EDUCATION CORNER PODCAST
EDUCATION CORNER PODCAST INTERVIEW WITH
Seyi Aiyegbusi Education Corner podcast was thrilled to welcome Seyi Aiyegbusi, an Old Reedonian and exceptional rugby player at the London Nigerian Rugby Club Seyi Aiyegbusi is the youngest son of his Nigerian family. Nevertheless, he was born and spent his early childhood in Ethiopia as his father worked for the Economic Commission for Africa, a division of the United Nations, that was headquartered in the capital city of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa. At age 10, he moved to the UK, where he joined his two brothers at St George’s (now called Finborough Hall) in Suffolk. After taking his GCSEs, Seyi eventually ended up studying at Reed’s School, Cobham. This became the supportive environment in which he underwent some of the most transformative years in his rugby career, which would launch him into a world playing rugby for Rosslyn Park and, eventually, the renowned London Nigerian Rugby Club. At what point did you transition to Reed’s, and what led you to choosing Reed’s?
One of the reasons we switched, was, I was talking to my oldest brother - and rugby was always kind of my thing, it was kind of the sport that I had naturally taken to and had a lot of success at - and so we wanted to get me into an arena where my rugby skills were going to be enhanced, and I’d have increased competition. That kind of Surrey circuit of South West London schools, really strong rugby 30 | EDUCATION CHOICES MAGAZINE | S U M M E R 2 02 2
schools, schools that had been around for 50 to 100 years. I was going to be playing at a much higher quality of play; I was going to get better coaching. So, that’s one of the reasons why. Reed’s stuck out because it had the Foundationers Programme; it was built on a model of giving back and helping those less fortunate. When you joined, you were very good at rugby, and I remember this, what were you able to develop in your time at Reed’s?
To give you a little example, when I was at St George’s I played Suffolk county and also played for East Anglia, so divisional. When I arrived at Reed’s, I was in the First Team a month later, or three weeks later, as a Lower Sixth guy, which was fairly unique. But over that first year, we then get to that part of the season where kids start going for country trials etcetera, and start looking for representation and stuff. Nobody from Reed’s was being selected or put forward. So that first year, I had a conversation with Ian Clapp, and I said: “So nobody plays county rugby around here?” And he was like: “Well, no. We don’t seem to have players who do that.” So, I had to nudge him and be like: “Look, dude. Next year, put me up for that because I’m going to get selected.” I think he found that a little cocky and weird because this new kid is like “put me up there”, but true enough, next season, next year, I was selected for
