Aikido, and Karate. Boxing and wrestling
belong to this category. These sports’ aim is to defeat the opponent. They are individual sports
as wrestling, weight lifting and Lawn tennis are; there are team sports such as football, rugby,
hand ball, hockey, etc. which are physical and muscular games. There are sports that challenge
the mind; there are also strategic games like board games, the likes of Chess, which is perhaps
the most popular of the mind games. Some games are played in-door; some are invariably out-
door games.
All the above mentioned games or sports have been part of our modern world that it is difficult
to think of recreational arts without them. All have with time, developed large fans or followers
such that they are becoming a political issue rather than mere games.
A black American won a game some decades ago, while he was to be decorated with his medal;
he gave a raised closed fist tucked in black glove of American Black Panther Party. He was trying
to convey a message of protest to America and the world about the plight of Black Americans.
Muhammed Ali changed his name from Cassius Clay after he won consecutive victories in boxing
duel to protest against what he thought was a slave name. He thence forth became a Black

3. Muslim in America. Games are used in the past by many countries as political propaganda and
nationalism. When the national anthems are sung, at the beginning of international
competitions, they whip up national sentiments. To draw this idea home, it is enough to notice
how involved and agitated a whole country become whenever the national teams are playing.
Football is a game that carries every national men or women with them whenever their national
clubs are playing. Football draws more crowds of supporters in the world today than any other
game. With the development of communication technology, games played at any corner of the
world could be watched life in one’s sitting room. Apart from Football, there are other popular
games worth mentioning, boxing, wrestling, fencing running, basketball, handball, swimming,
skiing etc. Some games can be played on a particular terrain, such as skiing, ice hockey etc; some
games are mechanized such as car racing, and cycling.
Heroes of sport and games
There are many heroes of sport and games whose names would not and could not be erased
from the annals of sport. These personalities could be found in alltypes of sports, internationally,
personalities as Diego Maradona, Muhammed Alli, Pele, the unbeatable king of football, Drogba,
Cristiano Ronaldo, Hakeem Olajuwon, Mike Jordan, Tiger Woods, and the two sisters Venus and
Serena Williams in Tennis and people in that class.Thereare others too in other sport and games.
There are many more notable players of sports everywhere, some of them had performed agreat
feat that it will be difficult to forget them, for instance, the world’s oldest footballer now is
Japanese, Kazuyoshi Miura who scored a goal for Yokohama when he was exactly 44 years old.
The world’s youngest footballer is 12 years old Mauricio Baldivieso; he made his debut in the
Bolivian league for Aurora football team recently. The list is inexhaustible. At home here in
Nigeria we have our Hogan Kid Bassey, Dick Tiger, Power Uti, Okparaji, Rashidi Yekini, Stephen
Keshi, Richard Owubokiri, Kanu, Segun Odegbami, Okorocha, Sunday Olisey etc. There are
upcoming female athletes and wrestlers too. There is female wrestling coach Florence
Omagbemi, etc.
But, what is it that is unique from all these that make it worth conserving. The idea is to keep
them and their performances in memory and therefore some may be preserved as monuments
in carved forms like in ancient Greece, Rome and others. ICOMOS has spelt it all out that there
are many of these performances and structures that bear values related to architecture, art and
techniques. Some boots used in the past by some of these athletes and sports people would be
kept for what they are worth permanently in the museums. I will not be surprised if a sports
museum will not be established in Brazil for Pele, their sporting hero; if they have not done so
already.
An example is a game which today is less noticed was an old game discus throwing played in
Ancient Greece which is one of the oldest individual sports. It was popular event with the ancient
Greeks in their Olympic games. They considered the discus throwing champion the greatest
athlete; so much recognized that Myron, a Greek sculptor, made a remarkable bronze statue

