African Cup of Nations

Mama Africa is calling

By Ravin Sampat ⋅ January 25, 2008 ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

Ravin Sampat analyses why Ghana 2008 should get positive headlines, not negative ones

When one says Africa, there are so many negative connotations associated with this word that one would forget that a major footballing tournament is currently taking place in the continent, or that the world’s biggest sporting event will be hosted by a nation in this continent.

Say Africa and one denotes poverty. Bono and Bob Geldolf travel around the world with white bands hoping to ‘make poverty history’. Say Africa and one may think of a war-savaged continent from Rwanda to Sierra Leone, from Chad to Sudan. Say Africa and one may think of Oxfam and Action Aid adverts projecting famine. But how many football fans think football and Africa have a link too? Why don’t we say Africa and think football?

Apart from the BBC and Puma’s mass advertising, this year’s African Cup of Nations has not received the same prominence it once did. But despite the lack of mass media coverage, the first few games of the 2008 tournament has already bought some beautiful goals, fantastic football, and quite rightly, scouting eyes on some of the ‘forgotten continent’s’ superstars.

The problem I find with the Africa Cup of Nations is that when it comes to the build up, the English Premier League clubs always finds themselves complaining about the host of African players they lose to the tournament.

This time around, the clubs have lost quite a few, Portsmouth being the most affected. Over the years I remember every January, managers would come out of their shell, criticise the timing of the tournament, the lack of importance of the Cup itself, and most vividly, questioning the conduct of the African footballing authorities. So let’s take away the problems first.

African footballing nations each have their own footballing ‘FA’s’ like any other nation, but the difference is the African ones always seem to be shrouded in controversy. The amount of corruption that has occurred from Fifa money going into the wrong hands has been consistent within the African states. Furthermore, African FA’s seem to control player autonomy more than one would see in Europe. Recently Obafemi Martins’ journey from Lagos to Newcastle was delayed by mysterious circumstances. But when interviewed regarding the circumstances, former Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce commented that Martin’s delay was as much to with the Nigerian FA’s insistence on Martin’s doing media work beyond his agreed timetable than it was with delayed flights.

As recently as 2006, Arsenal were in a battle with the Ivory Coast over the early call-up of Emmanuel Eboue for a friendly that was 13 days away, whilst Arsenal still had two fixtures before the international. But then nations have always played ‘’bad boy’’ tactics with their subjects, and one should remember, it is the clubs who pay the players, not the country.

In some instances, during the wars in Sierra Leone, Rwanda or the Congo, young men made the decision to either live by the ball, or live by the gun. A large football slavery system has also been uncovered recently with Lebanese businessman providing short-term solutions of opportunity to young African players, shipping them off to Europe in search for riches with a big European club and then taking a cut of their contracts. But obviously, this has not all played out, and most of the young Africans now find themselves working on construction sites in Spain, France and Italy.

Apart from the constant kidnappings, occasional delay at the airport, and missing funds from Fifa and other regulatory footballing bodies, the Africa Cup of Nations will most definitely command the respect that African football deserves, or at least how it has, despite colonisation and a severe lack of infrastructure, still produced some fantastic footballers and hope for the future. Look all around Europe, and one will find a host of great African players playing for some of Europe’s finest clubs. Eto’o, the Toure brothers, Essien, Kalou, Muntari, the list goes on.

So with the Cup of Nations taking centre stage in Ghana, Africa deserves our respect, not least because for years, the young nations have often tried half heartedly to come out of their shells as footballing powers.

It is as if we have an orientalist approach to Africa and football. Those in the West view African football as lacklustre, deprived of infrastructure, yet when it comes to poaching and developing new players, how many players have come from the African continent and gone on to become great talents in Europe? Zidane is an Algerian by descent; Vieira has Senegelse descent; Makélélé was born in Kinshasa (now DRC); Instead of disbanding African football, we should all raise our heads, join our hands together, and appreciate the true beauty of the forgotten nations.

Pace, power, strength, passion, determination, and the willingness to succeed in the light of adversity is what Africa is all about.

Instead of thinking war, famine, poverty, conflict, diamonds, dictators, genocide and ethnic cleansing, sit back for these next three weeks, maybe play some deep-rooted African music of the likes of Ali Fakra Toure or Youssou N’Dour, and enjoy what Africa has to offer, as the Cup of Nations takes centre stage. And remember, ‘Mama Africa’ is calling.

Players to watch:
Mohammed Zidan (Egypt)
Mahamadou Diarra (Mali)
Alex Song (Cameroon)
Artur Boka (Ivory Coast)
Ayewe (Cameroon)

Most entertaining teams:
Egypt, Ivory Coast, Mali

Holders:
Egypt

Coverage:
BBC World Service, Radio 5 Live, BBC Two, BBC Three, BBCi, Eurosport

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