His name is Sam Ibiam. His team was the first ever national team of 1949. He is the only surviving member of that team.

With the death of Skipper Richard Etim Henshaw just four days after Nigeria, against all odds, qualified for the 2010 World Cup, perhaps the only surviving member of the pioneer Nigeria national team, the famed 1949 UK Tourists, is Goalkeeper Sam Ibiam Henshaw.

Henshaw is a man of history, who was not just the first national skipper, but also the first skipper to lift the national cup. He died on November 18, 2009.

Ibiam, along with 17 other players, boarded the RMS Apapa for Nigeria's first venture abroad on August 16, 1949. Now, he does not have good remarks for the neglect he and his last surviving colleagues suffered. He is alone now in his bungalow at Unwana, Afikpo, in Ebonyi State, South Eastern Nigeria. He has suffered from a kidney problem for some years now.

Ibiam had a unique goalkeeping record. In nine years Ibiam conceded just five goals for Nigeria. Discarding the matches the Nigerian selection played while on tour of the United Kingdom in 1945, as those matches were against amateur clubs and did not constitute full international matches, Ibiam was Nigeria's goalkeeper from the first international match against Sierra Leone on October 8, 1949. He played his last game for Nigeria in 1958.

When he earned his first proper international cap against Sierra Leone on the return journey from the UK, Nigeria won 2-0. He therefore had a clean slate. He did not play in Nigeria's next international game two years later when the Jalco Cup competition was introduced between Nigeria and Gold Coast (now Ghana).

Another goalkeeper called Olisa was in goal for Nigeria in the match the country won 5-0. In Nigeria's next international match against Gold Coast in 1953, Carl O'Dwyer made a debut and conceded the seven goals in the match that has remained Nigeria's worst defeat. Ibiam returned to the national team in a 1-0 defeat of Togo in a friendly match on October 6, 1956. He still kept a clean slate. His next match was against Gold Coast in the annual Jalco Cup competition. Nigeria won 3-0 -- again a clean slate for Ibiam.

He conceded his first international goal in eight years when Nigeria drew 3-3 with Ghana in an October 27, 1957 match in Accra. Remarkably, that was the first time Nigeria avoided a defeat from Ghana in Accra.

The following year, Ibiam had his last international appearance when Nigeria beat Ghana 3-2 in Lagos to win the Jalco Cup for the last time. On return from Ghana in 1958, he joined the Onitsha Redoubtable, a club put together by Justice Chuba Ikpeazu who later became NFA chairman in 1965/66 and 1988/89.

http://www.supersport.com/football/nigeria50/news/110111/Sam_IbiamNigerias_first_Goalkeeper

A man without shoe and gloves...

but the ball is a goal

wow hard work pays....chai...diaris mologi

mods have use this fp thingy to celebrate
ASH WEDNESDAY....NLs

happy lent and feast day in advance

Ibiam

My bro from another mum

History 101

Sadly, these heroes are never recognized for crap. Pathetic!

#QuoteMeIfYouWanna

Please can someone honor this man, he deserve it.

If he was a poliTHIEFcian, his statue would have been close 2 aso rock

.

and agbim will be feeling like a don anytime he's in goal. ....chai na legends be this Abeg. Hope he has a stadium in his name o

Na basket him be no be goalkeeper, abi una no see as d ball pass am

Interesting..... No gloves and pairs of boot??

After he's dead, then we now celebrate him... This country sha!! Na to get money and ja comot

Wow.... No recent pics of his?

He looks like tinubu

our heroes past shall never be in vain

not anymore!

Great keeper he was.I remember watching his first match with my grandpa...He deserve to be recognised for national award and national cake...Not people like Bode George,omisore,Kashamu nd co who didn't serve Nigeria but are recognised

tat kippa no sabi shit....bt y e b say everitin abt old skool de swit...

HE LOOK LIKE MUSA

Aitee1:
Ibiam

My bro from another mum

how he take be ur brother.

Wow

If he was an ex English player he would have been greatly honoured and right now would be enjoying the fruits of his hardworks back then but reverse is the case with Nigeria, our heroes are only remembered when they are almost dead or after they are dead just like Pa Fatai Rolling Dollars ...

Na this guy India score 99 goals so

No shoes No glove but inspiring same story with GEJ

samx4real:
Na this guy India score 99 goals so

Na him talk say he dey see lion and snake

He set the game for Ikeshoromu, Enyeama,ejide and vasa kin..
People pls ..I miss the guy oh..Egeaveon ( me and my Yoruba friends nicknamed him Ogun efon ( mosquito drug).

Adewunmi84:
Great keeper he was.I remember watching his first match with my grandpa...He deserve to be recognised for national award and national cake...Not people like Bode George,omisore,Kashamu nd co who didn't serve Nigeria but are recognised

Goodevening sir....

Is a Goooaaaallllll......

keemness:


Goodevening sir....

kaale

Aitee1:
Ibiam

My bro from another mum

What part of Ebonyi State are u from.