4. known as “Discobotus” or discus thrower the finest of this statue is in the Vatican City in Rome.
Discus was made of stone or metal weighing 2 kilograms; it measures 21.9 centimeters in
diameter and 4.4 centimeters thick at the centre.
Brazil – O – Brazil!
In August, all attention would be directed to Rio. Brazil will be on the lips of sport lovers
everywhere. The holding of this year’s Olympic Games will not only bring the country
unprecedented fame, it will also bring to memory the performances of the greatest football
player of all time PELE into focus. It will also bring to the attention of the world the origin of
football in Brazil. How Pele developed to become the best football player in the world. Pele (his
real name is Edison Arantes do Nascimento) became a soccer superstar at in 1958 when he was
17 years old. He has received many accolades and awards which includes UNICEF’s peace award
in 1978. He is aman whose accomplishments on the soccer field,many people thought, willnever
be equaled.
It is in this same Brazil that produced another soccer star called Ronaldo, (his complete name is
Ronaldo Luis Nazario de Lima). Ronaldo was described as a player who possessed unstoppable
combination of speed and power, on the field. Ronaldo is a member of the planning committee
of the 2016 Olympic Games to be held this August in Brazil. There is another soccer staralso from
Brazil in the person of Ronaldinho and woman soccer player called Marta. Brazil has become a
breeding ground for soccer superstars. Football playing was brought to Brazil by an English man
called Charles Miller whose parents migrated to Brazil in early 1880s. He was sent to England to
study. He stayed away for ten years during which period he learnt to play football apart from his
study. When he returned to Brazil after his studies, he took home with him his academic
qualifications, two foot balls and a complete set of football kit. Back in Brazil, Miller started to
convince everybody, how wonderful football playing was. He organized the Sao Paolo Railway
workers and Gas company workers. From this beginning, Brazil was able to produce a player of
Pele’s stature. Obviously, this simple feat of Miller is worth remembering and he has gone down
in history as the man who introduced the game of football into Brazil.
SPORTS IN NIGERIA
Before independence, few Nigerians had participated and in fact won important games which
made Nigeria to be popular at independence and gained recognition of international bodies in
athletics and boxing. One remembers, Hogan “Kid” Bassey, who later called himself Hogan King
Bassey after winning the boxing bowl to become world featherweight Champion in 1957. There
was Dick Tiger who won the world middleweight champion. In athletics Emmanuel Ifeajuna won
a gold medal in high jump during Commonwealth games fiesta in 1954. Since independence,
Nigerian sportsmen and women were known all over the world to have done incredibly well in
international games, such as All African Games and the Olympic games.

5. Allthough Football seemed to be Nigeria’s most favoured game, from the great performances of
the Golden eagles to the under-17 championship in FIFA completion in Japan, and in China in
1985. There are other games that Nigerians had been well-known, one can talk of Power Uti and
Mike Okpara in wrestling, the latter was a world wrestling champion.
For the sake of world heritage, we are not only to remember individuals, who are direct
participants in the games we are also to remember historic structures relating to sporting
activities and also sports promoters and sponsors. There are a number of them in Nigeria, people
like, Moshood K. O. Abiola who established Abiola Babes, Adebajo babes, lwuanyanwu Nationale
FC etc. In Nigeria, there are stadia worth mentioning, Liberty stadium in Ibadan, the National
stadium of Surulere Lagos and others.
There is no doubt that Nigeria has many great talents in sports, in athletics, wrestling, boxing,
and of course football. Many of great Nigerians are based abroad, Hakeem Olajuwon, the
basketball king, Nduka Odizor, in lawn tennis, Sunday Uti (400m runner), Yusuf Ali in long jump,
Ajayi Agbekalu in triple jump, Innocent Egbunike in 200m run and Chidi Imoh in 100m runner, the
mentioned Nigerian sports men and women are based in the USA.
We need to do a lot more to improve our sports men and women’s performances at home, we
need to improve our sporting facilities and we need to give our sports people the necessary
incentives to be able to keep them. What’s important as far as Nigeria is concerned is to note
that we possess great reservoir of sports people if we care to develop them. We also need to
recognize that there are other sports that need to be promoted, like table tennis, hand ball, and
many others.
Nigerian Sports Commission would do well to add our indigenous sports to the sporting activities
in Nigeria; we need to promote our home grown sporting activities too. As we have many talents
in foreign introduced sporting activities in Nigeria so also do we have exceptionally wonderful
athletes who are capable to take part in international sporting events. It is understandable
though why we concentrate on foreign sports, it is owning to our colonialheritage which not only
takes away our local religion, our local cultural dances, but also our language and thinking
processes becomes stunted and we therefore view everything from our locality primitive and not
worth the trouble to develop further; we therefore cast them away.
By far the most popular sports in Nigeria even in the world today is football. Nigerians have been
doing their bits in the competitions to merit remembering and recognition in order to encourage
younger generations. There are athletics, boxing and other games such as, gymnastics,
weightlifting, cycling, swimming, hand ball, and others. We urge those who are promoters of
these games to intensify their activities as sporting is no longer just a pastime or amateurish
activity, but heavily or highly professionalized and monetized.

