BLACK HISTORY MONTH
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Obidinma with the winners of the EOCF tournament earlier this year
BLACK HISTORY MONTH
Martyn Best , our inside man at Tranmere Rovers Football Club , highlights a very warm relationship that Tranmere Rovers have developed in Nigeria built upon their own history of their very first black player .
Tranmere Rovers in the Community ( TRIC ), the community arm of the club engages with many fine initiatives across the wider community , and one that reaches further than most is celebrating its first anniversary with their partnership with the Elkanah Onyeali Care Foundation ( EOCF ).
TRIC partnered with EOCF last October after Obidinma Onyeali , the president of the foundation and son of Elkanah , told us it was the last wish of his father to be recognised by Rovers .
Elkanah was Tranmere ’ s first black player and one of the first Nigerians to play professional football in Britain . He scored nine goals in his 16 appearances for Rovers after joining in 1960 .
Since the beginning of their partnership last October , TRIC has worked with the foundation by sending Tranmere shirts over to Nigeria to present to the winners of their tournament in memory of Elkanah in December 2022 , and welcoming Obidinma over to watch a Tranmere play Newport County earlier this year , a fixture which his father also played in during his time at Prenton Park .
The son of Elkanah gave a speech to each of the lounges in attendance for the match about the work that his foundation , set up in his father ’ s memory , does in enabling young Nigerian footballers to find their way in the game and how proud he was to be at Prenton Park .
Obidinma also came along for a stadium tour of Prenton Park , where Club Archivist & Ambassador Tony Coombes presented him with a collection of articles and photographs relating to his father ' s time with the Club in 1960 .
Obidinma is planning his return to Prenton Park for another match in the near future , and will share the progress that EOCF has made , and he also discusses many aspects of the above here : https :// youtu . be / m0lFA-hRMTI and highlights how the warmth that this association with Tranmere has helped his compatriots and the Foundation and kept alive the joyous memory of his father .
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