I waited for Friday nights just to watch great movies. We never talk about how you had to call radio stations to request some songs before you can hear it ,unlike now you can download it.
I never did call though cus I no get phone ... But I can Sabi wait for those movies Friday night ....
Don't mind them jor. The day Marcelo recreates that Banana free kick Roberto Carlos scored years ago, the Gen-z people will go bunker. 😂😂😂
They always think everything started during their time and their own things are better. Cafu was rock solid and good going forward . Carlos shot na thunder,especially that one against France.
They always think everything started during their time and their own things are better. Cafu was rock solid and good going forward . Carlos shot na thunder,especially that one against France.
I've never seen Maldini dribbled past.
I won't blame them too much though, they believed that the world should be viewed only from their perspectives alone. Since they didn't watch the likes of Maldini, Cafu, Roberto Carlos and several others playing football at their peak, they judge everything based on their own time and era. That was how I read a Gen-z article a year or two ago where Virgil Van Dijk was called the best defender to have featured in the EPL. Somebody whose club career isn't even up to that of Ferdinand, not to talk of John Terry. 😂😂😂😂😂
I won't blame them too much though, they believed that the world should be viewed only from their perspectives alone. Since they didn't watch the likes of Maldini, Cafu, Roberto Carlos and several others playing football at their peak, they judge everything based on their own time and era. That was how I read a Gen-z article a year or two ago where Virgil Van Dijk was called the best defender to have featured in the EPL. Somebody whose club career isn't even up to that of Ferdinand, not to talk of John Terry. 😂😂😂😂😂
Or Ricardo Carvalho.When Chelsea conceded 15 goals in a whole season under Mourinho people don't realize how good Terry and Carvalho pairing were. If you dribbled past Ricardo Carvalho you would get an injury and he got a red card,he didn't care .
Used to watch the Italian show in the 80's. My Dad was a fan of AC milan and Bendel Insurance. First player that intrigued me was Marco van Basten. It was the Rothmans of pallmall football show that endeared me to English football. My favorite players then were David Ginola (for Newcastle and Tottenham) and Dennis Irwin for Man United. It's because of Dennis I started supporting United in 1993.
Bro I can't say if it's Dandy I swear I know it's usually wrapped in transparent plastic paper, the cards are normal sized cards of football players and I think the gum is white or so...
naptu2: I keep seeing posts (on Nairaland and Twitter) by people who claim that foreign football, especially English football, was not shown on Nigerian television before the year 2000. This is very shocking to me because I watched Brazilian, German, English, Dutch and other foreign football matches on my TV here in Lagos in the 1970s, '80s and 1990s. It has shocked me into creating this thread about football programmes (both foreign and local) that were shown on Nigerian TV in the 1970s, '80s and 1990s.
1) Brazilian Football: You did not watch television in the late 1970s and early 1980s if you don't know about Brazilian Football. It was a tradition. It was produced by O'Rede Globo and shown on the NTA at 10pm on Sundays. Vasco da Gama, Flamengo, Fluminense, Sao Paulo, I watched them all. This was a popular programme in Nigeria back then, so you did not watch TV if you don't know about it.
This was during the era of Zico, Socrates, etc. Do you remember that chewing gum that had pictures of the players (especially players at the 1982 World Cup)? I can't remember its name, but I remember that the pictures of Zico and Paulo Rossi were in high demand.
O' Globo also produced a variety programme called Fantastico, which was also shown at the weekends in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
2) Football Made In Germany: This was initially shown in the late 1970s and early 1980s, then it was stopped in the mid-1980s, then it was started again in 1990 (after Germany won Italia '90)and ran till almost 1999. Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and all the Bundesliga teams featured on the show. The commentator was Tobi Charles and this was the format:
They would show short clips of last week's matches, then they'll show about 30 to 40 minutes of one of this week's matches (that would be the main match of the week), then they would show highlights of other matches that took place that week.
It was on Football Made in Germany that I watched Karl Heinz Rumenigge, Franz Beckenbauer, etc in the late 1970s and early 1980s and the fantastic teams of Eintracht Frankfurt, Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Stuttgart and Cologne in the 1990s.
