After both of Ghana's victories so far in this year's World Cup, their leading striker Asamoah Gyan dedicated the successes to the whole of Africa, invoking a key message of World Cup 2010: Africa United. The sentiment of cross-continental support for the indigenous teams is positive but relatively unheard of in the football world. It is almost impossible to imagine such attitudes of good will and bonhomie being expressed between European or South American neighbours.
During the build up and first half of the tournament I was staying in Uganda in a small village called Dewe, not far from Kampala. Living within the community, I was able to see up close how the World Cup was experienced in an African country which had not qualified for the tournament but felt itself very much united in the African cause. My experience of everyday conversations, public match watching, and through the broadcast and print media helped paint a picture of what “Africa United” meant.
It may be unsurprising but it became increasingly striking that the World Cup and the English Premier League were a priority interest beyond what was happening in Ugandan football. I quickly found that both the World Cup and the English Premier League were hugely popular and the Premier League in particular was an instant conversation starter - with both men and women. Everyone wanted to know what team I liked and everyone I met who liked football supported one of the big four (i.e. Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool). I was told that if I was there during the club season, I would have seen that when games involving these sides are broadcast on satellite television the streets are deserted. Most of the interest had picked up when there were many star African players at Arsenal in the early 2000s (Lauren Etame Mayer (captain of Cameroon), Kolo Toure (captain of Ivory Coast), and Nwankwo Kanu in particular).
I picked up from the newspapers that the national team, the Uganda Cranes, made history while I was there by qualifying for the Championship of African Nations Cup.
I picked up from the newspapers that the national team, the Uganda Cranes, made history while I was there by qualifying for the Championship of African Nations Cup.
They managed to triumph over their neighbours Kenya. The Cranes conquered in the home leg 1-0 with the Daily Monitor complaining of their dour pragmatism under the guidance of the manager Bobby Williamson. However, a week later there was delight at their steely resolve as they held to go through on goal difference following a 2-1 defeat in Kenya. The Monitor reported on how this was a first for Ugandan football in 32 years yet it went unmentioned by anyone I was staying with, and I never saw or heard anything about it on TV or radio.
The key message for the marketing of the World Cup in Africa is “Africa United”. This is largely pushed by official sponsors MTN. MTN is a South Africa telecommunications company who are mobile network providers across much of Africa, including Uganda and five of the six African sides in the tournament, but not including Algeria (or Egypt as I found when I arrived in Cairo at the end of my trip.) They are official sponsors of the World Cup: their yellow colour scheme and adverts dominate billboards, television, and radio in Uganda. The Africa United theme is repeated and ads included African stars from the sides from those where MTN transmits (i.e. all but Algeria), such as Aaron Mokoena, Stephen Appiah, Alex Song and Didier Drogba. One Monitor reporter celebrates breathlessly his arrival at South Africa saying:
“Larger-than-life MTN posters with Michael Essien and John Obi Mikel (perhaps a reminder of what we are set to miss out on), as well as Alex Song, Aaron Mokoena and Stephen Appiah (of what awaits barring last minute catastrophe) were right before us.”
There was also an often repeated MTN television advert showing a shared experience of these stars making their journey to South Africa together. While the campaign is choosing to focus on the countries where the company transmits, this did give the impression of “Africa United” being an exclusively black African experience.
The football feed in Uganda was via the South African network. Most of the football I watched in Uganda was in the Dewe trading centre. For the opening match, my friend Molongo lead me down a pitch black alley and into a large brick shed with no light but for the television and with only unstable wooden benches to sit on. There was no one at the door, but once I took a seat a man sprang up in front of me asking for 300 USH (10p GBP) to watch the game. Ugandan radio coverage was played over the top of the television audio on a PA. The place was packed for the African games.
My Ugandan hosts were undoubtedly in full support of the other African teams in the tournament and gutted that generally they were performing badly. Following their draw with Australia, my friend Denis Ssengendo – a keen keyboard player and pastor of the local Miracle Church – looked deeply miserable and said, "Ghana has disappointed us." There was some good humour to the occasion as well though as many of the players' names from the various countries had a different meaning in Ugandan. Enyeama, (Nigeria's goalkeeper) sounds like the word for “meat” in Ugandan. And one of the Cameroonian players had such a vulgar name, they couldn't explain to me what it meant.
I had several discussions explaining why I was delighted to see the French and Italians doing so badly, and that there was no way I could ever hope that Germany would have any success at this or any World Cup. It was a very different position.
During my stay, I was invited to a party for my host's daughter and spent a lot of time talking to Moses who was the master of ceremonies. He was also an aspiring business man hoping to go to the UK to do an accountancy course. He believed that if he just had one certificate from the UK he could achieve anything he wanted. After discussing how he loved Chelsea; John Terry; how JT should still be England captain; how the reaction to his affair was ridiculous, we got on to discussing bigger things. He asked me why the “Africans don't have wisdom” pressing his finger to his left temple. The wisdom he was talking about was the knowledge to make money. He said to me, "you have seen the way we are, what do you think?" I said maybe it was the weather. He wanted more so I added that I think life is pretty good in Uganda and you shouldn't necessarily believe that a place like the UK is such a wonderful place or that we Muzungus are so much better off in every way. But he was insistent. He said maybe I hadn't been here long enough. He said maybe at the moment my eyes can not see and they need to adjust to the darkness. He told me a joke: "A Muzungu, a black African, and an Arab go to see God. God says, 'I will grant you one gift. What will it be?' The Muzungu says, 'wisdom'. The Arab says 'resources'. The African can't think of anything and says simply, 'Can I just go with one of these guys?' So God says fine, the African will serve the Arabs and the Muzungus.”
Vuvuzelas
Was the vuvezela an over-simplistic, cynical way to garner a united Africa?
As well as watching in Dewe, Uganda, I caught some of the SA coverage when I was in Kalangala, on the island of Bugala. Here my heart sank as I witnessed a gleeful celebration of the vuvuzela.
I caught an evening show following the Portugal's 3-0 win in a friendly over Mozambique. Here I saw a short feature celebrating the use of the vuvezala which gave me some insight into the destructive force of the "have your say" trend in the media and why this horn is so dominating our aural experience of the World Cup. The presenter showed us a grotesque, giant Vuvezela created by Hyundai, which had been setup in Joberg city centre and was operated by a mobile phone. It was some kind a stunt tied in with a competition. The operator set it off, deafening the presenter and causing much mirth.
They also repeated that a time and a place had been set where everyone should take to the streets to honk their vuvuzelas in Johannesburg city centre. A map and diagram of the walk was shown and this was repeated several times.
The whole purpose of this horn seems tied in with the culmination of the dumbing down, moronic 'have your say' culture, so engrained in the broadcast media. Honking your horn is an easy way of making a contribution. I'm sure this has been said many times, but what it has killed is the multi-cultural flavour of the world cup. In the past we can watch a game - say England vs Brazil - and enjoy hearing different songs from other cultures. In this tournament, there is just one song - the honk.
It appears to be largely a result of the African marketing campaign and this determination to present a United Africa. As in Uganda, South Africa is actually quite a disparate culture with many different languages and peoples within one country. If everyone just honks a horn, this creates an easy method to connect with your fellow countrymen. The other alternative is that people won't know what to sing, or that they will be singing different songs in different vernacular.
Posts
