Ola Great: Reposts with love, ripostes at life & a rare Sevilla trial
Story of a young man who never stopped believing
Oladipupo Ayotunde Osineye woke up quite hopeful on Monday, January 20th aware that it is another opportunity to get closer to his dream of becoming a professional footballer. How that would pan out may have been beyond his immediate understanding.
That dream has taken many turns and relentless attempts at finding his big story in recent years. On his X or Twitter account known as Ola Great, his sturdy and ultra-positive nature to life are quite striking. He hardly ever has a bad thing to say about himself, or others — a classy way at living. He has constantly turned deaf ears to naysayers who question his ambition and has nothing but a deep focus to show. His videos suggest a footballer who is raw yet refined in his application and way of life.
Football is never a straight path. The biggest footballers in the world have always needed some exceptional talent, excellent representation or a stroke of luck to make it through. Ola comes from a system that has many like him and he’s aware of his place in that setup. He is as slated for success as anyone in his shoes. He also understands the difficulties of a Nigerian sporting success story. Those roads come with challenges and it takes the extremely persistent to succeed. In Nigerian sports, many want to be called, few are are called and only the best and luckiest are chosen.
Nigeria is filled with many good footballers whose stories never make it to the bright lights even for a day. To find one whose path is celebrated across channels and has become a national delight makes for an exciting direction.
Ola’s fate and hard work may have finally met their match in good fortune as the events of January and everything that followed suggests. He is only learning to take it in too. Things have moved quickly, yet still only unraveling.
Nigeria’s social media is one of the most active anywhere on earth. It is a community that has proven capable of changing stories and turning nobodies to somebodies. In the local Nigerian parlance, such stories are described as a hand of ‘grace’ — to underline the country’s deep engagement with religion and spirituality.
Nigeria is a country where a woman hawking bread on the street has become a superstar just by the shuttering of a camera lens. It is a country where a seller agonising over her unmet needs becomes a social media sensation for the glad tidings her day ends with. There are many of such unexplainable ‘graces’ and stories of good fortune. When Ola did what many in his shoes wouldn’t have considered that Monday morning, he was extending his hand to the good luck that strolls on Nigerian social media. It could hit any day it wishes and its touch, although fortuitous, is more welcoming to the prepared.
It takes a village to raise a child, an African proverb says. It has taken Ola a country and the support of its citizens to get a rare opportunity. To find a top professional football club granting a player’s wishes to trial based on retweets on X, the microblogging platform could be linked to happenstance. It is one of the graces of the Nigerian social media. Although that moment may have been unplanned, the significance of that story is by no means a small tale for generations to tell.
Ola commented under a Sevilla FC X post and like a man pushed by a force greater than his momentary comprehension, he asked for the number of retweets to earn a trial with the club. “100k” the club’s handler replied. It seemed like a mountainous climb at first but in no time, it became a molehill — one he would crush and match with graciousness.
That number of reposts to many would have been a discouraging response, and one to instantly put a knife through a ballooning expectation. Not Ola. He neither floundered nor fretted and he found his luck just waiting to be reached.
On that day, he dared himself, Sevilla and Nigerians. He took up the challenge and everything that has happened afterwards has been nothing short of astonishing.
His tweet asking Sevilla for the number of reposts has since been viewed two million times. Sevilla wanted their reply to him to be reposted one hundred thousand times but Nigerians and indeed, the rest of the world have reposted it one hundred and forty thousand times. That tweet has been viewed more than fifteen million times which is by far one of the highest engagements (if not the highest) ever gotten by the club’s social media account.
Other than those reposts, well-meaning Nigerians on social media have offered to help Ola in different ways. Thomases have raised doubts and written think pieces on why such an opportunity may never come to fruition. They’re not to be blamed as it’s a rare case which is more unusual than regular. Such stories, however demands caution and patience, as they are unexplainable and never to be rationalised. Rationality does not accurately define the intent of such rarity. It is to be accepted, not understood.
