Dudu-Orumen celebrates as Sportshaq, Nigeria’s premier sports bar, hits 30 July 27
By Jeffrey Agbo
Sportshaq, Nigeria’s first sports bar and viewing centre, established by one of the country’s foremost sports administrators, Godwin Dudu-Orumen, is set to clock three decades.
Dudu-Orumen, the pioneer chairman of Edo State Sports Commission (ESSC), who is the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Sportshaq, said in a statement signed on his behalf by Nnamdi Okosieme, his Special Adviser on Media and Communication, that the 30th anniversary of the company is worth celebrating given its contribution to birthing a thriving culture of sports bars and viewing centres across the country.
“It has been a worthwhile experience,” said the sports administrator known more famously within and outside Nigeria as Football Aficionado for deep knowledge of football.
Recalling how the idea of a sports bar to cater for the interest of Nigeria’s teeming sports fans came about, Dudu-Orumen said: “Sometime in 1994 l toyed with the idea of collective viewership of live sporting events on big and multiple screens especially on Big Match Days of European Football Leagues, the UEFA Champions League and Cups, African Cup Of Nations (AFCON), the Olympic Games, ATP, WTA and Grand Slam Tennis, Formula One, PGA, World Boxing Title Fights, COPA America etc.
“Ambient in my No 17, Gbajumo Crescent office were multiple screens as l was heavily engaged in TV programmes production and commercial editing and live sports signals came from the two Satellite dishes, one 6.5metres on the Ku-band and the other a 5 metre one on C-band. Next l reached out to my close friends to join me for live broadcasts on match days. Every other match day or live sport event day saw an increase in numbers of friends in the groove. A new idea was birthed, a Sports Bar Concept and l named it Sportshaq.”
From 1997 when the company moved to its present location in Surulere, Lagos and a separate section built up for the emergent collective audience viewership morphed into a private membership club, Sportshaq has become a platform for friendship, networking, cross fertilisation and invitation of ideas by professionals, industry captains, corporate executives, brand custodians and managers, media executives, advertising practitioners, sports administrators, coaches, sports men and women and sports writers and broadcasters.
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On this list of patrons, members and clients hosted by Sportshaq are top shots like Asue Ighodalo, one of Nigeria’s leading lawyers and current governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in this year’s Edo State governorship election in September; Kola Aluko (SAN) of blessed memory, Segun Odegbami, former captain of the Green Eagles and one-time chairman of the Governing Council of the National Institute of Sports.
Others hosted are Austin Eguavoen, former captain and coach of the Super Eagles and current Head of the Technical Department of the NFF; Segun Runsewe, former Director General, National Council for Arts and Culture and current President, Nigerian Golf Federation (NGF); and Patrick Ekeji, former Green Eagles defender and former Director General of the National Sports Commission.
Dudu-Orumen said the cross-fertilsation of ideas is enhanced with good home cooking and drinks served at the prescribed temperatures.
“We played games too, chess, snooker, scrabble, dart and table tennis and occasionally engaged in friendly games with clubs of players in our age bracket. We opened our gates to a controlled audience viewership on the Big Match Day only and l say with 100% conviction the now popular View Centre Culture in Nigeria was influenced by the Sportshaq experience,” Dudu-Orumen said.
The renowned sports administrator, who has served the Ministry of Sports and the NFF in different technical capacities, said he is rolling out the drums to mark the 30th anniversary of the company.
“This July, from the 25-27th we celebrate Sportshaq @ 30. On the 25th we have the scrabble invitational, 26th it is snooker for members only and on the 27th we have a very special evening for reunion of members, reminiscing, foods, drinks the Sportshaq way,” Dudu-Orumen said.