9 minute read
Education Corner Podcast Interview
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 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
Navigating UK Schools from Nigeria/Ethiopia
Seyi Aiyegbusi with London Nigerian RFC 1994-1999
Surrey Under 18s, and ended up in the London division. I think in my last year at Reed’s, I was part of the England Pre-Squad Under 18s at the start of the season. So, that’s where my rugby career went while I was at Reed’s.
Did you continue with it beyond?
From Reed’s I started playing Club rugby, so I did all the county stuff and division, and ended up joining Rosslyn Park. Rosslyn Park are one of the oldest clubs in England, they have the Sevens Tournament in May with all the private schools etcetera. So I joined their Under 21 Team, but I made my debut for Rosslyn Park in the first team at 19 on the way to Redruth. I ended up in the First Team at Rosslyn Park by the time I was 20. So I could have turned professional then. But the one thing that kept me in rugby after that, was the club I joined. The club I joined was the London Nigerians from Rosslyn Park. The London Nigerians was founded by my older brother and a bunch of expat Nigerians, to be a competitive expat rugby club like London Irish. The club was founded in ’93, and is really still hanging on, but most of us have left the country now so it’s kind of hard for the club to survive, but during that ten year period from ’93 to ’03, the London Nigerian Rugby Club was as successful as any other club on earth: we won promotion like seven times, five undefeated seasons, went to the Middlesex Twickenham twice, we beat Holland, the national team in Holland away. So, our record stands forever! That’s my rugby career.
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Reminiscing about rugby
Seyi Aiyegbusi receiving the trophy as Captain of London Nigerian RFC for winning the Paul Bechet Cup in The Hague in 1998
What did you learn at Reed’s? What ways do you feel it helped you towards where you are now?
Reed’s was really important because it was the period where I went from being a boy to a young man. So I spent my 16 to 18 years at Reed’s. Socially, and I mean by interacting with other houses, taking us to the theatre shows in London and how they started a John Birch Society, and Debate Society, public speaking, and access to the library. Things like that developed me as a social individual.
You went to university and you’re now in the US. What took you there?
University took me to the University of Buckingham. I did a Law Degree, graduated, and came back to London. I was playing a lot of rugby at the start and probably about 10-15 years after I graduated rugby took almost as much time as the full time jobs I was in. But then I got bored of London. Career progression in the UK, for a young man with my complexion, can be somewhat problematic. I looked for greener pastures. Rugby was my tool in that, given how well I played rugby, there were clubs around the place who were interested in recruiting me to come play for them. And there were opportunities to go to New York. One of the guys I played for was a sports agent and had a link to the New Orleans Rugby Club, and one of the guys that runs it was like: “Yeah, we’re interested in players!” I negotiated with them and said I needed a work visa, a job and they saw I had a Law Degree, and the guy’s a lawyer and has his own Law firm. That’s how I ended up in the US with a work visa, working for a Law firm, playing a lot of rugby and then coaching for a while. I then got married and stayed!
Obviously for families looking to come over to the UK and educate their children, what top tips would you give them?
Visiting the school is a huge one. The days where you pick a school out a brochure and send your kid there, I wouldn’t do that. Definitely visit the school and speak to the students. One-on-one talk to students. Make sure you take your child with you so they can interact and ask questions. Be extremely direct. Be blunt. Write questions down, research the school, research any publicity about the school. If we had the magazine you run back then, we would have been accessing that information. The information that you are gathering in your publication is exactly the information a lot of these parents need.
What do you feel schools and universities, because there’s a lot of work going on in schools and universities to make sure that they’re really addressing Black history, racism, gender equality, all the issues that are discussed now, perhaps more than ever before, what do you think is the best way for them to go about making sure education is diverse and inclusive?
The first thing is, they have to embrace diversity as a positive. I see that a lot in the discussions about diversity, equity and inclusion, these days. People love to paint it as disruptive or counterproductive. But what you have to understand is, the companies that embrace diversity, truly embrace diversity, see the benefits long-term. Even the institutions like the schools, universities etcetera, who embrace that. The benefits far outweigh the negatives that there are. You tend to have more open societies, more equitable societies, more equitable situations where people feel more comfortable giving you
their best effort, giving you their best ideas. Realising their potential. All of these things, in the long-term, benefit all of us. That’s the point of diversity, equity and inclusion. It’s not to punish a particular group, it’s not to restrict opportunity for a particular group. It’s to open it up so that everybody has access to opportunity. It’s humanity finally understanding that we have no way of identifying where the best of us come from. But, we have to make sure that the paths from where the best of us are going to come down, are available to them. That’s what equity is. That’s what transparency is. That’s what fairness is. That’s what meritocracy is. We’ve been sold the idea that capitalism is meritocracy. It is not. The key to a free market actually working, is all things being equal. The world is not equal, so let us take that into consideration and let us facilitate those who have less, or have less opportunity, providing them the chance to contribute. Realise the best. Succeed. Benefit society as a whole. A young man who could have solved the world’s energy crisis may have been born on a British council estate at some point in the last 30 years. Has that child been given the opportunities to fully realise their potential, which would save humanity? It’s the time now to ask these questions…
We would like to thank Seyi Aiyegbusi for giving up his time to speak to us.
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