Ola, the subject of the story is yet to realise how quickly his life is changing right before his eyes. It has however been a moment that ossifies his belief that powers above him are at play.
Just some weeks ago, he played for Superstar FC at the Lagos Liga tournament where his team got eliminated in the knockouts. While the competition was a good chance for him to showcase his abilities, his expectations and goals weren’t fully met.
Despite his disappointment, it is a tournament that could be said to have been precursory to where he is now, as organisers saw it as a good opportunity to project one of theirs. His many social football groups also played their part in helping to extend his reach as he continued to be a national delight.
His story has since been published across the world on social and traditional media. While he has stayed true to nature - largely cool and calm — he’s only steadily managing the good realities that have hit him in a space of three weeks while putting his head and body in the right place.
In a chat with Ola, he explains how it all went down, his joy at the turn of events, upcoming trial with Sevilla and what this moment means to him.
You did the seemingly impossible. How did you do it?
Meeting the 100k reposts was surreal as it felt like an Herculean task until a couple of my mutuals including legendary beach soccer king Abu Azeez made it a big deal for them and got to work immediately I talked about it.
It got really tasking when a mutual asked which of the tweets actually needed the 100k reposts and I had to ask the Sevilla admin and I got no response at all.
It took three hours before I got it and at that time the screenshot I posted had already garnered more than 25k repost.
That wait. I imagine how it must feel.
The admin later responded that it was their own reply that needed it (the reposts) and Twitter got to help me out to get to the desired target and even more when I stated it. At this point I hadn't realised how massive this feat was until my brother told me I got Sevilla trending in under 26-plus hours and a whole lot of friends started reaching out to tell me I had achieved a massive feat.
What is the progress made since then?
So far, Sevilla have reached out and also made an official announcement with with a member of the internal team telling me they are waiting for me to tryout with the team very soon and also a delivered a press release on it.
We are currently in talks and I'm waiting for the next steps to take for the trials.
When you requested for those reposts. What was running through your mind?
As it has always been for me, anything I set my mind to just has to be achieved and this was one that my entire career depended on... I was sure it will be done and I'm also glad that I've been able to get the support I needed to get it done. At a point I tweeted that the admin would be shocked when I eventually crossed the mark as at then the reposts was at 39k.
It must feel like your efforts are being rewarded. The videos, positive affirmation posts, failed requests to Cadiz. Does this feel like an aggregation of your fortune?
I feel really energetic with all this as it is a wake up call for me and more reason to push more than I used to.
And yes, I had a run in with Cádiz for 25 days and at no point did I get a response to my tweets until Sevilla.
I just see it as a way of God reminding me of who he is because it came at a very low moment for me after being knocked out of Lagos Liga.
You’d feel seen right now, like your work is getting noticed.
This opportunity is so massive as it touches almost everyone who feels unseen doing what I do and also putting themselves out there. It's also a big way to announce that there's so much talent available in the rough of Nigerian football.
Have Sevilla confirmed which section of the team you’ll be trialing with?
As it stands I would be trialing with the D team and I believe it's up from there.
Sevilla D is an academy of Sevilla FC and also houses their international players and also where they develop new players for their teams.
The rigours of professional football are quite enormous. Especially in countries like Spain where the football is technically and physically demanding. How are you preparing yourself for what’s ahead of you?
I've always loved the Spanish way of playing football and this is a great opportunity to be a part of that process and also learn it.
This opportunity is a learning curve for me as I know it would be a good guide to how I'd fare as a professional footballer soon.
I’ve seen clips of you playing different positions. Where are you most comfortable?
My favorite position has always been as an attacking Midfielder but most times I've been played as a left wing forward and a right wing forward.
Sevilla currently has a good presence of Nigerians. What does this mean to you?
I see the addition of Nigerian footballers to the fold as a good way to help me settle into the team faster and also a way to not miss home too much.
Getting there also means that I would have the opportunity to see them train and also train with them too and I'm very much happy with that.
I wish you all the best, bro.