There were Anthony Yeboah (the Ghanaian Yekini), Jay Jay Okocha and Maurizio Gaudino in Eintracht Frankfurt. I remember a match in which Okocha dribbled the entire Bayern Munich defence and beat Oliver Kahn, only to miss the goal by less than an inch. The momentum of his run took him behind the goal and Jean-Pierre Papin (the legendary French striker who played for Bayern at the time) came to meet him and pulled his shirt over his head (Toby Charles said that it was as if Papin was saying, "How can you dribble everybody, beat the keeper and fail to score?" )
I watched Jonathan Akpoborire (Johnny as Toby Charles called him) play for Hansa Rostock, watched Sunday Oliseh at Cologne, etc. I remember how the fans would chant Heeeiiiiiiikkkkkoooooo Heerrrrrrllllich.
I remember Andreas Moller and Julio Ceaser at Dortmund, etc,
Football Made in Germany was produced by Transtel Cologne and they also produced TeleMatch and Musicladen (which was called Top of the Pops in Nigeria), both of which were shown in the 1970s and early 1980s and again in the 1990s and many detective shows that were shown in the 1990s.
This (in the video below) is basically the same programme, but this one was produced for the United States, so the name is Soccer Made in Germany. The version that was produced for the NTA was called Football Made in Germany.
3) Big League Soccer: I remember this, although I did not watch it as religiously as I watched Brazilian Football and Football Made in Germany. This is English football and I remember watching Kenny Dalglish, Ian Rush, Kevin Keegan and Bruce Grobbelaar (the Zimbabwean) on this show. The NTA also showed a lot of other English football games (FA Cup final, etc) but they were often irregular (not at set specific times).
4) Serie A: Serie A was the best league in the world back then and I believe that this show was also started because Italy was going to host the World Cup in 1990.
5) Segun Odegbami: NTA2 Channel 5 began a breakfast programme called Morning Ride, so NTA Channel 10 started a lunch programme. It was perfect for Channel 10 because Channel 5 had a habit of going on break from 12pm till 4pm during the weekends, so this was an opportunity for Channel 10 to steal some viewers.
The lunch programme was called The Sunday Show and it had celebrities that hosted segments in the show. Fran Kuboye hosted the art segment and Segun Odegbami hosted the sports segment.
Big Sheg had a habit of showing lots of clips of Belgian, Dutch and French league matches. This wasn't a surprise because Nigerian players were flocking to Belgium and Holland in the late 1980s.
The Sunday Show was shown on NTA Channel 10 from around 11am or noon on Sunday.
This segment became a separate show of its own around 1990. That was where I first saw Tony Akiotu. He was Segun Odegbami's assistant. It was now a one hour show and they showed lots of clips. I remember that they had a competition for goal of the tournament after Senegal '92.
Big Sheg also hosted a Serie A show on NTA2 Channel 5 from 1989 till 1990.
6) Sports World/Sports Spectacular: This programme had different names, but I call it Sports World because the BBC also had a similar programme that was called Sports World.
This programme was shown on the NTA from 4pm till 7pm. It featured any kind of sports. The show usually started at 3pm if Nigeria was going to play a match that Saturday.
Like I said, this show featured any and every kind of sports. If Nigeria was playing, then the live match would be on the show. Nigeria often played junior world cups in places with odd time zones like China, Canada, Japan, Chile, etc in the 1980s and the matches took place at night, Lagos time, so there would be a repeat of the match on Sports World on Saturday.
The Champions League was shown on the NTA beginning from 1994 and the matches were usually repeated on Sports World on Saturday.
They also showed documentaries about European football, Brazilian football, etc. If something significant had happened elsewhere, there would be a short clip of it on Sports World.
7) UEFA Champions League on CFI: Canal France International had the rights to the UEFA Champions League and the NTA began showing it in 1994. The commentator was usually Archie Macpherson.
I remember that this was where I watched that epic match between Barcelona and Manchester United in 1994. Romario and Stoichkov combined to punish United.
I remember that there was an instance when Stoichkov failed to pass to Romario, even though Romario was in a better position. Romario complained and Stoichkov said, "F**k off" and Archie Macpherson said, "Well I hope you can't lip read". But Stoichkov and Romario combined to score another goal just moments later. Barcelona beat United 4-0 at the Camp Nou.
