Lessons from AFCON 2015

The just concluded African Cup of Nations (AFCON) took off on an unexpected note. The hosting of the tournament was marked by the feature of injury-time. Morocco, which was originally billed to host the tournament, declined. Rabat did this on the grounds of fears that the then raging Ebola epidemic may ravage the country. Thus it was that, on a last-minute basis, oil-rich Equatorial Guinea decided to salvage the pride of Africa. Such indeed are even the blessings, so to say, of a rentier state.

Given the dire poverty in the continent, we do not think that many countries in the continent could have pulled off this feat within the available timeframe. Despite the last-minute preparation, AFCON 2015 could be deemed to have been very successful. Kudos must therefore be given to this West-Central African country.

But the tournament was not devoid of its own downsides. There was the Mauritanian referee, Rajiudraparsad Seechurn, who was banned for six months in view of his poor officiating. It will be recalled here that the referee awarded a dubious late penalty which gave Equatorial Guinea the chance to draw level, and went on to advance 2-1 to the semi-final, against Ghana.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) also fined the Tunisian Football Federation, following the disgraceful scenes in the quarter-final match. The country will also pay the cost of the damage that was caused at the Estadio be Bata. Meanwhile, CAF also fined Equatorial Guinea Federation, in view of the fact that ecstatic fans invaded the field moments after the home team equalised via the disputed and controversial penalty kick.

Again, it must be said that fans from the host country were at it again during the semi-final match against Ghana. Towards the end of the game, the match had to be temporarily stopped in view of the unruly conduct of the home crowd. Indeed, Ghanaian fans had to be evacuated, under police protection, from the stadium in order to avert an uglier outcome.

Meanwhile, there is the contention that soccer has a way of defining the profile of a country. We daresay that a similar contention can be applied to a continent. The latter phenomenon was quite evident in AFCON 2015. Most of the coaches were Caucasians and the implication of this is that as usual, Africa had to depend on foreign expertise for its growth in soccer. Similarly, many of the players ply their trade in foreign clubs. And if we may be prospective here, by now most of the new and discovered talents at AFCON 2015 may be on their way to foreign clubs.

Taken together, much of the immediate foregoing is clearly indicative of the fact that Africa is helplessly linked to its external environment even in a seemingly mundane area like soccer. The continent does not only export brains; it also exports brawn. Football can indeed serve as a metaphor!

The final match itself did not come as a surprise. From the onset, the finalists, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, were highly fancied. And it is just as well that they did not have to confront each other until the ultimate duel. It will be noted here that the two national teams at various points in time had been champions. Ghana clearly outstripped The Elephants given the number of times that the Black Stars had won the trophy. But then, football is not mathematics. Consequently, after a relatively drab final match which went into extra time, it was only through penalties that Cote d’Ivoire emerged as the winners of the AFCON Championship. And such is the magic of football, that it has the capacity to unite the disparate elements in a divided society.

On this note, Cote d’Ivoire was not different. The country had been torn apart by civil war between the North and the South, but football has always served as glue for this war-torn country. This unity was certainly on display in the aftermath of the country’s victory over Ghana. Jubilant fans partied throughout the night in the football-mad country and Monday was declared a national holiday by President Alassane Ouattara.

However, one of the most remarkable features of the just concluded tournament was that our own country Nigeria was missing in action. The Super Eagles, the immediate past champion, failed to qualify for the tournament. This was something of an oddity. It was expected that a previous champion would have had enough fire-power to secure a place in the tournament. Sadly enough, this turned out to be a misplaced expectation.

Various reasons have been advanced for this odd situation. Some have even gone as far as to say that the former and neglected Super Eagles’ players have placed a curse on the team, hence our inability to qualify. Our being champions in the previous outing has even been described as a fluke. Either way, it is clear that we need to raise our game. Clearly, it is something of a disgrace that we could not qualify for AFCON 2015.

Finally, as a business newspaper, we wish to state with all sense of seriousness that virtually all the material trappings which went into AFCON 2015 were manufactured outside Africa. Our references here are to the balls, jerseys, boots and even technology used in the tournament. This is sad. It is clear pointer to the fact that Africa remains a mere market, rather than a production hub. Our leaders must take due note of this anomaly. This is with a view to ensuring that manufacturing becomes a major and central economic activity in the continent. This is important if only because a great football nation is not necessarily a great nation.