He didn’t concede any goal for 8 years
Sam Henshaw Ibiam was Nigeria’s first goalkeeper for the pioneer Nigerian national football team. The national football team was regarded as the “1949 UK tourists”. He was born in April 4, 1925 in Ebonyi State.
His heroics in the old Governor’s Cup from 1947 to 1949 led to his call up to the national team. His team, which was the Port Harcourt team reached the semi-finals of the old Governor’s Cup. On August 16, 1949, he traveled to the United Kingdom with 17 other players to represent Nigeria in the tour of the United Kingdom.
The Nigerian team was known as the “Red Devils” as of that time, because of their red shirts. In Nigeria’s first ever international match, he kept a clean sheet against Sierra Leone, where Nigeria won the game by 2-0. In other words, he didn’t concede a goal. Also in this game, the Nigerian team played the game without boots.
Ibiam returned to the national team on October 6, 1956, when Nigeria played a friendly game against Togo. He also kept another clean sheet against Togo, where Nigeria won the game 1-0. After that, he kept another clean sheet against Gold Coast (present-day Ghana) in the annual Jalco Cup competition, where Nigeria won the game with a scoreline of 3-0.
Out of the nine years that he played for the “Red Devils” of Nigeria, Ibiam did not concede a single goal for eight years. That was a unique goalkeeping record. October 27, 1957 was the first day Ibiam conceded a goal after eight years. In the game, Nigeria played 3-3 with Ghana in Accra, the capital of Ghana.
Ibiam retired from international football in 1958, after Nigeria beat Ghana 3-2 to win the Jalco Cup for the last time in Lagos. Sam Henshaw Ibiam died on December 2, 2015, at his home in Afikpo, Ebonyi State. He died at the age of 90.
9Naija 