BEVERLY HILLS, May 17, (THEWILL) – Former Super Eagles defender, Taribo West, has disclosed that things were tough for him initially before he finally succeeded in football.
The former AC Milan defender stated this in a media interview stressing that he couldn’t have been a “superstar footballer” if he had followed his father’s instructions to leave school and be a mechanic but his mother’s influence helped him to continue his education.
He said: “My father and my mother clashed when he said I should go and ‘do’ roadside mechanic. My mother tried to persuade him to allow me finish secondary school so that I could read and write.
“They clashed and one night, he drove my mother and I out of the house.”
The former defender, now turned pastor, narrated that schooling was not easy as he had to take care of himself but revealed that the determination to succeed propelled him to continue.
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“It was an afternoon school. The reason I had to attend an afternoon school was because in those days, my mother was selling akara, garri, beans.
“So in the morning, I would hawk these things before classes started at 12noon.
“I attended a government community secondary school which is a 30-minute drive from Port Harcourt. In the middle of this, I was taking care of myself.
“I went to learn fishing in the fishing ponds; I left home because the only way to learn fishing was to go to the fishing ponds. I learnt how to kill fish, crayfish, crab, cut fire wood and I could paddle and roll a boat.
“They used to give us plantain, yam, garri and we used to give them snail, fish, crayfish, bush meat, crab. It was like trade by batter but money was changing hands. I know how to set the trap.
“I started hawking. I would go to slaughter to buy goat meat and sold from door to door and made like N20.00.”
West said he also became a bus conductor until breakthrough came when a tournament was to be held and he met a coach who featured him in the contest in Ajegunle, Lagos and after that his football career took off.
THEWILL reports that the defender had an illustrious football career playing in Italy for both Milan clubs – Inter and AC and he has made 42 caps for the national team.
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