After many years of struggling, in 2018, Ibanga registered for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination and was offered admission to study History at the University of Calabar, Calabar, Cross River State.
Godfrey George feels the pulse of a former U-17, Mbetobong Ibanga, striker who now works as a butcher at an abattoir in Calabar, Cross River State, after a rough episode with osteoarthritis 12 years ago
Mbetobong Ibanga’s dream ended before it even began. One moment, he was billed to play for the Under-17 National Team in the 2011 African U-17 Championship organised by the Confederation of African Football in Rwanda. The next, a doctor told him that he had only five years to play football because of a strange knee injury.
In 2006, a year after losing his father, Ibanga left his Calabar home with high hopes of playing for top clubs after being invited for screening in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
He had earlier purchased a form to join one of the country’s football academies. He was 15 years old and hungry to make a better life for himself and his ailing mother.
Handpicked after the Port Harcourt screening and flown to Lagos for a final test, Ibanga saw the skies open up to him with endless opportunities.
Little did he know that just beyond the blue skies were grey clouds, waiting to swallow up his dreams.
In Lagos, as he played among hundred other boys, who had come to make a life for themselves, Ibanga said he remembered his mother’s last words before he left home.
“Do not bring shame to this family. Play like your life depends on it and make us proud,” she had told him.
“We have been through so much and I was my family’s only hope to stop the mockery and poverty that we have come to know as friends,” Ibanga said with a tight smile that struggled to break out of his pallid skin.
After days of rigorous screening and tests, Ibanga’s skills singled him out and he was chosen by a Dutch football manager and former Super Eagles coach, Clemens Westerhof.
Along with other lucky boys, Ibanga was flown to the Kwara State Football Academy, where he was to study on a scholarship.
“When I called my mother and told her the good news, she was so happy that she cried. Her reaction was understandable. I would be the first in the family to be blessed with such a chance of getting a national scholarship to play football.
“It was like the world had finally opened up its arms to give me all my fortunes. My family had been through a lot. We needed a breath of fresh air,” he said, taking in more breaths than usual, while speaking with Saturday PUNCH.
The scholarship by the then Kwara State Government under former Governor, Bukola Saraki, and extended to former Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, was to last for six years.
According to Ibanga, it was to cover feeding, accommodation, medicals and education, among others.
Ibanga was part of the pioneer students of the KFA, which was opened by the then President of the Confederation of African Football, Isaa Hayatou, in 2005.
According to the academy’s website, it is open to all youngsters irrespective of place of origin.
KFA is also said to offer talented youths the opportunity to acquire formal education for free while training as professional footballers.
The academy offers a full on-campus boarding experience to ensure student concentration and full engagement while in school.
The curriculum is modelled after the Nigerian educational system and some aspects of the British curriculum, allowing students to sit exams such as the West African School Certificate Examinations, National Examination Certificate, International General Certificate of Secondary Education, Test of English as a Foreign Language and the International Baccalaureate.
“As part of the academic training, students are exposed to languages, including English and other Modern European Languages, General and Applied Mathematics, Humanities and Social Sciences, Creative, Technical and Vocational studies and Natural Sciences as areas of study.
“The students are grouped into three categories: the junior cadre, comprising students between ages 13 and 14; the intermediate cadre, comprising students between ages 15 and 16; and the elite cadre, comprising students between ages 17 and 19,” the online resource added.
While the junior and intermediate groups combine academics with football, the elite group combines football with management courses.
Ibanga was in the intermediate cadre.
After a few years in the academy, Ibanga, who also played for the British Council, one of the biggest grass root teams in Lagos at the time, was one of the three players from KFA invited to play for the country’s U-17 team.
He said Westerhof also told him that he had spoken to the English football club, Chelsea, who would let him play for the U-16 trials in 2009.
The stage was set. Ibanga was ready. He was to go to England for the trials, but the plan changed abruptly.
According to him, the arrival of a former Inter Milan coach caused some ‘internal squabbles’ within the academy leadership, which led to the termination of his trip to England.
“I cried like a baby that day. It was like someone cut an artery and I was bleeding. I felt my life was gone. I called my mother and she could not stop crying, even as she tried to console me. But, I told myself that I must not give up,” he said.
Corroborating his claims, a newsletter of the KFA, dated March 10, 2011, obtained by Saturday PUNCH, revealed that two players were invited for trials with Chelsea FC in England and two for trials with Portsmouth FC, also in England. Their identities were however not revealed.