Let me start by paying my respects to my mother-in-law who passed away on Tuesday July 1 in Blantyre. Mrs. Lucy-Jesse Nakhomba Manondo was in her early 90s. Thanks to her for giving birth to my beautiful wife Tambudzai and all her sisters and brothers. Above all, I am fortunate that I have never had in-law problems as she loved and accepted me in her home.
Before going into this week’s topic, let me congratulate the Malawi Netball Team for being ranked first in Africa and fifth in the world. Malawi women are outstanding and represent both the country and the continent very well.
On July 6, 2014 Malawi celebrated the 50th anniversary of independence from Britain. Independence celebrations in Malawi always end with a football match between the Malawi Men’s National Football team against another country’s national team. This year’s match was against neighboring Mozambique. It ended in a 1-1 tie. This is a great improvement over the result of the match played 52 years ago whose result was Ghana 12, Malawi 0. But it is a step back from the golden days of the 1970s and 1980s. The Daily Times of Malawi carried a good history of Malawi football on July 6.
The dark days of the 1960s in Malawi football were erased by a Brazilian coach named Wander Moreira who brought the beautiful game to Malawi taking the Malawi team to the final in its very first competitive regional tournament of the Confederation of Eastern and Central African Football Associations (CECAFA) which Malawi lost to Kenya in 1975. Malawi became champion of the tournament two years in a row a few years later under a British coach named Powell. Malawi played the Brazilian brand of football because of Moreira. I grew up loving the Brazil National Team as a result. Although Malawi had no television, I read about mesmerizing plays by the great Brazil teams of 1970 and 1982.
For those of you who are not very familiar with football, there are many brands of the game. In those days especially, different countries had distinct football identities. The Dutch played a type called “total football”. The Spanish adopted the Dutch "total football" and called it “tiki-taka”. The Italian game was the least exciting as it involved the whole team standing near their own goal to prevent conceding goals. The inventors of the game, the English, had a big person standing near the opponent goal and the rest of the team kicked long shots to this big player hoping he will outmuscle the defending team and score. The Germans played efficient business-like football. But the Brazilians played the “beautiful” game. They were creative and artistic as they played. And this is the brand of football that Moreira brought to Malawi.
The years of youth are full of innocence. When one grows up one discovers that the world is not perfect. Heroes become villains. Rich versus poor becomes a divide that prevents people from playing together. The FIFA World Cup is in Brazil this year. The Brazil National Team is not even attempting to play a semblance of the “beautiful” game. Players are rarely playing stylishly. When touched in the slightest, they fall and writhe in false pain to fool the referee into awarding free kicks. They foul the opponents shamelessly. I have to accept that the “beautiful” game is dead. But this death has not happened suddenly.
Brazil spent an estimated 14 billion United States Dollars on the 2014 FIFA World Cup. There were demonstrations all over Brazil prior to the start of the tournament. Many people wondered whether spending such large amounts of money on hosting a major international sports event instead of solving problems of poverty, education, and healthcare is wise. Anybody who has seen pictures of the favelas of Brazil will understand this confliction. Countries that win the bid to host major international sports events always include the misleading information that the event will benefit poor people. But past host countries have not seen benefits accrue to the poor. This is especially true when the host country is not a highly developed country. Recent examples are Athens, Greece 2004 Olympics through Beijing, China 2008 Olympics to South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup. Is it karma that Brazil’s “beautiful” game has died at a time when Brazil is spending enormous amounts of money at the expense of her poor?
Much as I love football, Malawi needs to prioritize combating poverty and not football. My ambivalence on spending on football arises from the fact that although football has been the poor people’s sports for the past 50 or so years, it is being spoilt by FIFA and other greedy elements. But then I digress. Let me return to the topic of Malawi’s independence. Malawi’s independence is only political as 40% of the country’s budget is funded by foreign governments or institutions. As Malawi celebrates 50 years of independence, there is need to find ways of becoming fiscally independent. A former politician, Sam Mpasu, recently corrected myths and gave clarification on how this independence can be achieved. Only when economic independence is achieved will Malawi take care of its poor.