8 ) Bournvita Match of the Day: Of course there was the Nigerian league and from c1986 till c1988 this was shown at 10pm as part of Bournvita Match of the Day. The intro was fantastic. Part of the intro featured an old man that was at the stadium. He was so engrossed in the match that was taking place in front of him that he was moving his hands and legs as if he was a player on the pitch.
I watched stars like Uwem Ekarika (Calabar Rovers), Osaro Obobaifo (Bendel Insurance), Bright Omokaro, etc on this show. It was hosted by Akinloye Oyebanji and others.
9) The Best of Football: Godwin Dudu Orumen's Pepsi The Best of Football began around 1992 and continued into the 2000s. They also showed lots of clips of European league matches. They had a news segment, they had discussion segments and they also had a match of the week.
10) Rothmans: English football made a comeback with Rothmans English Premier League around 1994 or 1995. The format was very similar to Football Made in Germany.
11 ) Satellite: Of course, in the late 1990s you could also watch the English Premier League on Supersports.
Multichoice came to Nigeria in 1993, but they didn't prioritise the kind of sports that Nigerians loved (that is, football and athletics). People complained, so eventually, sometime around 1997, they created Supersports 3 to show football.
12) TV Africa: TV Africa was a free television service that came to challenge Multichoice in the late 1990s (around 1998). It was based in South Africa, but registered in Mauritius. They syndicated their programmes to terrestrial TV stations across Africa and many of the new private TV stations in Nigeria showed their content. They got the free to air rights for the English Premier League and even the NTA took footage from them.
13) Mastersports: This show was created by Danladi Bako, who also created Morning Ride. It began in 1990 or 1991 and it was shown on NTA2 Channel 5 from noon (after the news) on Saturdays. The hosts were Paul Bassey (aka Sports Bassey, he was the sports editor of Champion Newspapers), Chris Eseka, Mitchell Obi and Sam John. Paul Bassey was the main anchor. They often showed clips of Nigerian professionals abroad, reviewed the sports pages of the newspapers, discussed important issues in Nigerian sports.
Something very funny happened one day in 1990 or 1991. I was watching the show with two people. I was sitting on the chair close to the TV, while the other two were on a coach at the other side of the room. Then Paul Bassey said, "We are still expecting our guests Mr *** and Mr ***". He mentioned the names of the two people on the coach. I looked at the couch, then looked at the TV. I looked at the people on the coach and then looked at the TV again. They started laughing and one of them said, "Don't mind them".
This list is not exhaustive, but it should give you an idea of what I mean when I say that Nigerians did not just start watching foreign football in the year 2000.
I read every single word of your article, I'm crying with nostalgia! Kaaaaaaiiiiii.... We were once children, now we are almost fossils!! Thank you for bringing back this sweet memories of yester years! Thank you sir!
There difference btw highlights and actual live matchs, football made in Germany was just an highlight of the pass week league matches, and also South America football forgotten the name, but for English league never shown on Nigeria tv's in the 1990's so they're very much right. The demise of super eagles brought about followership of English football. Nobody was interested in English league in the 90's. We were hard-core super eagles 🦅 supporters.
Ventura1: Best of football with Godwin Dudu Orumen on Sunday afternoon was my favorite, it was all actions. Unlike mastersport, with boring talk by Mitchell obi and Paul bassey.
Yeah,I no remember if DBN show premiership back then but na for MBI me dey watch am back then.
Wetin I like DBN for back then was that program they would drop three movies and ask for people to cUall in and vote which one to show
DBN show the Premiership back then.
I remember Nwankwo Kanu Second Half Hatrick against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge when Arsenal defeated Chelsea 3-2 and also Chelsea Beating United the year after United Treble by 6-0. It was on DBN then.
I remember Nwankwo Kanu Second Half Hatrick against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge when Arsenal defeated Chelsea 3-2 and also Chelsea Beating United the year after United Treble by 6-0. It was on DBN then.
I watched that game live too,it played around 4 or 5pm
I remember Nwankwo Kanu Second Half Hatrick against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge when Arsenal defeated Chelsea 3-2 and also Chelsea Beating United the year after United Treble by 6-0. It was on DBN then.
