It may have been delayed by one year by Covid-19, but the African Nations Cup (Afcon) has not lost any of its excitement. Now in its second week in Cameroon, Africa’s top football competition is turning up some of the most unexpected results, upsetting predictions and bringing in some novelty.
Rwandans are keenly following the competition, partly for the football (it remains the most popular sport in the country, lack of progress in such tourneys notwithstanding) but also because our very own Salima Mukansanga is officiating. She is not any official, but a centre referee, taking charge of a match. And as we have not tired repeating, she is the first woman ever to referee a men’s match at a continental level of this magnitude.
The national football team, Amavubi, have not made an appearance at the competition and no one really expected they would, but that does not matter now. Salima is there and doing us proud and bringing smiles to our faces and joy in our hearts.
The first match she refereed, between Zimbabwe and Guinea, was one of the most incident-free so far. Not all agree on why this was so. Sceptics think that the men playing the game were deferential towards her, respected her for being a woman, and behaved themselves. Not so, some beg to differ. She brought to the show well-known women’s quiet authority. Others ask: what is this irksome rationalising about? She is simply good at her job and that’s all there is to it.
Whatever the reason, Salima officiated effectively. And if all the above reasons are correct, then perhaps we need more women referees in such tournaments. Let’s have more Salimas. We could have football that is less mini warfare but more entertaining sport. Referees would then be real arbiters and not peace-enforcement officers.
I can already hear howls of protest. Passion and even a little aggression is integral to the game, some of you are saying. Feisty competitiveness, emotions boiling over and tempers flaring and threatening to break into a fight as long as it doesn’t actually happen is part of the entertainment. Well, well, it seems we watch football for different reasons, including to excite or still the demons within.
Rwandans are winners. But Afcon is one competition where the hope of ever winning it is remote even for the most optimistic. Afcon has long been a contest between north and west Africa, with teams from other regions merely making up the numbers. Occasionally, a team from one of these other regions upsets what looks like tradition and takes home the trophy as Zambia did in 2012. It is telling that that win was described as a surprise and a shock.
Perhaps the north and west, tired of dominance or in a moment of magnanimity, allow one of these countries to taste success but warn them not to make it a habit. Or they really have talent but lack in other areas like organisation, motivation and consistency.
It is also easy to predict the winner. They will come from a handful of countries that have dominated the tournament. This time, however, there are some teams that are intent on spoiling the party for this special band of winners and making the predictions less certain.
Two of the biggest names in African football, Algeria and Ghana, did not make it beyond the group stage. Others, like Tunisia and Egypt, visibly struggled to make it to the knock-out stage. But don’t write them off, they may yet win the trophy. Tunisia is into the quarter-finals having seen off Nigeria.
Small nations that few people know about, and not famous for their footballing prowess, are responsible for these upsets. Not many can locate the Comoros or the Gambia on the map.
Those older might remember the Comoros as a group of islands off the East African coast once taken over by the French mercenary Bob Denard and his band of soldiers of fortune; not for its football. The country is making a maiden appearance at Afcon and annoying quite a few people, but pleasing others as well.
The enduring image of the Gambia is that of its former president, Yahya Jammeh, in flowing robes and his claims for special powers to cure conditions like HIV/Aids. Only the curious know it is a small country wedged into Senegal. With its showing at Afcon, it will not remain anonymous much longer.
Equatorial Guinea, well, that is one of the three Guineas in west Africa, isn’t it? And well-known for a long family rule with a history of murder, and the playboy son of the president flaunting his wealth across the world when citizens are dirt poor? That’s the one. Do they also play football? Yes, and throwing spanners in the works at Afcon 2021.
The giant-killing abilities of these small nations with small populations probably ended at the group stage and now everything returns to normal. In the end the big boys regard them as a nuisance but one which they cannot dismiss easily. But for the spectators, nothing is better than minnows cutting the giants to size.
That’s what makes sport entertaining – fair competition, unpredictability, and the appearance once in a while of a David slaying a Goliath. And, of course, the presence of a calming and authoritative influence like Salima. More of her like and more upsets, please.
The views expressed in this article are of the writer.