Follow us on twitter@RobertMChirwa
Before going into this week’s topic, let me congratulate the Malawi Netball Team for being ranked first in Africa and fifth in the world. Malawi women are outstanding and represent both the country and the continent very well.
On July 6, 2014 Malawi celebrated the 50th anniversary of independence from Britain. Independence celebrations in Malawi always end with a football match between the Malawi Men’s National Football team against another country’s national team. This year’s match was against neighboring Mozambique. It ended in a 1-1 tie. This is a great improvement over the result of the match played 52 years ago whose result was Ghana 12, Malawi 0. But it is a step back from the golden days of the 1970s and 1980s. The Daily Times of Malawi carried a good history of Malawi football on July 6.
The dark days of the 1960s in Malawi football were erased by a Brazilian coach named Wander Moreira who brought the beautiful game to Malawi taking the Malawi team to the final in its very first competitive regional tournament of the Confederation of Eastern and Central African Football Associations (CECAFA) which Malawi lost to Kenya in 1975. Malawi became champion of the tournament two years in a row a few years later under a British coach named Powell. Malawi played the Brazilian brand of football because of Moreira. I grew up loving the Brazil National Team as a result. Although Malawi had no television, I read about mesmerizing plays by the great Brazil teams of 1970 and 1982.
For those of you who are not very familiar with football, there are many brands of the game. In those days especially, different countries had distinct football identities. The Dutch played a type called “total football”. The Spanish adopted the Dutch "total football" and called it “tiki-taka”. The Italian game was the least exciting as it involved the whole team standing near their own goal to prevent conceding goals. The inventors of the game, the English, had a big person standing near the opponent goal and the rest of the team kicked long shots to this big player hoping he will outmuscle the defending team and score. The Germans played efficient business-like football. But the Brazilians played the “beautiful” game. They were creative and artistic as they played. And this is the brand of football that Moreira brought to Malawi.
The years of youth are full of innocence. When one grows up one discovers that the world is not perfect. Heroes become villains. Rich versus poor becomes a divide that prevents people from playing together. The FIFA World Cup is in Brazil this year. The Brazil National Team is not even attempting to play a semblance of the “beautiful” game. Players are rarely playing stylishly. When touched in the slightest, they fall and writhe in false pain to fool the referee into awarding free kicks. They foul the opponents shamelessly. I have to accept that the “beautiful” game is dead. But this death has not happened suddenly.
Brazil spent an estimated 14 billion United States Dollars on the 2014 FIFA World Cup. There were demonstrations all over Brazil prior to the start of the tournament. Many people wondered whether spending such large amounts of money on hosting a major international sports event instead of solving problems of poverty, education, and healthcare is wise. Anybody who has seen pictures of the favelas of Brazil will understand this confliction. Countries that win the bid to host major international sports events always include the misleading information that the event will benefit poor people. But past host countries have not seen benefits accrue to the poor. This is especially true when the host country is not a highly developed country. Recent examples are Athens, Greece 2004 Olympics through Beijing, China 2008 Olympics to South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup. Is it karma that Brazil’s “beautiful” game has died at a time when Brazil is spending enormous amounts of money at the expense of her poor?
Much as I love football, Malawi needs to prioritize combating poverty and not football. My ambivalence on spending on football arises from the fact that although football has been the poor people’s sports for the past 50 or so years, it is being spoilt by FIFA and other greedy elements. But then I digress. Let me return to the topic of Malawi’s independence. Malawi’s independence is only political as 40% of the country’s budget is funded by foreign governments or institutions. As Malawi celebrates 50 years of independence, there is need to find ways of becoming fiscally independent. A former politician, Sam Mpasu, recently corrected myths and gave clarification on how this independence can be achieved. Only when economic independence is achieved will Malawi take care of its poor.
Follow us on twitter
No comments:
Post a Comment