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Al-Ahram Weekly 10 - 16 February 2000 Issue No. 468 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 10 - 16 February 2000 Issue No. 468
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Focus Profile Travel Books Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters A loser's game
By Gamal Nkrumah
The number of African footballers turning out for top European clubs has reached an all time high, and the trend is, if anything, accelerating. Indeed, many African national teams are wholly made up of players based abroad. African players are no fools. They are not particularly interested in the jingoistic hysteria drummed up by their supporters, the national papers and the media. Their eyes are set on bigger goals -- their careers. And rightly so. The debate raging around the continent about the poor performance of African players during the African Nations Cup has sent the teams' spin-doctors into an unprecedented spin. Most make the lame excuse that the Nations Cup title is not their goal.
"We're aiming for the World Cup," is repeated like some magical mantra. But if that is the case, then why have an African Nations Cup at all?There is another side to the debate, convoluted but no less valid, revolving around the ways in which sport, especially soccer, reflects the values prevalent in contemporary societies. Pundits waste a lifetime analysing the inner workings of multimillionaire sportsmen. They are pompously denounced for moral depravity, for a lack of patriotism, or for simply playing dumb. Yet invariably the pundits sound embarrassingly old fashioned. Don't get me wrong. The point is not whether sportsmen today still have ideals. The more pertinent question is: why should players excel in the African Nations Cup when the financial rewards of scoring for your country are so low? Most players do their damn best at World Cup games, simply because they know they are being watched by big league European clubs. Since 1978, when Tunisia became the first African side to qualify for the World Cup, there has been a one-way traffic between African players and European clubs. Morocco's performance in 1986, Cameroon's in 1990 and Nigeria's in 1994 all accelerated the process.
The face of African football has changed beyond all recognition. South Africa has come a long way from the days of apartheid, when the country refused to field a multiracial team. Its national team now even has an African name, Bafana Bafana. In the late 1950s, following the wave of independence, the Confederation of African Football was founded, the organising body of the African Cup, renamed the African Cup of Nations in January 1962. Kwame Nkrumah lobbied hard for Ghana to host the 4th Nations Cup in 1963, which coincided with the signing of the charter of the Organisation of African Unity, Nkrumah's brainchild. But gone are the days when presidents, resplendent in traditional garb, dropped their guard in their boxes to display unabashed excitement. Some of us are old enough to remember the opening speech by Muammar Gaddafi at the 13th Nations Cup in 1982. Gaddafi's speech ended with a resounding: "Yes to Africa! No to the Cup!" But today the impetus is increasingly to separate politicians from the pitch. History has moved on, and sportsmen must follow.
Take Ghana, the first country to win the African Cup four times who were unceremoniously flushed out of the first Nations Cup of the millennium. Ghana's Black Stars should be turned into a national treasure for their cheerful demeanour in adversity. Could it get any worse? Of course it could.
In February-March 1999, Ghana hosted the 11th African Youth Championship. Donning their gold strip, the Black Satellites, in sharp contrast to the Black Stars, comfortably won the championship. In the four FIFA junior championships to date, Ghana has won three times, in 1991, 1995 and 1999, as well as being losing finalists on two other occasions. Is it possible that the impressive performance of the Black Satellites can be explained by the fact that junior players strive to attract attention abroad -- they dream of becoming overseas pros.
Ghana's star-studded national team, with Italian coach Giuseppe Dossena, didn't perform badly because Abedi Pele, the star of the 1992 Nations Cup and three times African Footballer of the Year, is no longer playing for his country. The Black Stars disappointed spectators for precisely the same reason that their junior fledglings, the Black Satellites, gave a terrific show. The Black Stars, tellingly, already have their contracts with overseas clubs.
Emmanuel Duah of Uniao Leira, Portugal, simply ignores national calls. Gerald Asamoah of Schalke 04's has renounced Ghanaian citizenship and is now a German national. And this says more about the state of the Ghanaian economy than about Ghanaian soccer, or the presence or absence of "patriotism". The performance of teams in future Nations Cups depends on how well African economies perform. Until we put sports back into perspective, we are playing a losers game.