DBN showed Premiership matches in the late 1990s and that's what got them into trouble. They had a show in which people could call in and request for movies. They also had a show in which people could call in and request for matches. The problem was that they didn't own the rights to the matches. Multichoice sued them for showing 2 Premiership matches and one movie that Multichoice owned the rights to. That's why they eventually stopped showing matches.
DBN showed Premiership matches in the late 1990s and that's what got them into trouble. They had a show in which people could call in and request for movies. They also had a show in which people could call in and request for matches. The problem was that they didn't own the rights to the matches. Multichoice sued them for showing 2 Premiership matches and one movie that Multichoice owned the rights to. That's why they eventually stopped showing matches.
Multichoice came to Nigeria in 1993 when they bought over the Lagos (and some other states) operation of ABG.
Satellite television came to Nigeria in 1985. The biggest satellite providers were ABG, Ultima and one other company whose name I can't remember for sure (It was something like Comcast). These companies sold gigantic satellite dishes and they were very expensive.
ABG changed the market around 1990 when they started selling cheaper MDS antennas. Everybody could afford MDS antennas and so ABG made huge business.
Multichoice came in 1993 and bought over ABG's operations. The gradually switched from the giant satellite dishes and MDS antennas to smaller dishes.
It was just called Multichoice back then (Nigerians called them MNet).
However, Nigerians hated them. ABG showed the kind of content that Nigerians liked, but Multichoice were showing South African content that Nigerians did not like. They prioritised cricket and rugby over football. They were showing kwaito music instead of hip hop and R&B. It wasn't until 1997 that Multichoice began listening to Nigerians and that's when they created Supersport 3 to show football.
DBN had been showing Premier League matches and movies, but they didn't have the rights to them. This made them get into trouble when Multichoice began prioritising football. DBN showed some matches that Multichoice had the rights to and Multichoice sued them.
Multichoice also had its own problems in the 1990s. The Abacha Government decided that TV stations must show Nigerian content. Terrestrial TV stations had to show 70% Nigerian content, while satellite providers had to show 20% Nigerian content.
Multichoice approached NTA2 Channel 5 for content and NTA sold them some content. The problem was that the NTA did not own that content. They sold Charlie Boy Show to Multichoice, but Charlie Boy Show was owned by New Wave Productions, which was owned by Charlie Boy himself. They also sold Onyeka Owenu's videos to them. Both Charlie Boy and Onyeka Onwenu sued Multichoice. Onyeka also picketed NTA's office on Victoria Island.
Multichoice launched the DSTV brand around 1997 or 1998.
Multichoice/DSTV eventually solved the Nigerian content issue by launching Africa Magic.
naptu2: There were many companies that started selling satellite dishes in Nigeria in 1985. Those dishes were twice or thrice the size of the regular DSTV dishes that are common today. Two of those companies were Ultima and ABG (there were many others, but I can't remember their names). They carried a wide variety of international channels like Bop TV, MTV, CNN, Sky News, Sky One, Eurosport, etc.
Ultima was the most popular of these companies initially, but ABG became more popular in 1990/1991 when it started broadcasting in the MMDS format. This format utilised a special antenna that was much cheaper than those gigantic satellite dishes and therefore, many more households could afford to purchase pay TV systems for the first time. ABG became incredibly popular and those antennas were everywhere in Lagos. They were called "cable", even though it was not really a cable system (I can still remember ABG's advert. The song went, "ABG, cable satellite systems" )
Other companies also adopted the MMDS format, but ABG dominated the sector.
In 1993, Multichoice bought over ABG's Lagos operations and they also bought over some of the smaller MMDS companies in other states. They thus became the dominant pay TV operator.
It was a bit difficult for Multichoice to break into the Nigerian market in the beginning. There were quite a lot of complaints between 1993 and 1996 because Multichoice did not show the kind of programming that Nigerians liked. ABG, Ultima and the other older TV companies were Nigerian companies and so they knew what Nigerians liked and gave them what they wanted. Nigerians liked R&B and hip hop music, but Multichoice offered Nigerians Kwaito and other forms of music that they simply did not like. Nigerians worshipped football and track and field athletics, but Multichoice prioritised cricket and rugby over football and athletics. It led to a lot of complaints, before Multichoice began adapting their channels to suit the taste of Nigerians.
