By Dak Buoth Riek Gaag,
Opinion.
17th July 2014 (Nyamilepedia) — I congratulated the German players for their hard fought victory in Brazil, they had shown a mature, discipline, modern and progressive football from the beginning up to the final whistle, the constant present of their leader her Excellency Chancellor Angela Merkel in all the games played by her boys really bolstered the courage they ingrained and inserted.
Football, Soccer or Khuure as its call in my native language is a fascinating game enjoy by people from all walk of life across the globe, the players too are equally adore by people from various discipline notwithstanding their nationalities.
I verily recalled in those days when I was in my rural village in South Sudan, many young Africans would name themselves after iconic soccer players like David Bekham, Pele, Philip Lahm, Nkwankou Kanu, Del Piero, R. Song, George Weah, Zinedine Zidane, Denis Oliech, Paul Scholes, Edgar Davids and Solomon Kalou et cetera. As we speak, am certain children have already been named after Mario Goetze, the German’s only goal scorer in recent world cup final 2014.
The love for football is inherent and automotive. It is a game played for leisure and as a career. It is unifying in nature that is why you find in all the soccer nations especially in developing countries, arm conflicts and other anti social vices have reduced but rather promote unprecedented peaceful coexistence among people of difference backgrounds.
In the just concluded world cup, several memorable things that deserve a keen notice have happened; One being the unprecedented hospitality shown by the Brazilian people. The way in which they conducted themselves during and after the game has proved them beyond reasonable doubt that football is a part and parcel of their mainstream society. The behaviors portrayed by their funs has shamed some countries who claimed to be soccer giants yet continue to practice characters that are repugnant to basic football norms.
Second is the professionalism exercise by FIFA itself. It was indeed a fair game, thump up to Sebb Blatter, the Football President; he won our trust and confident. Third; which I must admit appraisingly was the memorable and distinctive presence of all persons in the tournament. It was a ‘‘Multi-coloured’’ World Cup. It really made the tournament look good and it amazed me.
Interestingly, when we saw the Boateng brothers (Kevin Prince Boateng opting to play for Ghana while his brother Jerome Boateng chose to play for Germany and ultimately won the final) it was really wonderful. There was a huge and significant presence of the players of African descent in almost every team that had participated in the competition. Big teams like Netherland, England, Germany, Colombia, Belgium, Costa Rica, France, Portugal, Belgium, and Brazil et cetera. It’s immaterial to dig into the background of those players of African descent or question the politics behind their nationality or decision to play for their respective countries, but for fact folks, it’s worth noticing because world cup isn’t like one featuring in clubs games.
Contrary, Its only African teams that have not featured one from other origins, the question is, does it mean they had no qualified football players from other backgrounds in their respective countries when they were selecting their squad? No or yes! I have no idea for now, but we will research and find out. Its normally South Africa and Angola that do have teams comprises of players difference origins.
Nonetheless, pointing out this important trend in our world cup history is NOT an indication that I am NOR do I posses racial tendencies, Never, Never, perhaps over my dead body. If I do, it will be a grave injury to my humanistic ideals that I live to cherish; and it will as well be tantamount to the dignify roles play by several people that I respect and placed at pedestal more than myself. The likes of Ruth and First Ruth, Scott Cohen, Nelson Mandela, Joseph Hill, aka Culture, Emmanuel Jal et cetera. It was a rare milestone that has never been witnessed before; it is a climax toward achieving our dream in the making, the dream of making our world a globe village is almost becoming a reality. Let’s patiently waits for the next world cup 2018.
Viva Germany! Viva football! Viva one people, viva one world.
The writer is a Student and a Leader of the Congress of South Sudanese Patriots (CoSSuP) who comment on topical issues, he can be reach via eligodakb@yahoo.com
