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The Pride of the Nation
The positive influence of sport on all aspects of human life - including its benefits for health, socialisation, self- confidence, leadership skills, and mutual understanding across divisions of race, culture and gender - means that its importance should never be ignored in any peace-building and reconciliation initiatives. The belated recognition of the true value of sport in promoting coexistence has, however, meant that sport development is a relatively new phenomenon © By Elvis Ndubuisi Iruh and Marc Broere*
That sport can provide a useful channel for improving relations between nations with long-standing antipathies is clearly demonstrated by the ping-pong diplomacy which helped break the ice between the US and China in the 1970s, and, more recently, by the baseball match between a US professional team and the national team of Cuba. This resulted in one of the few suspensions of the ongoing boycott of the island by its big neighbour.
Another example of the bridge-building power of sport was the wrestling competition which ended over twenty years of hostility between the USA and Iran in 1998 (see case-study). Despite scepticism on both sides, the Takhti Cup International Wrestling Tournament went ahead in Teheran. American and Iranian wrestlers entered the ring to the cheers of an enthusiastic public and the contestants exchanged pleasantries after the competition.
Some time later America and Iran took a step further in their new-found relationship when they were drawn to play in the same group at the 1998 FIFA World cup finals in France. Again, media commentary prior to the encounter was apprehensive, with many articles predicting that the match would be marred by hostilities. Once again, however, the fears proved groundless with fans of both sides exchanging souvenirs including T-shirts in the national colours of America and Iran. Before kick-off the players presented each other with bouquets, posed for group photos, and even embraced. The match itself was one of the fairest in the entire tournament. The Iranians won 2-1, but the Americans were sportive in defeat.
Sport’s role in nation-building is multi-faceted: a victory in a major international sporting event is of national importance. One of Africa’s great statesmen, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah once said he had a dream of a ‘united African country’ where sport would play a vital role in forging the youth into one nation. According to Nkrumah, ‘sporting success gives dignity and pride’. In 1960, when the Ghana national football team made a tour of Europe, Nkrumah instructed them to go and correct the Europeans’ prejudices about Africa. He saw sport as the first step towards building a formidable team which could contribute to the emancipation of Africa.
A clear exponent of Nkrumah’s philosophy is Burkina Faso which has used sports to attract international attention and thus gain recognition for its various problems as one of the world’s poorest nations. Despite its meagre resources, the country hosted the 1998 Nations cup finals, Africa’s most prestigious tournament. During the competition, the slogan ‘Sports for You, Sports for all’ was to be seen everywhere. In 1984, the then leader of Burkina Faso, Captain Thomas Sankara introduced compulsory sport for the people under the slogan ‘sport de masse’.
In South Africa, politics and football are intertwined. During the apartheid years, South Africa was excluded from international sports competitions. Although European cricket and rugby teams still toured South Africa in defiance of the international sporting boycott, they encountered a torrent of criticism. Left without international sports heroes of their own, black South Africans looked for alternatives abroad. In particular, Dutch football-player Ruud Gullit became incredible popular among black South Africans, not least because he dedicated his prize as European Footballer of the Year to Dr. Nelson Mandela, who at the time was still in prison.
Football established a base for the abolition of apartheid in the 1980s. Initially it had been organised according to the laws of apartheid: there were four football competitions, separated by race. But in 1978, footballers stuck their neck out and began a national competition in which mixed teams competed. Football was thus one of the first areas in which apartheid was abolished. Nelson Mandela has always been a passionate lover of sports. On the day he was elected president, he went to watch the South African national football team play.
The South African team was allowed to resume international competition when, at a congress in July 1992, the country was readmitted into the World Football Federation (FIFA). The announcement was met with a standing ovation. The next milestone in South African football’s rehabilitation was its appointment to organise the African Nations cup in 1996. Before the tournament few experts gave the ‘Bafana Bafana’, as the national football team is called, any chance of success. After all, three decades of exclusion from international football arena is not something from which you recover in just four years.
But South African rugby players and cricketers had already proved that it could be done. In an interview with the weekly ‘Football International’ immediately before the tournament, the South African national coach, Clive Barker referred to the importance of early success for his country. ‘It is so unbelievably important for South Africa that we win this tournament. This is more than a game. In the awful days of apartheid the only thing the blacks proved they were better at was football’. At that time, football was a racial thing. Placards on the terraces proclaimed: ‘In this we are better that the whites’. Barker says that any good performance in sport appeals to national pride and therefore when apartheid was abolished, sport took on a vital role. Nevertheless, the first successes were again booked by the whites: the cricketers became champions in 1993, and the rugby team followed two years later.
