Africa's example
Ever since the moment six years ago in Switzerland when FIFA awarded the hosting rights for the 2010 World Cup to South Africa, locals have been at pains to point out that this is a tournament for all of Africa – and never more evident has that been than during the past week.
With the failure of Algeria, Nigeria, Cameroon, Cote D’Ivoire and pointedly the host nation to progress from the group stage the whole nation – and continent - has united behind Ghana as they seek to make history by becoming the first African country to reach the semi-finals.
Talk-back radio has been dominated with discussion on the Black Stars and even local TV stations have been running promotions urging all South Africans to don the red and yellow of Ghana as they prepare to face Uruguay in the Round of 16.
Then yesterday former South Africa President Thabo Mbeki in a letter of support for Ghana urged that the team’s nickname should now be changed to the African Black Stars such is the weight of expectation that they carry from the entire continent.
We spent a large part of Tuesday in one of Johannesburg’s more lively suburbs – Yeoville – which is home to one of the country’s largest expat African communities and everywhere the vibe was completely in favour of Ghana.
The red, yellow and green flag with the prominent black star was hung from seemingly every second building or shop and everywhere we went all people wanted to talk about was Milovan Rajevac’s side, a nation as we were told time and time again that are flying the flag for not just for Ghana but for all of Africa.
And it’s certainly a love that runs both ways – I caught up with several of the Ghanaian players after their win over the USA and all were united in their belief that they were fighting for regional as much as national pride.
Former captain Stephen Appiah even had three mobile phones on the run as he received txt messages from around the world – but particularly from, as he called them, his ‘African brothers.’
It certainly gives pause to think about Australia’s own backyard and the way that other Asian nations are regarded.
On Tuesday, Japan were the last remaining Asian side at the World Cup and even the South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took the time to send a message of solidarity to his Japanese counterpart, Naoto Kan, on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Canada – yet not a word publicly from a governing body in Australia that’s proposing a World Cup, somewhat oddly, as being one for all Asia.
Hopefully the African example will show the shirt-loving, flag-waving brigade that the more you give, the more you receive.
Certainly, the enduring image of a jubilant Asamoah Gyan doing laps of the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace with the Ghanaian flag in one hand and the South African in the other shows just what regional pride means –and show why Africa is such a proud host of the 19th FIFA World Cup.
http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/scott-mcIntyre/blog/1011597/Africa%27s-example