In 12 weeks of Star Football SuperFans, the smash hit football campaign sponsored by Star Lager, the one recurring factor has been a series of consistently woeful performances by Chelsea fans. In 7 appearances on the show, they have managed only one victory. This dreadful run of form has showed no signs of picking up as they racked up yet another loss on this week’s episode.
Adegboyega Temidayo Anthony, Ndinojuo Chiedozie M, Anthony David, Nicholas Chukwuma and Sheriff Apena were the culprits this time, under the name Blue Rovers. Their opponents, Arsenal fans Armoury FC were Omobolaji Tayib Olatunji, Humphrey E. Ibe, Adekunle Adebiyi Andrew, Eze Victor and Fendi Mendieta.
Surprisingly enough, it was Blue Rovers who took the initiative in the match, scoring the game’s first goal after only three attempts. Oozing confidence, Gboyega did not even wait for host MozezPraiz to finish saying the question (Which club do the Queen of England, Banky W, Jay-Z and Atiku support?) before interjecting, “Arsenal!” “Why do you say Arsenal?” the host probed. “Because in the UK, it is a tradition to support clubs based locally. It is almost impossible for the Queen of England to leave London to support another club,” came the confident reply.
“Correct!” said MozezPraiz and the band went into the familiar victory song. Nicholas finished off the move with a simple tap-in after correctly answering the 10-pointer, “Who scored the first goal at the 2014 Brazil World Cup?” “Marcelo,” was the calm answer from the student to make the score 1-0 to Blue Rovers midway through the first half. Adebiyi and Sheriff then missed 20-pointers for Armoury FC and Blue Rovers before Olatunji and Anthony answered correctly to end the first half in a flurry of activity.
The second half of the show, which is part of Star’s ongoing customer reward and recognition drive, was where it almost inevitably started to unravel for Blue Rovers. First they missed their question, (Who was the youngest player to play in the final of the European championship?) giving Armoury FC the chance to score with one answer and equalize. Armoury FC then seized the initiative and answered their question correctly: Which is the only English team to have beaten Barcelona at the Camp Nou? “Liverpool” was the team’s answer. “Correct!” screamed MozezPraiz and the crowd applauded wildly as the scores were leveled at 1-1 with only extra time to go.
Adebiyi of Armoury FC squared up against Gboyega of Blue Rovers on the debate segment of extra time to argue on the topic: Eden Hazard had more impact for Chelsea than Alexis Sanchez had for Arsenal. Do you agree? Adebiyi launched into a passionate tirade in support of Sanchez, bringing the audience to their feet and onto his side. Gboyega’s response was pedestrian at best. Even before the vote results were announced, it was obvious that Arnoury FC had taken the lead. With the scores now at 2-1 with only one round to go, it was up to Sheriff the accountant to salvage the game for Blue Rovers and force a penalty shootout on the Show Your Passion segment.
He tried his best and the audience responded to his hilarious fan chant in their usual boisterous manner. What neither he nor they could have expected was the performance that Ibe then put up for Armoury FC. The pint-sized civil servant launched into a popular football terrace song with an enthusiastic dance routine along with it. The audience went crazy, singing along and dancing on their feet. By the time his one minute was up, the entire studio audience was yelling “Ibe! Ibe! Ibe!” Star Lager’s N1 million grand prize was in view for Armoury FC!
It was then time for MozezPraiz to announce the result of the vote – though it was a forgone conclusion at this point. 3-1 to Armoury FC and game over! The jubilant team of Arsenal fans after a brilliant comeback victory, took home the N1 million grand prize and the coveted bragging rights as Superfans of all superfans while the humbled Chelsea fans yet again had to make do with the N100,000 consolation prize.