The other problem that Multichoice faced was the problem of Nigerian content and copyright ownership. The Nigerian government created the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) in 1992 and one of the rules of the NBC was that free to air stations should show 70% Nigerian content, while pay TV operators should show 20% Nigerian content. Multichoice needed Nigerian content, so they approached the NTA (NTA 2 Channel 5) and the NTA sold some Nigerian programmes to them. The problem was that NTA did not own those programmes.
NTA sold the Charlie Boy Show to Multichoice. The Charlie Boy Show was owned by New Wave Productions, which was owned by Charlie Boy. It did not belong to the NTA. They also sold some of Onyeka Onwenu's videos to Multichoice. Those videos did not belong to the NTA.
The NTA was a monopoly up until 1994. The only other TV channels that existed were the state TV channels (Lagos Television, OGTV, etc.) which were restricted to the UHF band. The NTA used its monopoly power to bully independent TV producers. Musicians were forced to sign an agreement that the NTA would not pay them for showing their music videos (they had to agree because the NTA was the only way to become famous). The NTA could increase their airtime charges at will because there was no alternative (until Amaka Isaac-Ene showed that there was an alternative by syndicating Checkmate on state TV stations when the NTA's charges became unreasonable). The independent producers were also subjected to government censorship.
A caller on Morning Ride insulted President Babangida and the producer cut him off. The man called back, began talking about something else, then said that he was the one that called previously and then he insulted Babangida again. This made the NTA adopt extreme censorship methods. Godwin "Dudu" Orumen who produced The Best Of Football was told that he had to submit tapes of his show to the NTA one week before the show was due to be aired. This was a crazy requirement because the football matches that were aired on the show would have become stale by the time the show was aired.
Lola Fani-Kayode produced the most popular soap opera in the country (Mirror In The Sun) in 1985, but the show was taken off air because part of the plot offended members of the Federal Military Government (the part about a senior government officer and his girlfriend).
So it was quite understandable that established TV producers would be quite hostile to the idea of the NTA selling their material.
Charlie Boy picketed the NTA and Multichoice's offices and took them to court. Onyeka Onwenu also picketed the NTA's offices.
ABG still has pay TV operations in some states in Nigeria, while Ultima went into TV productions. Ultima now produces "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" and "Project Fame".
First picture below is a picture of an MDDS antenna.
The last picture is from a screenshot of Blakky's video, Bang Belly.
Multichoice came to Nigeria in 1993 when they bought over the Lagos (and some other states) operation of ABG.
Satellite television came to Nigeria in 1985. The biggest satellite providers were ABG, Ultima and one other company whose name I can't remember for sure (It was something like Comcast). These companies sold gigantic satellite dishes and they were very expensive.
ABG changed the market around 1990 when they started selling cheaper MDS antennas. Everybody could afford MDS antennas and so ABG made huge business.
Multichoice came in 1993 and bought over ABG's operations. The gradually switched from the giant satellite dishes and MDS antennas to smaller dishes.
It was just called Multichoice back then (Nigerians called them MNet).
However, Nigerians hated them. ABG showed the kind of content that Nigerians liked, but Multichoice were showing South African content that Nigerians did not like. They prioritised cricket and rugby over football. They were showing kwaito music instead of hip hop and R&B. It wasn't until 1997 that Multichoice began listening to Nigerians and that's when they created Supersport 3 to show football.
DBN had been showing Premier League matches and movies, but they didn't have the rights to them. This made them get into trouble when Multichoice began prioritising football. DBN showed some matches that Multichoice had the rights to and Multichoice sued them.
Multichoice also had its own problems in the 1990s. The Abacha Government decided that TV stations must show Nigerian content. Terrestrial TV stations had to show 70% Nigerian content, while satellite providers had to show 20% Nigerian content.
Multichoice approached NTA2 Channel 5 for content and NTA sold them some content. The problem was that the NTA did not own that content. They sold Charlie Boy Show to Multichoice, but Charlie Boy Show was owned by New Wave Productions, which was owned by Charlie Boy himself. They also sold Onyeka Owenu's videos to them. Both Charlie Boy and Onyeka Onwenu sued Multichoice. Onyeka also picketed NTA's office on Victoria Island.