6. Traditional sports in Nigeria
This article will not be complete if mention is not made of our indigenous or traditional sports.
The Traditional Sports Federation has been created to develop and preserve traditional games as
part of our cultural heritage, this organization needs to be promoted and encouraged.
“Being essential part of life in Nigeria, traditional sports must be preserved and displayed to the
people of all ages. At the same time, it is vital to develop modern sports, which have got so
famous in the country. In general, such competitions of traditional sports will provoke unity and
mutual interests of people, which is wonderful and even needed for building a strong nation….”
There are anumber of traditional sports in Nigeriathat need to be promoted. Mr. Francis Akinemi
of the National Institute for Sports, Lagos listedsome of them in his paper “Traditional sports and
games in Nigeria” (1995); during the inauguration of the Traditional Sports Federation of Nigeria.
They are:
1. Ayo (seeded game) a Yoruba board game; it is called Mancala game in Egypt. It is called
different names in different places. It is now becoming popular in many places in Nigeria.
2. Aarin (African Billiards game)
3. Abula (Ball game)something like volley ball
4. Kokawa (Traditional wrestling)
5. Dambe (Traditional boxing) this is widespread in Northern Nigeria, Sokoto and Kogi.
6. Langa (Hopping Game)
Apart from these there are many more games played in Nigeria, being a multiethnic country, the
communities where these sports and games are most popular should endeavour to launch it
nationally through the Federation of Traditional Sports. That is the only way that they can be an
instrument of welding different ethnic communities together. On this note, one has to agreewith
Mr. Akinemi that being essential part of life in Nigeria, traditional sports must be preserved and
displayed to the people of all ages, as we are developing and promoting other foreign sports.
Nigerian sports and Akin-Deko factor
Sports is said to begin to take serious roots in the country in 1963 when the National Sports
Commission (NSC) began to function under Abraham Ordia as secretary, but the root of the
commission and the man behind it needs to be remembered. The name Akin-deko may not be
seen in the roster of great sportsmen or athletics, but the creation of many sports structures and
even institutions in Nigeria is the brain child of Akin-Deko.
Little known to many sports lovers and even sports men and women is the name Akin- Deko.
Who was this Akin-Deko? Why did he come to sports rather than his profession, building or his
best known vocation agriculture? Akin-Deko you may like to know was the first Pro chancellor of
this university here Federal University of Technology, Akure. He was also the Pro-chancellor of
Benin University and Abeokuta Federal University. Apart from his exploits and travails in different

7. fields in Nigeria, his sporting records will never perish as long as Sports in Nigeria continue to
exist.
High Chief (Dr) Gabriel Akinola Deko is an indigene of Ondo State. He was one of the most
outstanding athletes from Government College, Ibadan, specializing in the sprints – 100 yards
and 440 yards as well as in the long and high jumps. It was his excellent performance as a star
athlete that won for him a place as a representative of the College in the Grier Cup competition
in 1933 in the sprints and relay.
From being an active sportsman and star athlete, High Chief Akin-Deko moved into the realm of
sports organizer and administrator. In 1960, he served as the Chef de mission of the Nigerian
Olympic team to the XVII Olympic Games in Rome between August 13 and September 15, and in
1964 he was Nigeria’s Chef de mission to 18th
Olympiard in Tokyo Japan. Returning from Rome in
1960, High Chief Akin-Deko motivated the establishment of the National Sports Commission,
from 1962 to 1965, he was the Chairman of the Commission.
The story about Chief Deko’s sports exploits would not be complete without this episode. At the
Women’s Amateur Athletics Association Open track and field championships held at the Liberty
Stadium in Ibadan in 1960 Chief Akin-Deko caused a stir when at the age of 47 he opted to test
his physical fitness at the high jump event. Several young ladies knelt down crying before the
minister pleading with him not to allow Satan to terminate his life prematurely. But he insisted
that the cross bar be raised to the height of 4 feet 7 inches to coincide with his age of 47 years.
Taking calculated sprinting space, High Chief Deko sailed over the cross bar at the first attempt
thus winning the high jump event in style.
The development of sporting facilities and the creation of the National Sports Council, which
were the brainchild of Chief Deko contributed immensely to the improvement of sporting skills
and by inference to the international recognition that is accorded Nigeria in sporting events
particularly football, athletics, boxing and others. It confirms his prediction of 1961 that Nigeria
would rule the world in sports. We have a cause to be proud of him because he was an indigene
of Ondo State. While paying tribute to our sporting heroes like Hogan Kid Bassey, Dick Tiger,
Power Uti, Mike Okpara, Okparaji, Kanu, Okorocha, etc. we also remember the sports promoters
in Nigeria, such as Moshood K. O. Abiola, Inwuayanwu, Adebajo, Chief Akin-Deko, etc.
Olusegun Obasanjo’s contribution
General Olusegun Obasanjo may not be a sports man of note, but his contribution to the
development of sports in Nigeria is remarkable. As the head of State of Nigeria in the 1970s,
Obasanjowas the architect of FESTAC ’77. (FESTAC means Festivalof Arts and Culture). It was the
second World Black and African festival of arts and culture. FESTAC may not be purposely meant
to promote sports, but since sport and games are a part of culture, its implication on sports
development in Nigeria is notable. Obasanjo organized Festac between 15 January and 12
February 1977. It attracted about 16000 participants representing 56 countries in the three
continents of Africa, Americas and the Oceania.

