From Wigan to Accra: The Welcome Break of the African Cup of Nations

As the noted modern poet Rodney Marsh (ex-QPR and Manchester City) once famously observed, English football is, “Grey football, played by grey players on grey days”.

Now, it is a moot point whether this has always been the case but a wonderful antidote to the ‘grey’, stodgy and flavourless fare currently being served up on the supposedly ‘a la carte’ menu of the English Premier League has emerged with the African Cup of Nations.

Here you can trade in the colourless and anemic ingredients of our domestic league, where the likes of Wigan, Derby and Sunderland produce predictable, bland and insipid football on up to a twice-weekly basis, for the energy, vibrancy and refreshing non-conformity evidenced in the biannual African tournament.

The competition, hosted by the ‘Black Stars’ of Ghana, has been characterized by free-flowing football, high-scoring matches, and by outstanding individual performance (witness, among others, Manucho and Flavio of Angola, Essien and Muntari of Ghana, and Kameni of Cameroon); by the painted faces, rhythmic drums and ‘joie de vivre’ of the supporters; and by the emerging global force of the Cote d’Ivoire, with their remarkably talented squad of players, from Drogba and Dindane to Kone, Toure and Zokora.

This spicy continental dish is placed starkly and graphically in contrast to the sanitized and homogenized fodder of the Premier League, where one-dimensional and overly-physical football (with the notable exceptions of Manchester United and Arsenal) is overseen by grumbling and unsmiling individuals such as Steve Coppell, Paul Jewell and Steve Bruce.

Indeed, the carping and wining of highly paid managers and players seems increasingly hard to stomach when positioned next to the laughing, free-spirited nature of the African game.

This observer advocates unpredictability over the conventional, flair over order, creativity over cynicism, and Samuel Eto’o over Robbie Savage – for now, at least, chose Accra, not Wigan.

So, if you are finding the humdrum and clunking spirit of top-flight football progressively more and more difficult to digest, and the greedy approach of agents, management and players growingly tasteless, then I urge you to dine out on the veritable feast that is African football. Enjoy!