Multichoice launched the DSTV brand around 1997 or 1998.
Multichoice/DSTV eventually solved the Nigerian content issue by launching Africa Magic.
Am surprised ooo .. there was the cable with longmouth antenna then... We call it cable... The Stuff is always very high above house ... And I know those very big fish then
Tony Yeboah: From Football Made in Germany to Rothmans Football
I enjoyed watching Jay Jay Okocha, Tony Yeboah and Maurizio Gaudino on Football Made in Germany in the early and mid-1990s. They were the soul of Eintracht Frankfurt. Tony Yeboah was the highest goal scorer in Germany in both the 1993 and 1994 seasons and both Jay Jay and Gaudino supported him from midfield. Their combination ensured that Frankfurt always qualified for the Uefa Cup.
But Frankfurt was also going through problems. They were always in the top 5 in the Bundesliga, but the board wanted them to win the title and provide a better challenge to Bayern and Dortmund. They had a lot of managerial changes between 1993 and 1995.
Then came a coach that did the unthinkable. This coach began victimizing Yeboah, Okocha and Gaudino. I was shocked. How can you victimize you best players? He dropped them to the bench, suspended them, etc.
Tony Yeboah moved to Leeds in England in 1995, Maurizio Gaudino moved to Manchester City on loan that same year, but Okocha stayed on for another year or two (Frankfurt were eventually relegated and I blamed the coach).
The good thing was that Rothmans had started showing the Premier League by the time that Yeboah moved to Leeds and I got the opportunity to see his spectacular goals. I often listened to the matches live on the BBC World Service and then watched them the next week on Rothmans.
Multichoice had already gotten the English Premiership rights in the late 1990s. I remember that I watched Arsenal's double run in 1998 on Supersport and I also watched some of the matches of France '98 on Supersport. They had already dominated football in Nigeria by that time.
Sometime around 1998 or 1999 a new TV service appeared to challenge Multichoice/DSTV. It was called TV Africa.
TV Africa was registered in Mauritius, but its studios were in South Africa. There were rumours that John Fashanu had shares in it.
TV Africa showed the English Premier League, Super Story and other shows for free. Local channels across Africa picked up their signals and rebroadcast them. That was why people could watch English Premier League matches live on the NTA, MITV and other local stations for free in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
DSTV was already sponsoring local events in Nigeria by that time.
(Here's a little correction. Multichoice created DSTV in 1995, not 1997).
Nigeria: Strongest Man in Nigeria
26 MAY 1999
Lagos — Amidst bulging biceps, manly muscles and terrific torsos, Nigeria's strongest man finally emerges courtesy of M-Net Yinka Ijabiyi was there.
At the pro-flex gym, venue of the preliminaries for the M-Net-sponsored Strongest Man in Nigeria competition, welcome the bulging biceps, it was obvious that the allure of the prize money rather than the strength packed behind their bulging muscles, was the main attraction. However, most of them had cause to chicken out even before the competition got underway when they came face to face with the strongman from South Africa who had been brought in to teach the Nigerians how the show is run. All well-built with bulging biceps that made the Nigerian guys look like the South Africans were a spectacle. Nigerians must have heaved a sigh of relief to learn that the supermen from the south of the continent were not in town to compete with them.
DBN showed Premiership matches in the late 1990s and that's what got them into trouble. They had a show in which people could call in and request for movies. They also had a show in which people could call in and request for matches. The problem was that they didn't own the rights to the matches. Multichoice sued them for showing 2 Premiership matches and one movie that Multichoice owned the rights to. That's why they eventually stopped showing matches.
Very true with the Movies and the Premier League Marches.
I watched Titanic on DBN Only TWO Weeks after it release and while it was still at the Cinema.
Rumours had it then that that was what made them go under.
naptu2: I keep seeing posts (on Nairaland and Twitter) by people who claim that foreign football, especially English football, was not shown on Nigerian television before the year 2000. This is very shocking to me because I watched Brazilian, German, English, Dutch and other foreign football matches on my TV here in Lagos in the 1970s, '80s and 1990s. It has shocked me into creating this thread about football programmes (both foreign and local) that were shown on Nigerian TV in the 1970s, '80s and 1990s.
