THE Rotary Club of Basingstoke has appointed international football journalist and broadcaster Tunde Adelakun as its new President.
Tunde is known for his work at the BBC, Sky Sports, ESPN and CNN, as well as his six-year-long role as assistant head coach of the Nigerian national team, when they appeared at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, and took the bronze medal in the African Cup of Nations.
In his acceptance speech, he quipped: "I will use football a lot to commit people to Rotary, and I'm not going to apologise for it."
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Speaking after receiving his chains, Tunde told the Gazette: "I feel good, I looked around at the faces in the room and I saw enthusiasm and happiness, I feel blessed.
"The main objective now is to reconnect with the community actively, over the years when people have asked for donations we have given them money, but we are not seen in the community."
Tunde has taken the unprecedented step of appointing his very own Presidential Advisory Council comprising of veteran Rotarians, who he said would help lead Rotary to new heights.
"We want to be seen a lot more in Basingstoke, we want the people to know that the Rotary Club of Basingstoke is a doing club and not just a speaking club, we are going to show that we are real human beings that want to interact and engage with every sector of community and society.
"There is a public perception of what the Rotary Club is, and we want to change that, my job is to rebrand the club and let people see it is for everyone."
Tunde made it clear that he will use his life experience to move the club in a new direction.
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"With my football background, I am really keen to bring forward a lot of football-related things, one of these is a football festival which we will host periodically.
"We want to encourage youngsters to come and play football, keep them engaged and also engage with the parents so they can see what Rotary is all about.
"We will help the kids to find a pathway to something good for themselves, even if it's not through playing football it could be through coaching, through refereeing, whatever it is, even if it is just to keep fit, we will use football to do that."
Tunde also insists on recognising the good things that people have done for the town.
"We also plan to celebrate and reward people of excellence in Basingstoke, the President's Recognition Award is for people who go above and beyond to help with society.
"We will have a 'Best of Basingstoke' awards dinner at the end of the year, which will recognise individuals voted for, selected by and nominated by the public.
"We have a culture of posthumously awarding those who have done well, that's no good to them, we want to do it right now."
Tunde is an advocate for diversity and inclusion and is a football management board member of Hampshire FA, as well as a member inclusion advisory group of the Fa and is starting a new role in Rotary as district chair where he will be in charge of diversity affairs of 66 Clubs.
"I happen to be the first black president of Basingstoke Rotary and there are a lot of black people in the town, yet not one of them has even thought about joining the Rotary Club.
"We need to change that and show that it is for everybody. It's a huge task, but I love a challenge."
"I've lived most of my life in the clouds, travelling the world, the football, I have decided that I am coming back home, to give something back to the society that raised my kids."
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