Diversity

Titus Okere, Once captain of Lagos Railways FC, Made history in 1953, When he signed for the Railwaymen Of Swindon Town FC, Leaving what was still a colony, Of the British Empire, To plough a lonely furrow down the wing, As the first Nigerian to sign up For a football club in the continent of Europe. Titus had already made a name for himself In the dour days of austerity back in 1949 And, of course, in the wake of Windrush, When he starred on the left wing, For what was, in effect, the Nigerian team; But in those colonial post-war days, The team was named the ‘UK Tourists’; Titus also scored against Sierra Leone, In what was, in effect, an international fixture. After leaving Swindon in 1953, Titus lived in the county of Kent, No doubt, wistfully recalling his early life: His birth in March 1929 in Ngor Okpala, His education at the Okrika Grammar School, His teenage athletic and football skills, His captaincy of Lagos Railways, The cups and trophies won by him and them, His captaincy of the Nigerian team against the Gold Coast, In those far off days of King George the Sixth, And a bomb-site Britain still with its Empire … I was just one year old when Titus joined Swindon Town, Signing as a professional early in the year of 1953, Before moving elsewhere in Wiltshire, To Chippenham United, In the summer of that Coronation year. And what do we know of Titus Okere in Swindon? We’re told he, ‘Struggled with the British winter’, And found those heavy studded football boots More of a leathered hindrance than a help The only recollection that appeared When I appealed for...