A focus on Iwoland’s contribution to sports development in Nigeria

A review of Dauda Abimbola’s Iwoland: Bedrock of Sports Legends by Adeolu Adeyemo.

NOT many people know that Iwo, in Osun State, has produced great sportspersons in the country, and this is what the author of Iwoland: Bedrock of Sports Legends, Dauda Abimbola, is trying to showcase to the world.

In fact, the 311-page book has revealed that sport is an industry in Iwoland.

Since organised sports got introduced in Nigeria shortly after the second world war (1939-1945) via the Empire Day Games, Iwoland has flowed with that stream.

As highlighted in the book, the old Iwo Local Government, which is now broken into three local government councils, namely Ayedire, Iwo and Ola Oluwa, has been a major player in the development and promotion of sports.

Not only has Iwoland been a great stakeholder in sports, the land has encouraged and supported the growth of men and women who ended up showing the nation that there is a place in Nigeria called Iwoland.

Local, national and international athletes have come out of this large but rural town over the years.

It has also introduced sports administrators who knew their onions just as it has brought forth, promoters of sports who are philanthropic enough to admit that government alone cannot develop sports in this country.

This book, therefore, has opened the eyes of its readers to the simple but very germane fact that Iwoland in Osun State is a confluence sporting land in which Nigerians have converged in the past to grow sports, develop and promote it from smaller to greater heights.

The 11-chapter book opens with sports in the pre and post-colonial days, and the effect of the Empire Day Games in sports development in Iwoland.

Apart from the orthodox sports, the author also highlights traditional sports like Ayo game, as well as its rules, just as he focuses on more popular games like football, volleyball, among others.

He also discusses sports refereeing, while emphasising the roles of some philanthropists and administrators to the development of sports in the town.

This book tells the reader the many great names Iwo has produced and the general passion the people of Iwoland have shown to the industry of sports generally.

Published by MURLAB Search Wisdom Educational Services, the book is, therefore, recommended for all sports lovers in the country.

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