Stationery Stores F.C.

Stationery Stores F.C. is a Nigerian football club based in Lagos. History Stationery Stores Football Club was founded in 1958 by Israel Adebajo, who ran the very successful Nigerian Office Stationery Supply Stores Limited. They immediately established themselves as one of the dominant teams in Lagos and Nigeria, supplying the bulk of the first team players of the national team and winning a total 13 Lagos State Challenge Cups, the preliminary round for the Nigerian FA Cup, and 4 National FA Cup competitions. The club's glory years started in 1967. Their fluid and entertaining style of play endeared the club to Lagos fans as they delivered two FA Cups within that period. The first 11 of the Nigerian national team in the 1968 Mexico City Olympic football event had 9 Stationery Stores players, including Sam Opone and Peter Fregene.[1] The team also provided a steady supply of goalkeepers to the Nigerian national team—The Super Eagles, notable ones being the celebrated Peter Rufai (who captained Nigeria to her first World Cup in 1994) and Ike Shorounmu. Between 1973 and 1993, Stores was in the top division of Nigerian football. Throughout those years, the team enjoyed a healthy but sometimes acrimonious rivalry with three equally big clubsides—WNDC (later IICC) Shooting Stars (now known as 3S Football Club), Enugu Rangers International F.C., and Bendel Insurance of Benin. Relegation/Financial Problems/Hiatus Stationery Stores would win the Nigerian league in 1992, only to be relegated the following year for failing to complete its fixtures, not because the Club finished in the relegation spot. The team continued the next five seasons in the second division. However, in March 1998, the NFA was compelled to cancel all outstanding Pro League Second Division games involving Stationery Stores following an injunctive order issued by a Lagos High Court restraining Stationery Stores from playing any Pro League games pending the resolution of a lawsuit filed before the court to determine the ownership and control of the club. This action constituted the culmination of a long-festering ownership dispute involving two of the Adebajo siblings (each of whom was a director of The Nigeria Office Stationery Supply Stores Limited). The ownership tussle was thus laid to rest by the subsequent ruling of the court. However, while it lasted, that court process had a negative effect on the much-celebrated clubside.