1) Brazilian Football: You did not watch television in the late 1970s and early 1980s if you don't know about Brazilian Football. It was a tradition. It was produced by O'Rede Globo and shown on the NTA at 10pm on Sundays. Vasco da Gama, Flamengo, Fluminense, Sao Paulo, I watched them all. This was a popular programme in Nigeria back then, so you did not watch TV if you don't know about it.
This was during the era of Zico, Socrates, etc. Do you remember that chewing gum that had pictures of the players (especially players at the 1982 World Cup)? I can't remember its name, but I remember that the pictures of Zico and Paulo Rossi were in high demand.
O' Globo also produced a variety programme called Fantastico, which was also shown at the weekends in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
2) Football Made In Germany: This was initially shown in the late 1970s and early 1980s, then it was stopped in the mid-1980s, then it was started again in 1990 (after Germany won Italia '90)and ran till almost 1999. Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and all the Bundesliga teams featured on the show. The commentator was Tobi Charles and this was the format:
They would show short clips of last week's matches, then they'll show about 30 to 40 minutes of one of this week's matches (that would be the main match of the week), then they would show highlights of other matches that took place that week.
It was on Football Made in Germany that I watched Karl Heinz Rumenigge, Franz Beckenbauer, etc in the late 1970s and early 1980s and the fantastic teams of Eintracht Frankfurt, Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Stuttgart and Cologne in the 1990s.
There were Anthony Yeboah (the Ghanaian Yekini), Jay Jay Okocha and Maurizio Gaudino in Eintracht Frankfurt. I remember a match in which Okocha dribbled the entire Bayern Munich defence and beat Oliver Kahn, only to miss the goal by less than an inch. The momentum of his run took him behind the goal and Jean-Pierre Papin (the legendary French striker who played for Bayern at the time) came to meet him and pulled his shirt over his head (Toby Charles said that it was as if Papin was saying, "How can you dribble everybody, beat the keeper and fail to score?" )
I watched Jonathan Akpoborire (Johnny as Toby Charles called him) play for Hansa Rostock, watched Sunday Oliseh at Cologne, etc. I remember how the fans would chant Heeeiiiiiiikkkkkoooooo Heerrrrrrllllich.
I remember Andreas Moller and Julio Ceaser at Dortmund, etc,
Football Made in Germany was produced by Transtel Cologne and they also produced TeleMatch and Musicladen (which was called Top of the Pops in Nigeria), both of which were shown in the 1970s and early 1980s and again in the 1990s and many detective shows that were shown in the 1990s.
This (in the video below) is basically the same programme, but this one was produced for the United States, so the name is Soccer Made in Germany. The version that was produced for the NTA was called Football Made in Germany.
3) Big League Soccer: I remember this, although I did not watch it as religiously as I watched Brazilian Football and Football Made in Germany. This is English football and I remember watching Kenny Dalglish, Ian Rush, Kevin Keegan and Bruce Grobbelaar (the Zimbabwean) on this show. The NTA also showed a lot of other English football games (FA Cup final, etc) but they were often irregular (not at set specific times).
4) Serie A: Serie A was the best league in the world back then and I believe that this show was also started because Italy was going to host the World Cup in 1990.
5) Segun Odegbami: NTA2 Channel 5 began a breakfast programme called Morning Ride, so NTA Channel 10 started a lunch programme. It was perfect for Channel 10 because Channel 5 had a habit of going on break from 12pm till 4pm during the weekends, so this was an opportunity for Channel 10 to steal some viewers.
The lunch programme was called The Sunday Show and it had celebrities that hosted segments in the show. Fran Kuboye hosted the art segment and Segun Odegbami hosted the sports segment.
Big Sheg had a habit of showing lots of clips of Belgian, Dutch and French league matches. This wasn't a surprise because Nigerian players were flocking to Belgium and Holland in the late 1980s.
The Sunday Show was shown on NTA Channel 10 from around 11am or noon on Sunday.
This segment became a separate show of its own around 1990. That was where I first saw Tony Akiotu. He was Segun Odegbami's assistant. It was now a one hour show and they showed lots of clips. I remember that they had a competition for goal of the tournament after Senegal '92.
