Former Jersey Football Association president Ricky Weir has set his sights on deepening grassroots football development in Nigeria, returning to the country this month on a visit that combined the promotion of his award-winning memoir with continued support for Walking Football and youth league programmes, The PUNCH reports.
Weir, who now holds a Nigerian passport, told reporters in Lagos that his latest trip was driven by three personal missions namely promoting his book, “Illegitimately Blessed”, supporting grassroots football, and strengthening the growth of Walking Football, a discipline he helped introduce to Nigeria in 2020.
“The biggest thing is that I can come back whenever I want. I don’t have to think about visas or costs anymore. It allows me to embrace the country more, spend time with family, and potentially shift more of my football development work to Nigeria,” Weir said.
The Founder of the Jersey 2 Africa 4 Football Foundation continued his grassroots engagement by attending the 5Stars Premier League opening in Abuja, where he delivered a new Premier League ball to each of the sixteen participating teams, before officiating at the Walking Football opening league programme at the Eagle Club Pitch in Surulere, Lagos.
“It was gratifying to see how far it has come. There are now league programmes and women’s teams, which is fantastic,” Weir said of the progress made in Walking Football since he helped establish the slow-paced, non-contact discipline in the country six years ago.
Weir, a prolific striker in his playing days who scored more than 600 goals in over 1,000 matches before moving into football administration, served as president of the Jersey Football Association for six years and has since built charitable initiatives using football as a tool for social development across Africa.
During his visit, he was honoured in Lagos by the Africa Illustrious Awards, organised by My Media Africa, receiving the Award of Excellence and Special Recognition as African Football Ambassador.
Alongside his football work, Weir used the trip to promote his memoir, which chronicles his journey reconnecting with his Nigerian heritage after being born in Glasgow to a Scottish mother and a Nigerian father he never met. His father died before he was born, and Weir was placed for adoption and raised in Scotland.
He explained that he had deliberately delayed searching for his biological roots out of respect for the family who raised him.
“I never wanted my adopted parents to feel they were somehow not enough. My real parents were the people who raised me,” Weir said.
The search eventually led him to uncover his father’s Nigerian heritage and establish connections with relatives linked to his family history, a journey at the centre of “Illegitimately Blessed,” which Weir self-published in September 2024 before it was picked up by European publisher Europe Book and went on to win a literary award in Italy.
“When I finished the book, my goal was simply to complete it, leave something meaningful for my three sons and hopefully inspire one person. Everything after that has been a bonus,” Weir said.
While football features prominently in the memoir, Weir insisted the book carries a broader message beyond the sport.
“It covers identity, family, discrimination, resilience and overcoming challenges. It’s not just a football book,” he said.
Having spent fourteen years focused largely on philanthropic work in Kenya, Weir believes the next chapter of his African journey may increasingly be written in Nigeria, the homeland of the father he never had the chance to meet.
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