Caf biased in awarding rights to host Afcon

27 Sep, 2014 - 20:09 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

HERE’S a good joke: A brilliant goalkeeper was killed instantly by lightning during a match and went straight to heaven. He was greeted by an archangel who offered to show him around. “Would you love to see our football pitch?” asked the archangel. “Football pitch!” exclaimed the ’keeper. “You actually play football up here?” he asked.

“Of course, we do,” replied the archangel. “We’re playing Hell in the Cup final tomorrow and we needed someone with fantastic skills in goal . . . and that’s why we sent for you!”

Now, here’s a sick joke: “Any member association proposing its country for the organisation of the African Cup of Nations finals must have organised the final tournament of at least one of the following competitions: The African Nations Championship (Chan); the Under-20 African Championship; the Under-17 African Championship; the African Women’s Championship and the Under-23 African Championship.”

It’s a sick joke, isn’t it? Because this is what Caf president Issa Hayatou and his cronies at the continental football-governing body are insistent upon.

As Zifa, buoyed by Government’s full backing for the 2017 Afcon finals bid, join hands with the Botswana Football Association for a co-hosting bid, Hayatou and his team are probably pressing their ribs right now and flailing their legs in boundless stitches of laughter because they already know that they will award the 2017 bid to another country north of the equator!

That ridiculous clause, which is really the sick joke mentioned earlier, is only being quoted to make sure that none of the Southern African countries who are interested in hosting the 2017 Afcon edition will be awarded the rights. Angola and South Africa, who are the only Southern African nations to have hosted the competition before, have not shown any interest in bidding for the 2017 showpiece.

Zambia, who had reportedly presented a well-crafted document to host the 2019 edition, were unsuccessful as the nod was given to Cameroon (oh, by the way, if you didn’t know, Hayatou is a Cameroonian!) who have hosted it before.
But then, listen to this: The 2023 finals will be hosted by Guinea, who have NEVER hosted the tournament before!
Can someone tell me where I’m getting it all wrong?

It is alleged that back in 1998, when incumbent Fifa president Sepp Blatter was being challenged by Sweden’s Lennart Johansson for the top post following Brazilian Joao Havelange’s retirement, Hayatou had instructed all of Africa’s 52 member representatives to vote for the latter.
It’s further alleged not every nation followed this instruction — including Zimbabwe — who cast their vote for Blatter who went on to win. Hayatou is said to have been livid at those who had been “disobedient” and promised to “punish them forever”!

As a result, after Zimbabwe had been awarded the rights to host the 2000 Afcon edition (for the very first time) by the Caf executive committee, Hayatou personally took away those rights, citing “unpreparedness” on Zifa’s part and awarded the tournament to co-hosts Ghana and Nigeria!

If the above myth is indeed true, can we hope that the leopard has changed its spots?
All we can say to Zifa and the Ministries of Sport, Arts and Culture and Tourism and Hospitality Industry is to keep on working hard for the co-hosting bid with Botswana and most importantly, pray to the Almighty for divine intervention.

As much as I’m solidly behind the nation’s bid to host the 2017 Afcon finals, when will we as a nation afford our football heroes the opportunity to play their part as ambassadors and be included in the delegation teams for such competitions?

Ghana, who are also bidding to host the 2017 finals have included the likes of legends like Tony Yeboah, Stephen Appiah and Ibrahim Sunday as part of their delegation for the bid.

Algeria, who are also interested, have reportedly roped in the likes of former greats like Lakhdar Belloumi and Rabah Madjer as part of their delegation.

Why can’t we also include the likes of George Shaya, Peter Ndlovu, James Takavada, Misheck Chidzambwa, George Rollo, Ernest Kamba, Andrew Kadengu or Stanford M’tizwa to be part of our delegation?

Food for thought, maybe.
Till next week, remember to take care of your loved ones and each other. It’s bye bye for now.
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