Sports

Africa’s Long Road To 2010 W/Cup

Published

14 years ago

May 23, 2010

“The World Cup is coming to Africa, I can’t believe it. It just makes me believe that anything is possible.”

The words of a female DJ as I listened to the radio in Lesotho just recently. An attitude which encapsulates the wonder many are feeling across Africa, still incredulous that the planet’s biggest sports event is coming to the continent.

To the only continent never to have hosted the Olympics nor the World Cup. Until now that is.

For those living in South Africa itself, the incredulity goes even deeper. Twenty years ago, hosting the World Cup was an impossible dream. Still under the grip of apartheid, South Africa was a pariah state, banned from football by Fifa, and the prospect of playing any match, let alone hosting the world, was a mere flight of fancy.

But now we are less than 20 days away from a tournament which many, including former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, fully expect to change Africa’s poor global standing, broadly known for such negative images as war, famine, HIV/Aids corruption – while the more football-minded simply hope a new playing generation will shine brightly in 10-15 years’ time, as those who grew up inspired by Africa’s first World Cup hit maturity.

“I’m hoping an African side can do really well, perhaps even win it,” says former South Africa defender Mark Fish. “Then we can ask Fifa why we can’t have seven, eight, perhaps even nine teams representing Africa in future World Cups.”

That the World Cup is in South Africa is largely thanks to the efforts of Fifa chief Sepp Blatter and former anti-apartheid activist Danny Jordaan, who has been working relentlessly since 1994 to get the unlikely dream off the ground.

Yet the foundations were laid many years ago. The 1966 World Cup is not the most obvious turning point but that year Africa boycotted the finals in protest at the allocation of one place between Asia and itself at the ‘World Cup’.

The dramatic move, which came exactly 100 years after the continent’s first recorded football match, worked, for Africa had its own representative at the next finals.

1974 was also a significant milestone. Not at the World Cup though, where the maiden sub-Saharan appearance was a disaster as Zaire (now DR Congo) lost all their matches with a 0-14 goal record.

However, the real nadir came when Mwepu Ilunga infamously ran out of the wall to hammer away a Brazilian free-kick, the African champions attracting widespread ridicule for not knowing the rules.

But that year, Joao Havelange used dozens of African votes to win the Fifa presidency off Sir Stanley Rous, and the game changed forever, booming commercially.

The Brazilian had promised the continent its own prizes in return, which came as the World Cup expanded to 24 teams in 1982, meaning Africa now had two places, while Fifa’s inaugural youth tournaments were held in Tunisia (the U20s in 1977) and Nigeria won (what is now the U17 World Cup in 1985).

Had a certain Mr Dempsey not come along, Africa might already have staged the World Cup but Blatter acted decisively following that voting failure in 2000.

One month later, he oversaw the installation of Fifa’s rotation system and one year later, Africa was chosen to start the new policy, which explains Blatter’s rare popularity here.

“We’re very grateful to Fifa and Blatter,” says Fish.

“The journey of African football has been a long one and South Africa, from the apartheid era to the democratic elections of 1994, has also come a long way. Now it’s a massive step to be hosting the world’s biggest sporting event on our continent.”

Africa has displayed its enormous passion for football time and again, and many more tales will emerge during what could be the most colourful World Cup to date. And with the finals providing the greatest 31-day commercial for the continent, pride will swell from Cape Town to Cairo and from Dakar to Dar-es-Salaam.

In a land crippled by nepotism and corruption, football is a rare meritocracy, an area where an individual can rely on his own talents to move up in the world. By coincidence or not, it’s also one of few areas where Africa does not just live with the best but beats them too.

The life story of George Weah, who rose from a Monrovian slum to be crowned the world’s best footballer in 1995, is still an inspiration to many.

Football even had the capacity to briefly stop his homeland’s civil war since Liberia matches in the 1990s would, to quote the current president, ‘bring sudden voluntary ceasefires between the warring factions’ as they joined their enemies to watch the games.

“It is in our hands to unite our country, our continent and the world in a footballing feast,” South African President Jacob Zuma said recently.

Now where’s that damned vuvuzela?

Edwards is with BBC Sports.

