The kind of open, passionate and almost religious support of some foreign football clubs such as Arsenal, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, to mention just a few, is to me, disgusting, shameful and wrong. There are some things that are wrong or shameful that you cannot easily pinpoint why they are shameful or wrong. But you just feel it in your bones that those things are not right.
One of such things is the undisguised, almost childish and enthusiastic support of many European football clubs such as those mentioned above by my fellow Africans. If you are a football fan, are there no football clubs in Africa that one can choose to cultivate their style of football and choose to fall in love with? Why is it that every weekend during the annual competitive league you see supposedly serious-minded Africans lament the misfortunes of the European teams they have adopted as ‘’their’’ teams? Are we a cursed people? Have we been programmed to hate ourselves and our possessions? We cannot invent many industrial things but are consigned to depend on the witty inventions of the White and Asiatic races. Even to assemble, train and support football clubs to become world beaters, we are unable to do. And we have some of the most exciting talents in Africa that can be groomed to prominence if we want to do so. For years now most French national teams are made up of 98 per cent Africans. What is wrong with us? Are we cursed to be such great underlings?
Some African football clubs like Al Ahly, Rangers, Simba, Canon Sportif, Orlando Pirates, Wydad Cassablanca, P.T Mesembe of Zaire and many others have been aroubd for a long time that they can be adopted as objects of love and admiration and it will not look odd to do so without shame or guilt.
As a patriotic African, I feel deeply ashamed of how some of our political, business and even religious elite show such level of mad support for those clubs. Let me make full disclosure. I am myself a Real Madrid fan but I am not a crazy fan the level of fanship some of my fellow Africans are fans of those clubs.
There are some African big boys who fly to the UK, for instance, to watch their favourite clubs play some games. This is not envy of the rich. I mention this to show the level of degrading support some of my fellows in Africa are ready to give to ‘’their’’ football clubs at the detriment of finding and backing local teams.
Don’t people of Africa know that we live in a deeply competitive world where there is an undeclared competition for things that can bring a people, power, respect and dignity? With the industrial prowess of America, Europe and Asia, they are accorded a lot of respect. We concede certain amount of power to them without their even asking for it. They have earned it without any kind of argument. We train our medical personnel at very huge cost to our resources and gleefully export them to America and Europe. We have come to mentally agree that those places are where talents blossom and earn mega million dollars. And our impoverishment continues.
When a football talent emerges in an African village, the next place we think that that talent needs to be developed to reach full potential is Europe or America. Are we incapable of doing any great thing such as talent hunting and having a treasure trove of talents in our seemingly benighted continent?
When I hear, for instance, that Dangote is an Arsenal fan, I feel sick. Why can’t Dangote be a fan of Rivers United or Niger Tornadoes of Minna? Bukola Saraki and some of our leading political elite are fervent supporters of some foreign clubs. Why has it not occurred to them to mentor some local football clubs to world-wide stardom?
The type of support I have for Real Madrid is limited to the fact that they play Champagne soccer and is in comparison to other European football clubs.
We are the world’s underdogs in many spheres of life. The only arena where we seem to excel in is in sports and entertainment. Our pedigree has been well established in entertainment. In sports, especially in the highly influential football, we have not been able to intelligently manage it in order to bring respect and resources to our continent. That is why I am ashamed and disgusted that our people of influence in politics and business who ought to devise ways of bringing our football clubs to prominence otherwise shout themselves hoarse over their love of their football clubs in Europe.
What I can not really understand is that Al Ahly, Messembe and other African football giants even play more exciting football than Arsenal and Madrid; it is mere clever marketing and residues of colonialism that have made many European teams to win the affection of our big, medium and small persons as their die-hard supporters.
Let this piece of mind appeal to some of our big guns to sit down, plan, provision, promote and project Africa teams as ‘’their’’ teams and see what magic these teams will be in a few years down the line.
