By Chiedu Uche Okoye
Uruowulu, which is one the villages that make up the ancient Obosi in-land town, won the 2026 Tobechukwu Ononye memorial inter-village football competition.
The final match, which pitted Uruowulu village against Ugamuma village, took place at the lush playground of Chuke Memorial Primary School, Obosi on March 30, 2026.
The football competition was instituted to honour the memory of Tobechukwu Ononye, who succumbed to the cold hands of death on March 30, 2023 in a London hospital.
His family had decided to use football competition to keep the memory of him alive as he was a keen sports lover, who did spend a great deal of time either participating in sports activities or watching sports competitions.
During the final match of the competition, the team from Uruowulu beat their Ugamuma counterparts 2-0 via penalty shootout after the match had ended in a barren draw during regulation time.
The scintillating football match brought back memories of such talented and great Obosi-born footballers as Ogidi Ibeabuchi of Enugu Rangers international FC; Arthur Ebunam, a former junior international, who was on the team of Christ the King College that conquered the world in 1977. And there is Chief Emeka Onwuekwe (Ogidi Obosi), whose agility and exploits between the sticks, earned him the sobriquet, the cat. He starred for P&T Vasco Da Gama of Enugu, then.
The classic football displays by the boys, whose feints, dribbles, and shots thrilled the football fans, made the dead Tobechukwu Ononye resurrect in the minds of the Obosi people.
The winners of the football competition were rewarded with a football trophy, medals, and princely sums of money while the runners-up got medals and money.
Chiedu is of the Anambra state ministry of information.
