Brothers at war, that is the best way to describe ties between Clemens Westerhof and Johaness-Franciscus Bonfrere, two Dutchmen who took Nigeria to great heights in soccer, were gifted houses and are still very much in the news for antagonizing themselves at the least opportunity.
Westerhof was employed by the NFA in 1989 and his beginning was a monumental disaster as Cameroun knocked the Super Eagles out of the Italia ’90 World Cup. It was also a bad day for keeper David Ngodigha who almost lost his life following a collision. All that happened as Nigerians were mourning Sam Okwaraji who collapsed and died during an earlier World Cup qualifier against Angola in Lagos.
By 1990, Westerhof had earned some respect with an African Nations Cup silver in Algeria. He followed it up with a bronze at Senegal ’92. However, that was not enough to keep his job. The Netherlander invited Bonfrere to help out. They got on well and bagged a Tunisia ’94 ticket. The Nigerian coach presented his countryman as a good physical trainer.
Just before the 1994 Nations Cup, NFA chairman, Emeka Omeruah, noticed some inadequacies in Westerhof. The Dutchman was so full of himself that even some of the players felt he could ruin Nigeria’s chances.
On March 9, 1994, there was a tune up between Nigeria and Ghana in Lagos. It took the Super Eagles all the time in the world to file out for the game. Many pointed fingers at Westerhof for the delay. From that moment, the Netherlander was expected to watch his back. He did not know that the NFA was watching.
Westerhof had a way round the system. He was introduced to the NFA by Chief Sebastine Williams, a former chairman of the National Sports Commission [NSC]. That also made it easy for him to walk into the office of Chief of General Staff, Adm. Augustus Aikhomu, to get things done with the speed of light. Williams and Aikhomu ,got on well.
The Super Eagles won the Tunisia ’94 trophy, it did not guarantee Westerhof a place in the USA ’94World Cup team. He ran into trouble at the pre- World Cup training camp in Papendal, Holland. Two NFA officials, Debbie Asagba and Col. Asielue, discovered that sundry stuff like table water and video came with inflated costs.
The duo approached Bonfrere and showed him what looked like the hand of Westerhof. Bonfrere had worked with the Falcons in their Women’s World Cup debut at China ’91. He found a training camp for the ladies in Holland and Asagba and Asielue wanted to relocate the Super Eagles out of Papendal to deal with Westerhof.
Initially, Bonfrere did not want to stab his country man in the back. His reason was that Westerhof would feel bad. That did not stop him from exposing the sudden Papendal price hike. Things changed later and there was even a plot to give Bonfrere the Eagles job while Westerhof would be dropped as World Cup coach.
Hell was let loose when Westerhof found out the role Bonfrere played from workers at Papendal. It was like the height of treachery. His conclusion was that his friend wanted to take the Super Eagles job from him.
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“I brought you here,” Westerhof screamed.” And I will decide when you’ll leave. You take my job at a great risk. If you think otherwise, I will shoot you. I bet my life about this. You dare not dream about this job.”
Bonfrere was scared. Papendal was in shock. NFA officials thought Westerhof went to the extreme by pulling a gun. The Nigerian Ambassador to Holland was informed. The seed of discord continued to grow from there. Westerhof had the last laugh, he was allowed to take the Eagles to a World Cup debut in the United States.
The Eagles were two minutes away from a quarter finals spot before they succumbed 2-1 to Italy. Roberto Baggio destroyed Nigeria. Goal scorer, Emmanuel Amuneke and support striker, Daniel Amokachi, were taken out by the Azzuri through injury. Westerhof did not return to Nigeria. Today , Bonfrere claims that the game was fixed and his compatriot got a good cut to give Italy victory.
My take is that Bonfrere has not forgiven Westerhof for that gun threat in 1994. I also believe that Bonfrere was not fair to Westerhof because he knew his friend’s shortcomings and continued to drum it into the ears of players and officials.
Westerhof was also smart. He made everyone believe that Bonfrere was not a coach but a trainer who was brought out of the labour market by him. That tag of fitness trainer followed Bonfrere all through the Westerhof years. However, some players did not buy into that. They saw Bonfrere as the man who did the job while Westerhof took all the credit.
Sure, Bonfrere was not a physical trainer as painted by Westerhof. He was coach of MVV Maastricht in 1983. Westerhof took over from him. Bonfrere was also a better footballer. He spent over eight seasons at MVV Maastricht from 1963 scoring 50 goals in 335 games. A perfect mid fielder, quite alright.
When Westerhof left Maastricht in 1984, he moved to SBV Vitesse, Arnhem. Papendal is just eight kilometres from Arnhem. The man who took over from Westerhof at SBV Vitesse was Janusz Kowalik. We all remember him as coach of Enugu Rangers some three years later. Westerhof’s coaching career began at Feyenoord in 1980. By the time he moved to Maastricht in 1983, Feyenoord hired Thys Libregts, who also became Eagles manager in 1998.
Bonfrere eventually got the Nigeria job, first in 1995 until 1996 when he took the Dream Team to Africa’s first Olympic soccer gold at Atlanta ’96. The Dutchman came back in 1999 and stayed till 2000. he left unceremoniously and has remained what Westerhof describes as ‘a green snake in green grass’.
Outside Nigeria, both men have achieved nothing. Westerhof managed the Zimbabwean national team but was stopped from getting a Sydney ‘2000 Olympics ticket by Nigeria. Bonfrere failed in South Korea,, flopped in Qatar and hit the rock in UAE. Both managers did not also succeed with clubs in South Africa, Egypt and China respectively.
Bonfrere seems not to be popular among Dutch coaches. When Dick Advocaat replaced him in Korea, 2005, he told Koreans he was going to succeed like Guus Hiddink and not fail like Bonfrere.
