‘Make Dalmiya in charge of football’

This Nigerian caused a furore when he came to India in the mid-80s. His skill with the ball was the toast of the footie circles. Two decades later, it’s payback time for the 38-year-old, who now wants to resurrect the fortunes of a languishing club, and hopefully a game in distress in India, writes Ankita Pandey

 

 

 

Some folks look at me and see a certain swagger, which in Texas is called ‘walking’.”

 

George W Bush may not know much about WMDs but he sure got ‘the walk’ right.

 

Now picture Chima Okorie. A brawny, 180 cm tall Nigerian footballer. Not spectacular yet distinct in India. Add the swagger, a slight tilt to the shoulders and fiercely purposeful eyes.

 

Now that’s the reason why when he walked, people noticed. They still do. Okorie may be well past his prime in football, but the swagger, that remains.

 

It’s not the ‘tapori Mumbaiyya walk’ — ridiculous by its exaggeration — but what Eminem called the ‘manly strut’. Or put it more simply — the walk of a champion when he takes the field.

 

Today, Okorie has a different view of football, from the other side of the line — as coach and chief executive officer of a club in a hapless state, Bengal Mumbai Football Club (BMFC) in the Mumbai Football League.

 

Yet when he declares with authority that, “before my (three-year) contract runs out with the club, I’ll make sure BMFC is playing at the national level”, you have to take the man seriously. You know he is capable — it’s that dominating mental edge that comes with the swagger.

 

Okorie came to India in 1985 as a 17-year-old to study architecture at Visakhapatnam University, where his football skills were discovered more by accident. Like they say, talent rarely goes unnoticed. Big clubs from Kolkata came calling. A prolific and powerful striker, Chima became the most famous foreigner ever to play in India — top scoring in the Calcutta League a record seven times. He played for Mohammedan Sporting, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan during a decade-long career in India. He won the National Football League (NFL) with Mohun Bagan in the 1997-98 season. His success has, since then, led to a steady influx of African players to the country. Chima was last seen in the colours of BMFC in 2001-02.

 

In the last four years away from his ‘home’, Chima did the Football Association (FA) license course in coaching and set up a sports kit company ‘RieDayan’ in the UK (Rie comes from OkoRIE, and Dayan was the name of a friend who helped him establish the business).

 

RieDayan is also supplying the kit for the BMFC club this season. Okorie designs the kits himself. “When I played for clubs like Mohun Bagan, the kit was often so shabby. To play well, you have to dress well.” So now you know the reason behind Maria Sharapova’s designer outfits.

 

So, good players don’t necessarily make good coaches?

 

“Says who? In Germany 2006, the most impressive coach was Juergen Klinsmann. And we all know how good a player he was,” Chima hits back. “I know it can be frustrating when things that came so easily to you, your players can’t get it. But coaching is about love, respecting an individual and a lot of patience.”

 

What can we expect from Okorie’s team? “Sexy football. Very attractive football. Just like Germany did in the World Cup. People loved them,” says Okorie. “I want people to love my team too. It’s a people’s game.”

 

And he doesn’t like the way important people are treating the game in India. You can see how desperately he wants the system to change.

 

“You have to take football to the people. Consider Mumbai where the matches are played at Cooperage ground, based in the commercial area far away from the common man,” says Okorie. “Take it to Parel, Thane, Andheri, interiors of Mumbai, to the people and they’ll flock to the grounds. But when I say this to the officials, they tell me ‘this is India. This is how it works’.”

 

“I tell you, if I had the money and the authority, I would make Jagmohan Dalmiya in charge of Indian football. He could do to football what he did for cricket.”

 

“I want football to flourish in this country. Because I love football and I love India.”

 

We can vouch for that. His wife’s Indian too and he loves ‘aam ka achar’.

 

 

Know Chima
Full name: Chima Okorie
DoB: October 8, 1968
Birthplace: Izombe, Imo State, Nigeria
Height: 180 cm
Playing position: Striker
Clubs represented: Mohammedan Sporting (India), East Bengal (India), Mohun Bagan (India), Torquay United (England), Grimsby Town (England), Sunderland (England), Sogndal (Norway), Ikast FS (Denmark), Bengal Mumbai FC (Mumbai)