REMOVE LEGEND, TESLIM BALOGUN WOULD ALMOST BECOME ORDINARY

REMOVE LEGEND, TESLIM BALOGUN WOULD ALMOST BECOME ORDINARY

- Pen Master

Believing that Tesilimi Balogun popularly called "Teslim" or Thunder Balogun is the Nigerian greatest player will only capture your love for legend - a story of unknown origin describing plausible but extraordinary past events. Such is the case of Teslim Balogun whom legend helped to elevate as imaginary greatest footballer Nigeria ever had. 

Who outside the world of imagination will believe that he surpasses Rashidi Yekini, Jay Jay Okocha, Mikel Obi, Segun Odegbami, Kanu Nwankwo and others? Yekini remains Nigeria's highest goal scorer and also one of Africa's highest scorers, followed by Odegbami who is Nigeria's second highest goal scorer till date, Mikel and Kanu are two of Nigeria's best achieved and Okocha is obviously the most skilful. What is the place of Thunder Balogun as the greatest? Do you know?

Curiously, most people who never did watch Thunder Balogun helped to overblow his the "greatest player" in him but it was the legend spread by children and adults alike that score him more. But many Nigerians appear to have grown mostly with the fables of Thunder Balogun thereby deifying him to football itself so that it is hard to believe that he lived in human form.  

Farther than this, is that he killed his brother on the pitch with his shot. In fact, his left foot was so ferocious that even goalkeepers begged him not to use it. The Nigerian Government had no option than to seize the left leg for every game he featured to be balanced. 

After an uncommon argument with his brother, the 1949 Challenge Cup was set. When the game became tough with his brother as the goalkeeper of the opposing team, someone screamed "remember your left leg" and on releasing the shot with his left leg, the ball pierced his brother's stomach, and also piercing the net and Balogun had scored the winning goal for his team; the only goal of the match while killing his brother.

The Yorubas of Lagos would call him Ara-awo because they believed he had thunder hidden in his left foot that could scare or destroy goalkeepers. So he even sent many keepers to the hospital after football matches.

Incredibly, many adults still share this belief, the belief that has won him legendary greatest player Nigeria ever had and a stadium opposite the National Stadium, Surulere has been named after him. But did he kill any goalkeeper? 

Did he send them to hospitals? Did he possess thunders in his left leg? Was he the greatest of his time? Maybe not, but he enjoyed the legend that elevated above imagination even though in reality he said to have scored only two goals for Nigeria.