A CLIP showing former Super Eagles goalkeeper Peter Rufai explaining before his death how he became known as Dodo Mayana has gone viral.
In an interview with The Popular Side, a podcast, Rufai said the word ‘Dodo’ from the nickname Dodo Mayana was given to him by the late goalkeeper Peter Fregene, while the other half Mayana was picked up during training in Portugal.
His words, “While in a room with Peter Fregene, he calls me Dodo, that generation of 1980, 1981, 1982, I joined the camp in 1981. So from that moment, I was lucky to fall into the hands of Peter Fregene, in fact, practically all of them.
“Every morning, before training, you’d see me sitting in front of Emmanuel Okala’s door waiting for him to open his door so that I can take his boots and hold it to enter the bus. Then I will go to Peter Fregene, Best Ogedengbe, I’d pack all their boots and go to the bus so when they want to wear their boots, I give to them.
“After training, sometimes I want to go and meet them they tell me ‘No problem, their jersey has been put to laundry.’ Then I’d say ‘What about the boots?’ They’d say ‘Don’t worry.’ I kept doing this all through my stay in camp.
“While doing it, Peter Fregene started calling me Dodo because of the way he sees I follow him up in his goalkeeping. From that word Dodo that he started calling me, we got to Portugal. We were in Portugal training led by the Brazilian coach Otto Glória, while the session was going on in 1982, Peter Fregene finished, Best Ogedengbe entered the goal and finished his own action. There was one other goalkeeper, then I went in.
“During my own turn, we had about 30 balls lined out. All the 30 balls were being shot to the goal by the Brazilian coach and I was attempting all those balls so the fans loved the way I was going for the balls and I was putting to practice what I saw Peter Fregene and Best Ogedengbe do.
“When they blew the final whistle fans were shouting. I was hearing the shout but I didn’t know that they were for me. So all of a sudden, I heard Dodo and they pointed to the crowd and I turned and saw the people so I signalled that tomorrow we have training. I was made to understand that they were wondering why we stopped. So they said ‘Amaya?’ And I said ‘Amaya Dodo’ and they said again ‘Dodo Amaya’ and I said ‘Amayana Dodo.’
“In Portuguese language Amayana means tomorrow. So fans now picked it up. When they say Dodo Mayana, I will respond Mayana Dodo. So fans love it more than calling me Peter.”
Rufai was born on August 24, 1963, in Lagos. His father was the king of a community in the Idimu area of the state, while his mother hailed from Port Harcourt.
He made his debut for the Green Eagles in a friendly match in December 1981. He featured for the national team at the 1984 African Cup of Nations.
In 1985, Rufai became the first-ever Nigerian goalkeeper to play abroad. He signed for Dragon FC of the Republic of Benin.
In a country that has produced legendary goalkeepers like Ogedengbe, Okala, Joseph Eriko, Fregene, Rufai was the first of the lot to ply his trade professionally outside the country.
Rufai then moved to Belgium, where he spent six years with K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen and K.S.K. Beveren. He starred for other teams thereafter.
The legendary goalkeeper died on Thursday at 61.