Ade Adebisi is celebrating putting Nigeria on the rugby league map – after giving up his job and battling a potentially fatal condition. The former London Broncos player has spent two years trying to get the African nation involved with the 13-a-side code for no money.
Now his work has landed the rights to host a key tournament on the road to the 2025 World Cup, Adebisi believes the millions of Nigerians are ready to add a new dimension to the traditionally northern English game.
Not bad considering he hopes to discover and nurture the next Martin Offiah against the backdrop of battling blood disorder sickle cell anaemia.
Adebisi said: “I quit my job and moved everything over there, I even came back to the UK but chose to head back over there as it’s a really big opportunity to show the world what Nigerians are capable of doing.
“I had the chance to come back and start a job but another opportunity came up and I thought, ‘I need to go back.’ I went for two years without a salary. If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t change it for a thing.”
Adebisi has got his reward after Nigeria was named as host of next year’s Middle Eastern and African championships, a key stage on the road to qualification for the 2025 Rugby League World Cup.
Adebisi, who worked as a service manager at Heathrow Airport before leaving, added: “Nigeria has a population of more than 198 million people living in Nigeria and about one million in London alone.
“Obviously, there are a lot of players in the UK who qualify for Nigeria but also plenty of players in Australia, six of whom play for NRL teams and if we can get kids at a young age, we could definitely create the next Martin Offiah.”