In dialogue – Africa

Viewpoints and trends on key issues related to Cotton made in Africa

Goal!
The World Cup in South Africa is moving ever closer. A terrific new book by Bartholomäus Grill sheds light on the contradictory world of African soccer

Before his release at the age of 74, Nelson Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island for 28 years. He was joined in captivity by countless human rights activists and opponents of apartheid. There were few creature comforts in the 220 acre penal colony, located on an island four miles from the coast. But the inmates were permitted soccer balls. The game helped relieve the monotony of their endless sentences. Beginning in 1970, prisoners were allowed to organize regular games in the compound’s courtyard. “Football on Robben Island was more than just a game, much more. It gave prisoners hope, strengthened their bodies and minds, and united them in the struggle against the inhuman conditions of their imprisonment. It opened the door to inner freedom.”

Bartholomäus Grill, for many years South African correspondent for the German news weekly DIE ZEIT, knows many such stories connected to African football. Good stories as well as bad ones – soccer as a way to freedom or a road to hell. In Rwanda, for instance, where players decried as Tutsis were murdered by teammates in cold blood. A survivor told Grill that “footballers were the most devoted when it came to cutting fellow players into pieces. They carried the wildness with which they pursued the ball in their hearts.” Grill adds that “there was no more comradeship, no empathy, no mercy, nothing.”

But soccer can also overcome enmities and foster peace. Grill illustrates that thesis with a charming array of tales. Didier Drogba, for example, the miracle-striker for FC Chelsea, is for his home country of Ivory Coast more than just a national hero: He is also the man who brought warring parties to the negotiating table. Grill also includes a few self-related anecdotes. He began coaching children in a city park in Johannesburg and then solicited donations of uniforms from his native Bavarian mountains. “I bought two German textbooks with information on warm-up exercises, circuit training, having fun both with the ball and without and tactical guidelines. Our practices became increasingly professional.”

It is not only his experiences as an amateur coach that make the author’s writing so lively and knowledgeable. He is also a passionate player and a sophisticated fan, writing of the forays into black magic that occasionally accompanies preparations for a match with genuine sympathy and stubborn respect. “For African football fans, it is the most normal thing in the world for magical forces to alter the line markings, change the flight path of the ball, befuddle the referees or strike the striker lame …. Supernatural powers are at work everywhere.“ World Cup hopefuls from around the world will have to get used to more mundane challenges as well. Johannesburg is more than a mile above sea level, with thin air that could place limits on players’ endurance.

Bartholomäus Grill’s book is a fascinating introduction to African cultures. Sometimes it is touching, as when it attempts to uncover the positive power of soccer in everyday life, and sometimes it becomes painful, when it provides glimpses into the abyss – what can happen when players’ fighting spirit goes awry. As for South Africa’s chances in the 2010 World Cup, Grill has no great hopes. “I presume there is no other continent in the world where shots from ten feet out routinely go over or around the goal.” Readers will have to wait in suspense to see how Bafana Bafana – South Africa’s national team – does in the tournament, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed.

Text: Peter Felixberger

Literature tip:
Bartholomäus Grill.
Laduuuuuma!
Wie der Fußball Afrika verzaubert.
Hamburg: Hoffmann und Campe, 2009.
256 pages, 20 Euros.