Virtually everybody born before the invention of the internet must have heard the tale of a nonexistent football match between Nigeria and India grin that obviously took place in a parallel universe and somehow we got to hear the gory stories of that match.

Though there are many variations of the story, every prevaricator seems to agree on a couple of facts about this fictional football match. Each storyteller agrees that;

1. This match ended with India scoring 99 goals and Nigeria scoring just one goal.
2. Nigerians where unable to kick the ball because the football kept turning to a lion (or something scary) to prevent them from playing the soccer ball.
3. The Indians later agreed that if Nigeria could score a goal, they would concede defeat
4. Samuel Okwaraji scored the winning goal and lost his life in the process.
5. FIFA banned India from soccer because they used black magic in that very game
With the help of common sense (not that it was absent back then), quick access to information and the internet, every right thinking Nigerian has come to realise that such a story should be filled under “Blatant Lies”.

Why Did This Story Thrive For So Long?

Most people like to pass off this story as true with the fact that no one has ever seen India in an International Football Match.

Since no one actually saw India participate in most international soccer games, this gave a little credence to the story.

Another reason this lie could thrive for long was the fact that credible information was not readily available at our finger tips.

It not like every Emeka, Audu and Ojo could visit Google in a matter of minutes and tell our ominous fabricators that they should stop spreading toxic lies.

And to be honest we have a tingling feeling that this lie was concocted by an elder of a community because, let’s be honest who questions the words of the elders in Nigeria. Remember, what an adult sees sitting down a child will never see even if he consults Google, Siri or Cortana.

The Element of Truth In This Story

On the 12th of August 1989, Nigeria lost Sam Okwaraji.

Sam Okwaraji was the player rumored to have lost his life in that game when in truth he died during a FIFA World Cup qualifying game against Angola in the 77th minute.

He collapsed and died of cognitive heart failure. May his soul rest in Perfect Peace. AMEN

So that is the only truthful thing about that story, the fact that a Nigerian player died during a football match. That’s it.

The match was not against India, we did not lose the match and as you must have guessed, and there were no lions either.

http://www..net/2015/06/the-truth-about-early-1900s-nigeria-vs.html

As in person wey cook that lie na confirm "conspirasist".

I chop that thing pass sharwamar that time, as in you need to see how most kids tell the story then like we actually watched it happen. Sometimes I think religious stories are based on lies like this.

Who no believe that lie or truth, whichever it is

mr story teller u ve nt told us why indian don't partake in international football competition.

gebest:
mr story teller u ve nt told us why indian don't partake in international football competition.

They just don't qualify, if you noticed they got whooped yesterday by oman.

Not again.

That Okwaraji side must have been added later, because I used to hear the story before the death of Okwaraji!

Hahaaa. . .this useless story was told over and over in every nook and cranny of Nigeria. Whoever invented this tale deserves a GCON attached to his name. Another annoying one is how Nigerians always come up with a story after Super Eagles lose in a compettion about how FIFA has banned our opponents and we were now moving on, or the match is going to be replayed because of some flimsy reason. These stories would circulate for days after the match until reality sets in.

By the way, OP, it's congestive heart failure. . .there's nothing like cognitive heart failure.

sinkhole:
That Okwaraji side must have been added later, because I used to hear the story before the death of Okwaraji!

I also heard the story before Sam's death. In the initial story, the person that died did so in a separate event when they were trying to see who could catch a shot from Thunder Balogun's left leg.

Whoever cooked this up really messed up the heads of many Nigerians.

[size=15pt]OP am only seeing a bunch of 19 black guys, where are d indians abi na 19 aside dem dey play in those days?[/size]

sinkhole:
That Okwaraji side must have been added later, because I used to hear the story before the death of Okwaraji!

That addition makes it watery. It's all fiction. God bless Nigeria.


Please check my signature too. Thanks.

Even NTA themselves ran this story back then.

Ruq:
As in person wey cook that lie na confirm "conspirasist".

I chop that thing pass sharwamar that time, as in you need to see how most kids tell the story then like we actually watched it happen. Sometimes I think religious stories are based on lies like this.

Religious stories ARE based on lies or at best unverified stories such as this unfortunately no one took pictures of Jesus Christ back then and man was way primitive at the time. Unfortunately, such stories have continued to live on due to the fact that our pastors(who know the truth) warn their members not to question "god's word" and encourage them to have blind faith

Ruq:
As in person wey cook that lie na confirm "conspirasist".

I chop that thing pass sharwamar that time, as in you need to see how most kids tell the story then like we actually watched it happen. Sometimes I think religious stories are based on lies like this.

ofcourse all religious stories are lies told several times to children for generations that it's finally looking like the truth....

like odin creating the world from his bones or noah saving every animal specie on the planet with a boat or some people building sky scrapper to heaven.

that's why i laugh whenever i see adults taking these stories seriously

Dem just fool plenty Nigerians with the mumu story then

.present

gboss4sure:
Who no believe that lie or truth, whichever it is

I never believed the Okwaraji aspect. I was watching when he collapsed and was wheeled (or driven away) by an ambulance. I had hoped the Eagles would have qualified in that competition to assuage the spirit of Okwaraji but it did not happen.

But on the Indian contest, i did not hear it was with Nigeria but of course i heard all the stories to the extent that the balls kept disappearing when the Indians had a goal kick and they often passed teh ball from their half and immediately ended up at the opponents end of the field where their shot at goal turns the ball (or what the goal keeper sees) to fire, lion, viper, serpent, etc.

Some people can LIE OOOOO