Piers Edwards

Sports

Expert Wants Parents To Enroll Children In Vector Programme

Published

2 days ago

April 22, 2024

The Tide

In a bid to have more young talented Nigerians to play professional football abroad, Johnny Ogbah, a sports lawyer and football intermediary, has called on parents to enroll their children in Vector Programme.
He stated that the programme is in conjunction with Conventry Football Club in United Kingdom (UK), saying that the programme includes academics where a child can acquire a degree.
Ogbah, made the call while addressing sports journalists recently in Port Harcourt, as the programme will admit students into Brooke College between the age of 11 and 18 Football Academy.
The major objective of Vector Programme is to give the young ones a career through sports and good education. The programme does not train people on football only but also other things that is related to sporting environment, he said.
According to him, more than 20 Nigerians have benefited from the programme on scholarship and most of them are now playing football in top clubs in Europe.
“Vector programme was poised to create an avenue to give people to play football to the highest level.
Apart from football the child can also have quality education. It will interest you to know that those in Vector programme play friendly games that attracts scouts from different countries and football clubs.
The programme doesn’t train you on only football but also train people on everything that is associated to sports”, Ogbah said.
The former Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) player further disclosed Vector programme pathways provides the practice opportunities that players need if they are to successfully graduate as a professional player.

By: Tonye Orabere

Sports

NLO: Khana FC Coach Blames Players For Missing Chances

Published

2 days ago

April 22, 2024

The Tide

The Head Coach of Khana FC in Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State, Sam Ledor, has blamed his players as they were unable to convert scoring chances.
According to him, if those chances created in their opening match against Jet Bomber FC at the ongoing Nation wide League One (NLO), in Omoku centre were converted, it would have given them victory.
Ledor, said this on Saturday in a chat with Tidesports shortly after they played goalless draw against Jet Bomber FC in their opening match in 2024 NLO Division in Omoku, Rivers State.
“ We created a lot of scoring chances but could not find the net”, he said.
He explained that playing goalless draw is not a bad result in football but in a competition like this, they need to score goals and win matches.
“ My brother, we missed a lot of scoring chances which is not good. I trainned my players on how to create chances and to convert them.
“ What is important in a competition is winning but as we did not lose the game, we will look forward for our next game.
“We will go back to the drawing board and correct the grey areas in our game and ensure we get better results in our next outing.
“Today’s game is gone, what we need to do is to make sure we win our next game,” he stated.
He pointed out that no game comes easy but the effort you put in will give good result. They tried their best today and the result was good for both teams but we need to win our next game.
“My opponents were also a good side; they tried all what they could but didn’t score also. It was a good game but my team needs to win games,” he added.

By: Kiadum Edookor

Sports

Wilkins Backs Rivers Hoopers To Spring Surprises At 2024 BAL

Published

2 days ago

April 22, 2024

The Tide

A French-American, John Walter Wilkins is confident Rivers Hoopers can make it to the playoff round of the 2024 Basketball Africa League (BAL).
Wilkins, who is the son of former NBA player Jeff Wilkins, linked up with his Hoopers teammates at the team’s training camp in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, ahead of the 2024 BAL Savannah Conference games, which tip off on Saturday, 4th May, 2024, in Dakar, Senegal.
Wilkins is no stranger to African basketball, having played for Moroccan sides AS Salé (2015-2016) and Ittihad Tanger (2017-2019), before leading Stade Malien to a third-place finish at BAL 2023.
Looking ahead to the 2024 BAL, Wilkins says the quality of basketball across Africa has improved, with the BAL requiring a high level of competitiveness, but backed Rivers Hoopers to spring a surprise at the tournament.
“It’s a really high level, a great competition; [it’s] one of the best I’ve played in since I’ve been in Africa. But we don’t need to be scared. We need to just attack the moment, be there, be present, and I think if we are confident in our abilities, we can surprise people,” he said.
Since its inaugural season in 2021, Nigerian teams have appeared twice at the BAL, with Rivers Hoopers playing in the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2021 and Kwara Falcons featuring at BAL 2023.
Despite failing to reach the playoffs on both previous occasions, Wilkins is optimistic that with the quality of players in the Hoopers squad as well as the recruitment done ahead of the BAL, Rivers Hoopers will be more competitive in this season’s BAL.
“I’m really optimistic. I know that those past years the teams from Nigeria didn’t do well, but I think with me, Kelvin [Amayo], Will [Perry], and the other guys, I think we can show the way, have some wins, and be more competitive,” he stated.
The Nigerian Champions were drawn in the Savannah Conference alongside former BAL Champions US Monastir (Tunisia), last year’s runners-up AS Douanes (Senegal), and APR (Rwanda).