Will Africa Take the Golden Trophy in 2010?
In June this year the FIFA World Cup finals come to the African continent for the first time. Last month’s African Cup of Nations finals in Angola provided but a small taste of the feast of football to come. Yet it also raised awareness about the intersection between politics and major sporting events, which not only provide opportunities for host governments to showcase their countries’ tourist attractions, but also create opportunities for violent dissidents to publicise their causes.
Sandra Oder, Senior Researcher, Peace Missions Programme, Institute for Security Studies, Pretoria Office
In June this year the FIFA World Cup finals come to the African continent for the first time. Last month’s African Cup of Nations finals in Angola provided but a small taste of the feast of football to come. Yet it also raised awareness about the intersection between politics and major sporting events, which not only provide opportunities for host governments to showcase their countries’ tourist attractions, but also create opportunities for violent dissidents to publicise their causes. In Angola, it was the Togolese football team that paid the price, though the local security forces were also deeply embarrassed.
The South African organisers of the World Cup have given assurances that no such incident will mar the finals in June and July, though it is unclear how such undertakings can be made with any confidence, given the essentially unpredictable nature of the threats involved. Older readers will remember the terrible events at the Munich Olympics of 1972, in a country whose intelligence and police forces enjoy a high reputation.
The problem is, of course, that people looking at Africa from outside tend not to make fine distinctions between the states making up the continent. The would-be American vice-president Sarah Palin was by no means alone if indeed she did think of Africa as one country. And the news of Africa broadcast to the world at large tends to be dramatic and overwhelmingly negative. The sound-bites and the images heard and seen by strangers to the continent would strike many, though not all, Africans as a bizarre representation of their lives. World Cup 2010 may give us a chance to remedy misconceptions, or at least to display some of the more remarkably positive aspects of life in Africa, not least of which is the warmth and friendliness of most of its people.
Let us hope, too, that the event passes off without the chauvinist rancour that now mars too many international football events. In Europe in particular, right-wing elements seem upon occasion to regard football as a mild substitute for war. In Latin America rioting following a World Cup qualifier between El Salvador and Honduras in 1969 helped trigger a four-day war between the two countries (a peace treaty was eventually signed in 1980). And last November another qualifier, between Algeria and Egypt, led to strained diplomatic relations (Egypt’s subsequent triumph in Angola may have restored damaged pride).
Let us hope then, that this year’s tournament goes off peacefully and in the true spirit of the sport. Let us hope that South Africa’s World Cup is remembered as a showpiece for Africa and for soccer. Recent finals have disappointed aficionados of “the beautiful game”. Winning at all costs has become the theme, even if it involves flouting the rules and deceiving the referee and assistants with performances deserving of an Oscar. Older fans can still remember when crowds did not have to be segregated according to their allegiance, and when crowd trouble was a rarity. Opponents were also applauded for their skill and sportsmanship. Whether the money now involved in promoting and profiting from the sport is what has made the difference is a moot point.
Perhaps the similarities between the soccer arena and the political are not so great after all. How many politicians these days, particularly in Africa, defy the referees or change the rules to suit themselves? Here, too, the material rewards appear to have multiplied beyond belief, and the profits of office make for a win at all and any cost attitude. Scarce wonder, then if the “spectators” become violent, especially when they see their “team” beaten by unfair means.
Politics is, of course, more important than soccer, but is it too much to hope that the sense of fair play eventually will prevail in both arenas? Africans must surely pray that this comes to pass.