Big Sheg also hosted a Serie A show on NTA2 Channel 5 from 1989 till 1990.
6) Sports World/Sports Spectacular: This programme had different names, but I call it Sports World because the BBC also had a similar programme that was called Sports World.
This programme was shown on the NTA from 4pm till 7pm. It featured any kind of sports. The show usually started at 3pm if Nigeria was going to play a match that Saturday.
Like I said, this show featured any and every kind of sports. If Nigeria was playing, then the live match would be on the show. Nigeria often played junior world cups in places with odd time zones like China, Canada, Japan, Chile, etc in the 1980s and the matches took place at night, Lagos time, so there would be a repeat of the match on Sports World on Saturday.
The Champions League was shown on the NTA beginning from 1994 and the matches were usually repeated on Sports World on Saturday.
They also showed documentaries about European football, Brazilian football, etc. If something significant had happened elsewhere, there would be a short clip of it on Sports World.
7) UEFA Champions League on CFI: Canal France International had the rights to the UEFA Champions League and the NTA began showing it in 1994. The commentator was usually Archie Macpherson.
I remember that this was where I watched that epic match between Barcelona and Manchester United in 1994. Romario and Stoichkov combined to punish United.
I remember that there was an instance when Stoichkov failed to pass to Romario, even though Romario was in a better position. Romario complained and Stoichkov said, "F**k off" and Archie Macpherson said, "Well I hope you can't lip read". But Stoichkov and Romario combined to score another goal just moments later. Barcelona beat United 4-0 at the Camp Nou.
8 ) Bournvita Match of the Day: Of course there was the Nigerian league and from c1986 till c1988 this was shown at 10pm as part of Bournvita Match of the Day. The intro was fantastic. Part of the intro featured an old man that was at the stadium. He was so engrossed in the match that was taking place in front of him that he was moving his hands and legs as if he was a player on the pitch.
I watched stars like Uwem Ekarika (Calabar Rovers), Osaro Obobaifo (Bendel Insurance), Bright Omokaro, etc on this show. It was hosted by Akinloye Oyebanji and others.
9) The Best of Football: Godwin Dudu Orumen's Pepsi The Best of Football began around 1992 and continued into the 2000s. They also showed lots of clips of European league matches. They had a news segment, they had discussion segments and they also had a match of the week.
10) Rothmans: English football made a comeback with Rothmans English Premier League around 1994 or 1995. The format was very similar to Football Made in Germany.
11 ) Satellite: Of course, in the late 1990s you could also watch the English Premier League on Supersports.
Multichoice came to Nigeria in 1993, but they didn't prioritise the kind of sports that Nigerians loved (that is, football and athletics). People complained, so eventually, sometime around 1997, they created Supersports 3 to show football.
12) TV Africa: TV Africa was a free television service that came to challenge Multichoice in the late 1990s (around 1998). It was based in South Africa, but registered in Mauritius. They syndicated their programmes to terrestrial TV stations across Africa and many of the new private TV stations in Nigeria showed their content. They got the free to air rights for the English Premier League and even the NTA took footage from them.
13) Mastersports: This show was created by Danladi Bako, who also created Morning Ride. It began in 1990 or 1991 and it was shown on NTA2 Channel 5 from noon (after the news) on Saturdays. The hosts were Paul Bassey (aka Sports Bassey, he was the sports editor of Champion Newspapers), Chris Eseka, Mitchell Obi and Sam John. Paul Bassey was the main anchor. They often showed clips of Nigerian professionals abroad, reviewed the sports pages of the newspapers, discussed important issues in Nigerian sports.
Something very funny happened one day in 1990 or 1991. I was watching the show with two people. I was sitting on the chair close to the TV, while the other two were on a coach at the other side of the room. Then Paul Bassey said, "We are still expecting our guests Mr *** and Mr ***". He mentioned the names of the two people on the coach. I looked at the couch, then looked at the TV. I looked at the people on the coach and then looked at the TV again. They started laughing and one of them said, "Don't mind them".
This list is not exhaustive, but it should give you an idea of what I mean when I say that Nigerians did not just start watching foreign football in the year 2000.
