AFCON and some dismal African realities

Tomorrow is Friday. And I am thinking of the ongoing African football tournament in the Cameroons – AFCON. Although it is over for Nigeria, still the event itself continues to spawn certain dynamics relevant to football and which also have nothing to do with football.

Perhaps the first person to fire off the salvo as regards the ongoing football fiesta was the teary-eyed manager of the Liverpool Football Club. According to him, there was a little tournament happening in Africa. Of course, a lot of us took umbrage at this rather condescending disposition of the Liverpool manager.

And he was duly taken to the cleaners for what appeared to be a gaffe on his part. But wait for it. Was he in reality wrong? Even though, it is possible to describe him as churlish since the Liverpool attack is virtually built around two key African players: Mane and Sallah. Still and in realistic terms, it must be conceded that there is some truth in what he said. The reader may wish to consider, for instance, that in the game of football there is a certain reality that reveals that Africa is not the best place to be.

Consider for instance that, when any player is deemed to be good, then he is considered worthy enough to ply his trade in any of the major leagues in Europe. The question here is: Does the reverse occur? In other words, do we have players in Europe being good enough, such that they will want to transfer their skills to the African continent?

I can almost hear the reader say: that will be the day. In other words, Africa continues to be a one-way reservoir for the transfer of footfall skills to Europe. A lot of this happens to be on display in Cameroons. Virtually all the various African teams have players who are playing all over the world, with Europe taking the cake. The situation was clearly on display as regards the Nigerian team. Virtually all our players were re-imported from over there.

And talking about Nigeria, it was clear that from our showing at the group stage, we were one of the favourites – a front-runner so to say. And indeed, such was our superlative performance that at this group stage, we had cause to chest out. This was until the Tunisians successfully showed us the other side of the coin – defeat. And here, something must be said for the national mood. I expected to see and hear a lot of post-factor rationalisations – this was not to be.

It was probably a case of luck. Next time perhaps. Not that the Tunisians really played better. But, according to pundits, the boys from Tunis under-studied us, crippled our wingers and ran away with the victory. But trust Nigerians to inject a dose of humour into this setback.

There were comments to the effect that, as soon as our president called the boys, our defeat was assured. So as the narrative goes, PMB has been calling up Tinubu and the Jagaban has refused to respond. So much for humour.

And if I must say here, we needed it to salve our hurts. Again it was clear that even as regards management, most of the African teams had to rely on foreign coaches. And one also begins to wonder whether the reverse situation obtains. In other words – do we have, say, European national teams being coached and managed by Africans? Again, that will be the day. Even then, amid all the stampede around AFCON – other ominous realities reared their heads as regards the continent.

Coups and rumours of coups continued to make the rounds. Which is just as well. For one was treated in an implicit way to this macabre situation, even at the opening of the tournament. On the platform was the aging Cameroonian leader – Paul Biya – said to be in his eighties. The mind reflects: so Biya is still there? And one also gets reminded about the state of things in that neighbouring country.

The persistence of a Biya in power could well be responsible for the separatist tendencies in that country. Indeed, at the on-set, there were palpable fears that the tournament may be disrupted by the internal convulsions in Cameroon. Luckily and thus far, success seems to have outweighed failure. There was also the contradiction in which some of the countries had to question their priorities.

Read also: Binance Charity to donate $160,000 to victims of AFCON 2021 stadium crush in Cameroon

Such epiphany does not always happen in the flush of victories. Rather, it obtains in the face of defeat. Ghana must come in for mention here. When the country was defeated, serious queries started to be raised about the princely sum of $25 million which the relatively poor country had earmarked for AFCON and the World Cup preparations. The queries became more insistent in the light of the fact that the country’s university teachers, their own ASUU, were in the trenches asking for better pay.

So as the reasoning goes, how can Ghana afford to shell out $25 million for football and still go ahead to ignore the demands of her academics. Again, that is a slice of African reality for you.

Meanwhile, AFCON was also something of a platform for other surprises. Some of the favourite teams in Africa did not make it to the Group of 16 in Cameroon. Countries that readily come to mind here are South Africa and Zambia. Rather, they had to make way for debutants like Comoros, Sierra Leone, and Gambia.

One way of seeing this is that a lot of developments have occurred in African soccer such that the big boys of yesterday have since given way to other big boys. I was particularly impressed by the boys from Comoros. With a population of less than one million, they were up there!

Another very predictable but dismal dimension of AFCON was the sponsorship. Everywhere, I kept seeing TotalEnergies – the main sponsor. This particular outfit is in reality, one of the commercial arms of French power. I do not mean to be ungrateful. But here is a company lapping up surpluses all over Africa and beyond. So, it is probably in place for TOTAL to give back from a little of its vast financial chest. As we say in these parts: Abu’s money is being used to host Abu!

Beyond this dark humour is the fact that there is a perverse consistency to the entire situation. As AFCON closes very soon, the reader is invited to reflect on the fact that: from sponsorship, through the players to the coaches and the managers, a lot is owed to the outside world. Evidently, this is not good for Africa.

Still dear reader, enjoy the remaining games. Meanwhile, please continue to remember that, AFCON for all its titillation; is just another instance of Africa’s dependence on the outside world. Pity!