8. The aim was to build a bridge of culture between the African continent and people of African
descent everywhere, to create awareness of our oneness and share experiences in culture and
arts, including dancing and sport. Festac brought many things of importance to Nigeria. It was for
Festac that the National Theatre at Iganmu Lagos was built. Many events took place in the
National Stadium in Surulere, Durbar in Kaduna city and Boat regatta were also staged. A whole
community was named after the festivalcalledFESTAC Villagein Lagos.Many activities were held
that had positive impact on sports development in this country. Obasanjo should be kept in our
memory as one of the promoters and facilitators of sport in Nigeria.
MARE
I would like to mention the annual sporting event called MARE which was established by
Governor Olusegun Mimiko in 2009 and continued since. Although this event is still at its infancy,
the popularity goes beyond Ondo State and even Nigeria as one of the annual sporting events in
Nigeria. The acronym MARE was spelled out by Ondo State Ministry of culture and Tourism as
Marathon Race, Arts and culture, Rock climbing, Entertainment). MARE is perhaps the only
sporting event in Nigeria that features rock climbing. The Marathon Race drew international
athletes from as far as Ethopia and Kenya; the rock climbing attracted professional rock climbers
from Spain, South Africa and other countries. The sporting organizations in Nigeria would do well
to include this initiative in the future listing of sporting events and activities in Nigeria.
Education of Sportsmen and women in Ondo State
In 1987 Ondo State established Ondo State Sports Institute under the sponsorship of Ondo State
Sports Council. The Institute was affiliatedto The University of Ibadan (UI). Professor Adedeji was
the Dean of the Faculty of physical Education U.I. He was directly responsible for the Institute.
The initial population of the Institute was 250. The purpose of the Institute was to train potential
athletes the nitty gritty of sports. Based in Idanre because of the available natural facilities and
resources available for sport development there, sports hall was built, transportation was
provided. The community provided about 50 hectares of land. Between 1988 and 1993, many
athletes and other sports specialists both male and female had been trained. However, the
Institute was canceled without notice, for now known reasons. For whatever reasons, I would
like to use this opportunity of the international day to appeal to Ondo State Government and
Ondo State Sports Council to resuscitate the Institute; doing so would I am sure be an effective
medium to train sportsmen and women of international standard.
ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites)
As the National Vice-President of the Nigerian Committee for ICOMOS, permit me to extend our
invitation to whoever wants to join us in our efforts to bring to the attention of our people and
the world, the rich cultural and Natural wealth of Nigeria called our heritage. It is disheartening
that while some countries can boast of 20 or more World Heritage Sites, Nigeria has only two,

9. and we have over 10 potential sites already on World Heritage tentative list to be promoted to
the world Heritage status. I want to seize this opportunity to appeal to the NCMM to please
intensify their efforts to see that more sites are inscribed in Nigeria within the next decade.
The Chairman Ladies and gentlemen, Let us join other peoples of the world in celebrating today
the 18th
of April 2016 and let us jointly wish our athletes and other sports men and women well
in Brazil.
Thank you for listening.
Charles O. Akinde, MA. MBA, Ph.D. ICAHN Expert.
National Vice-President, ICOMOS National Committee, Nigeria
Member ICOMOS International Committee on Critical Heritage Studies
Member, ICOMOS International Committee of intangible heritage.