Last week, I saw an old Daily Sketch newspaper cutting with the portraits of football players – the starting line-ups of the two finalists at the 1975 FA Cup final in Lagos, Rangers FC of Enugu and Shooting Stars FC of Ibadan.

The pictures brought back memories of a day that will go down in my story as one of the great dramas that is etched forever in the minds of supporters of Shooting Stars FC involved. They had to wait for me on the corridor of the classroom to complete my last examination paper that morning before breaking all speeding rules to drive me to Lagos in their branded Coaster bus to join the rest of my team. This was on the day of the final match. (I leave that story for later).

Our portraits in the newspaper now posted on a social media platform reveals a painful part of an ugly situation that stares Nigerians in the face today – the plight of many retired sports heroes.

There are 22 portraits of the players. I go through the faces with their names below them. It is a painful realization that of the 11 players of Shooting Stars FC listed, only two are still alive today! I am thinking: this is so NOT because I have earned it, by the Grace of the Creator of the Universe.

Of the 11 members of the Rangers Football Club team only four are still alive, I believe. It takes a while for all this to sink in as I stare in shock. Most of the national football heroes of 1975 were all very young men at the time. Many of them died when they were in their 30s, 40s and 50s. There may be only one or two that died in their 60s. It is a shocking revelation. But why?

Only two weeks ago, Moses Effiong, a member of the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations, added to the statistics. He was 65. Last week, a member of the 1984 and 1980 African Cup of Nations teams, Ayo Ogunlana, also passed on. He was 67.
https://guardian.ng/sport/why-do-retired-sports-heroes-die-young/