Soccer World Cup more than just a game?

On Friday night/Saturday morning a whole lot of Ghanaians and Black Star supporters had quotes of Alicia Keys song ‘Sleeping with a Broken Heart’ as their status update…

I am 34 years old and I cant remember one single event that cut me so deep man. I’ve lost 4 world cups with the All Blacks, failed at a few things, but this man, this cut me deep! Someone was trying to tell me its ok they tried, in my head I just wanted to say listen pis s the f**k off right now cos I actually do want to feel like this! Anyway on Saturday afternoon I was over it and back on the road again as the saying goes Cest la vie…

But I did spend the whole morning evaluating why I felt like this. Football isn’t really my sport because I cant handle the random decisions based on how much better a player acts, I cant really understand why a sport refuses to use technology available to it, even tennis does, I cant also understand why that sport allows ‘cheating’ but then again if its allowed, then its not cheating now is it?!!

So all thoughts raced through my head and I got to thinking, to some this may have just been a game, but to many others and me this was about more than football. Really it was. It was the continents time to shine and for most part we have.

We showed the world what we are capable of if we put our minds and our bodies to it. The continent, not just South Africans and Ghanaians were united for a common cause, where else in the world would you see a whole bunch of different countries join forces to support another nation? Nowhere but this lovely continent of ours! You cant imagine how proud I felt on Friday before the game to see the masses and man there were puhlenty of people who turned up in the cold to watch the match at Melrose Arch. The beauty of it all was the diversity of the crowd, not just blacks but it was a licorice allsorts.

What Ghana represented was the fact that a country from proper ‘black Africa’ for a change, weren’t no good, thieves, lazy so ds, no good nig gas, useless Africans who aren’t worthy of jobs, education, dating your sister/brother/child. Just for a few weeks…days…they carried a continents hope and their send off yesterday and its attendance showed this clearly

No offence intended, and if you do decide to take offence I guess you are entitled to, but it also made me feel as if South Africa and South Africans started seeing themselves more as part of the continent. Why do I say this, well many a corporate and indvidual refers to other countries beyond our borders as Africa, and that grates my cheese no end. We are looking for opportunities in Africa, I want to go and take a look at Africa..etc etc, no man, I am looking at mineral deposits in the Congo, Zimbabwe, Nigeria etc. I am looking at expanding into other parts of the continent….

All these good things being said though, the counter to this rang true and loud in my head. Once again we failed as a people to proceed and yet we are ok with it. Yes the handball was blatant but it’s allowed by the current rules of football. The ref red carded him and gave us a penalty. Now instead of my countryman putting the ball down and taking his time to reflect on the magnitude of the moment, I am just speculating based on his persona on the field and in interviews. The thought that ran through his head was its MY time, I’m going to be the guy, im going to be the hero. Typical, stereotyped, African mentality, Idi Amin (Uganda), Mobutu Sese Seko(Zaire), Jean Bedel Bokassa (CAR), Teodoro Obiang (equatorial Guinea), Mangistu Haile Mariam (Ethiopia), Omar Al Bashir (Sudan), Charles Taylor(liberia),Laurent Kabilla (DRC), Robert Mugabe (Zim)… I’m not saying he wanted to miss, because just as shaite as I was feeling on Friday eve/Saturday morning, I can only imagine that he felt 3million times worse, but still man, once again Africans being what the world knows to be African, those guys who seem content with mediocrity. I look at countries like Nigeria and Ivory Coast, before the world cup, they changed their coaches, players, like Eto of Cameroon, were threatening not to come to the world cup, even our 7th team at the world cup France, dominated by players of African decent, now this may be hugely inflammatory, but it is what it seems to be, they imploded and it doesn’t matter if no one says it out loud, many of us are thinking just that.

We are always victims, always something else or somebody else’s fault. Slavery, apartheid, dictators, white bosses don’t give us opportunities, business partners scre wing us, there are remedies and means and ways to change your position, but as a collective rather than individually. Croatians had mad genocide and look at them now, they are blossoming as a country, Jews had the holocaust, but look at them now they run the world basically. But Africa, we are still everyone’s poor little Africans, nah man!

Cameroon and Nigeria should have easily walked out of their groups into the last 16, its not that the other teams were better than them, its more a case of their mentality letting them down. No sportsman goes onto the field wanting to lose, unless you are Hansie and whoever else the bookies get to, but the desire isn’t enough there has to be the attitude the mentality that we are not just doing this for me but for all who went before and will come after, all at home who have placed so much hope in us. Its about pride man the will for my country to succeed. Its evident in ze Germans, the Dutch, even the English, Koreans, Japanese and the Italians, Koreans showed it too, but I felt that ‘gees’ was missin from many of our African sides.

4 weeks ago if someone had told me that the Ghanaian team would have gotten as far as they did, I most probably would have taken it. But then as the tournament wore on, I saw they were capable of greater things. So I readjusted my hopes to semi finals at least. So I am not happy with where they ended. I am not happy with how the rest of the teams fared. Its not like they are not good enough because they are! They make all their European team mates look good when they play together and sometimes even out shine them. In a way, I say bigups to the Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan, who has banned his team from participating in any international tournaments for 2 years, a bit harsh I think, because FIFA is also taking a hardline and will ban the youngsters and the women teams too, should they not reconsider and that will be counter productive. But I hail him in that he said this sh it is not good enough! Ghana, had a chance to reach the semi finals. Last kick of the game, it was there on a silver platter but we instead said, oh master boss, please we cant take it, you have it. NO MORE dam nit we are better than that!

Still very proud of the way we hosted the cup, Im proud my country of birth carried the hopes of the continent as far as it did and gave us as much joy as it did and maybe its part of my disappointment in the loss, which was that my little country was on the map, people in South Africa, painting their face red, yellow, green. I cant even try and imagine how much pride the people there were feeling, but if my pride is anything to gauge it to, then they must have been tooo happy ;) but alas…we failed to see it through once again. Maybe im being harsh, maybe its me who had high expectations. I say im glad I have high expectations, because that’s the only way to get to the next level, you can’t accept misfortune and complacency as the norm. You can achieve higher if you desire. I am over hearing shame the poor little Africans tried, a bit of pride. Im over Bob Geldolf, Richard Branson, Bono etc. coming to help the poor little Africans, what about all the high flying African cats who can pop champagne at Moloko or Rehab, why cant we help our own? Bit of pride man and compassion for those around you…

Birthdays
8th July Dinesh Joseph
9th Dean Peters

and that’s a wrap. Have a blessed week

Maximum respect

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