C.O.D. ladies and officials line up with their trophy
COD United Ladies’ rise has been meteoric compared to their men’s team, but beyond their success lies a solid club structure unheralded in Nigeria, reports ’TANA AIYEJINA
For anyone that has been privileged to watch the City of David Ladies FC train at either Campos mini stadium, Lagos, or the University of Lagos sports complex, the prayer ritual of the ladies is often a surprise.
The girls gather together, singing, clapping and dancing excitedly to gospel songs. This goes on for several minutes before they enter into a prayer session and then start training.
“I am astonished at how they sing and praise God every day during their training sessions. They are prayer warriors who put God before anything,” a fan of the club, who identified himself simply as Femi, said at the Campos mini stadium.
On match day, the ladies are even more captivating. The sight of them and the club’s officials coming out of their team bus elegantly dressed in ash-coloured skirts, white shirts and black suits, is enough to demoralise their poorly-dressed opponents.
“We don’t dress anyhow. We dress in skirts and suits with high-heel shoes to match. When you see us, you will agree that we are true ladies. I now know that a woman must not wear trousers to look good,” defender Anabella Obioma told our correspondent.
Indeed, what else would one expect from a club founded and funded by the City of David parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of Nigeria’s biggest churches?
The C.O.D. United Ladies team was formed just two years ago but within that short time, the team have scaled the odds by gaining promotion to the Nigerian Women Premier League.
In their few years of existence, the club has taken young girls off the streets and made them not just better footballers, but better persons.
This has yielded dividends as they won back-to-back promotions in just two seasons of playing as a team. Now they will be playing against the likes of Rivers Angels, Sunshine Queens and other big clubs in Nigeria’s elite women’s league.
Remarkably, the girls are the first team in the C.O.D. football structure to gain promotion to the top division of the country’s league system.
However, it’s a contrast of fortunes for the men’s team, who have repeatedly found it difficult playing in the elite league despite achieving other feats like becoming the youngest ever team to win the Lagos FA Cup in 2013 and also claiming the Lagos Oba Cup five years ago.
The ladies played nine games, winning six and scoring an amazing 19 goals on the way to gaining promotion to the country’s topflight women league. Dangerous young striker Vivian Ikechukwu scored 10 of the goals, thus earning a call-up to the national U-17 team, the Flamingoes.
Other players that shone are left-back Patience Dike, a member of the Flamingoes squad at the 2014 U-17 Women’s World Cup, Nkechi Agamz and Grace Marcus.
Captain Oluchi Onah, a pioneer member of the side, said discipline has been the watchword of the club since formation.
She said, “This is another level of my career. Every one of us has been rebranded and we are now better persons. We can’t do anything without praying. Once you are recruited, you are given behavioural lessons.
“We hope to approach the Premier League with this attitude and hopefully, we should be able to give a good account of ourselves when the season begins. God has guided our journey from the amateur level to the pro ranks and we believe He will guide us in our new task.”
The women’s game has been associated with such vices like lesbianism and discrimination towards women players.
However, right-back Uchegbu Chidinma says players at C.O.D. Ladies have none of such to contend with, adding that they have been equally treated with their male counterparts.
She believes the players’ new spiritual lives and discipline played a major role in their success last season. The youngster, who has earned invitations to the women’s U-17 and U-20 national sides, added that she has become a better person since joining the club.
Chidinma stated, “We praise and worship God every morning before we train. We were made to realise here that apart from football, we have our lives to live as women. Besides, we were also taught that there is a journey after life, the journey to heaven. So, since I became a member of the club, my attitude towards life has changed.
“There is no discrimination; we enjoy the same financial and moral support from the management. They give us what they give the men; we are treated on equal terms.”
Coach of the side, Anne Chiejiene, has brought her wealth of experience in the women’s game as a player and coach to bear on the team in such a short period of time.
Aside coaching the players, the former Super Falcons goalkeeper spends time with the girls, giving them advice on how they can become better individuals on-and-off the pitch.
“I tell my players that discipline is what will make them become successful and they realise that they have an opportunity by playing for a club that wants them to become good footballers but more importantly, great women who can also function and contribute to the society. I have shared my experiences with them and hopefully, they will continue to listen,” Chiejine said.
She added, “The women’s game needs people who truly respect the girls and support them the way our management do. I have been here and there and I see the differences in the level of support that we enjoy.
“It is a major difference and the girls see that and try not to fail on the pitch. I am happy to be part of this. I expect a few of these girls to go on and make a big impact in the women’s game at the senior level. A few of them are already in the national teams and I am sure more will join.
“With the support that we have, I believe this team can make an impact in women football. I am very excited about the future of the club.”
Though they are now enjoying a new lease of life, the players are predominantly from poor homes. Most of their parents don’t reside in Lagos but the young girls now live meaningful lives.
“When I was playing for Yaba Queens, I couldn’t feed and pay my rent but now, I can take care of myself and younger siblings. My parents aren’t in Lagos but I have a club which cloths me, feeds me and even buys me books,” Obioma said.
According to her, the C.O.D. United structure provides a healthy environment for learning for players within their ranks.
“We have a great coach who has done a great job for us but we also go for classes, where we do several things. We are given books to study and I think this will help us to easily combine the game and education in future,” Obioma added.
A C.O.D. player (left) in action
When the club was formed in 2012, the aim was to ensure that the huge impact made with the men’s team could also be translated to women’s football thus C.O.D. Ladies’ meteoric rise doesn’t come as a surprise to the club’s CEO, Shola Opaleye.
“I am not surprised that we have achieved so much in such a short time. Winning promotion to the Premier League is massive; we also finished second in the Lagos FA Cup. We are happy with the job Anne (Chiejine) and the girls have done. We are not just proud of their performances, we are very proud of their conduct,” he said.
Opaleye said the ladies’ feat was made possible through the club’s DIET—Discipline, Integrity, Excellence and Teamwork— philosophy.
Opaleye said, “Like the male team and our academy, when we conceived the female team, we were intent on making an impact but in the right way. We were not just looking to make an impact in terms of winning; we were actually looking to make an impact in terms of structure, in such a way that results and success will only be a reflection of the quality of our work.
“That was why we hired someone like Anne as coach. Apart from her wealth of experience, we also considered the fact that she conducts herself well in a professional manner. We thought these were important qualities to send the right messages to the girls that they could become anything they wanted to be.
“We are not just looking at bringing in top players; we want to bring in well-behaved, intelligent women first and footballers second.”
Deji Tinubu, C.O.D.’s Executive Director, Football, believes the girls’ feat will serve as a wakeup call to the men’ team, who won last season’s Lagos FA Cup but have been struggling in recent times.
“Last year wasn’t really good in terms of results but we would try to get promoted back to the Nigerian National League immediately. We have told the boys that they can learn from the girls and be inspired by their achievement.
“They (ladies) have only played together for two years and look at how far they have come. We are very proud of them and hopefully, all the other teams in our system would learn from them.”
The Pastor, City of David Church, Victoria Island, Lagos, Idowu Iluyomade, is also thrilled by the heroics of the young ladies.
The C.O.D. United’s number one fan, said, “What the girls achieved is remarkable and we are proud of them. We are happy that they conducted themselves as good girls and represented our club with dignity.”
With an enabling environment to worship God, play football, study and become better individuals, a rare opportunity in Nigeria, it will be apt to imply that the only way for C.O.D. United Ladies team is up.