‘That’s why the African Nations cup must be the success of black South Africa. The will to win is no sporting requirement, it is a social duty’, the coach explained to journalists before the competition commenced. Against all expectations, South Africa won the tournament. During the final match, Nelson Mandela sat in the stand next to then Vice-President, De Klerk and Inkatha leader, Buthelezi. These men have different views on political and ideological issues, but when it comes to sport, they are united. Who would have imagined this expression of unity ten years ago? A better example of reconciliation through football would be difficult to imagine.
The election of a democratic government in South Africa saw Britain and South Africa initiate a sports programme that would contribute to the process of rebuilding and reconciliation. In September 1994, the former British Prime Minister, John Major visited South Africa. As a result of the visit, the two governments drew up the ‘South Africa and United Kingdom sports initiative programme.’ The draft programme clearly showed how sport can work to realign social structures in areas of great political sensitivity. The aim of the agreement is to contribute to the normalisation of sport in the apartheid-free South Africa of today.
In his address to the South African parliament, Major said, ‘sport has a huge part to play in the life of a healthy community. It is an outlet for the energies of young people. It develops individual character and teamwork. It gives enjoyment to people who, in many cases, have few facilities for recreation’. Since the agreement was signed, the British International Sports Development Aid Trust (BISDAT) has worked in collaboration with other organisations such as the UK Sport Council, Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), the UK foreign and Commonwealth office, to ensure that the majority of South Africans get access to sporting facilities. They have since been working with local South African organisations to ensure sports reach the millions of people living in rural areas.
In Liberia, another country ravaged by civil war, sport has been the magic that has kept the people together, believes Liberian sports journalist, Emmanuel Williams. ‘Every time the Liberian national team plays, the guns are silent. All warring factions put down their arms for a moment’. The journalist is lyrical about the role played by George Weah as a soccer ambassador for Liberia. ‘He is the country’s lone star that has singularly organised the national team during the war.’ He is the best thing that has happened to Liberia since independence in 1847. He is a hero, a father, and an uncle. He is everything to the country’, the journalist explained.
In an interview with ‘International Football’, Weah spoke of his role in the rebuilding of his country. ‘Footballers are founders of peace, we are the pride of the nation, we do things that make people listen to us. It sounds like a slogan, but it is true: sport is a fantastic ambassador for peace. Football in particular unites people world-wide.’ According to the prolific player, people mix with each other much more directly through sport than through any political manifesto. He describes sport as a form of popular culture, which is even more effective than pictures, books, poems, or music when it comes to bringing joy to a suffering people.
Sport is also gaining increasing recognition for its ability to help heal people - and especially children and youngsters- who have suffered from the effects of war. Professor W. Wolters from the Netherlands is only one of many experts who firmly believes that sports projects are excellent instruments to foster national reconciliation and help victims work through trauma. Moreover, he says, sports are relatively inexpensive, always an important consideration where resources are limited. His research into the treatment of trauma in many different countries, including Rwanda, has led him to conclude that ‘sport is an important means of restoring people’s psychological equilibrium.’
Many victims of psychological trauma feel physically uncomfortable with themselves, explains Wolters. They feel that they are no longer in control of their own lives. Wolters believes that sport can help them recover that very basic sense of physical wellbeing. In addition, the social structure of sport is very important. Sport provides people with a social context where they can encounter other people in a non-threatening way and can get rid of harmful emotions. Rivalry and tension in sport are healthy elements, Wolters argues, they allow violent emotions to be vented in a rule-governed context. Furthermore, through sport, values such as respect for others and keeping to the rules are learned. ‘That’, he says ‘is very important in Rwanda now’. (see case-study).
Politics and sport go hand in hand: sport can play a positive role in nation building and reconciliation but equally its power may be exploited for less welcome political ends. Thus the Nigerian dictator, General Sani Abacha, benefited enormously when his Olympic footballers came back from the US with the soccer gold from the Olympic games of 1996. Expressions of popular discontent with Abacha’s harsh suppression of the opposition were for a while pushed into the background. In Cameroon, the failure of the national team threatened to destabilise the existing regime with President Paul Biya postponing an election after the disappointing performance of the country’s football team in the 1994 World Cup. He was afraid that the people would blame him personally for the humiliating performance of a side which four years earlier had taken the World Cup finals in Italy by storm. Biya’s fear was not altogether without justification, as he and his ministers had personally interfered with the selection of the national team.
Although the world of developmental co-operation has barely discovered sport’s potential to contribute to the building of Africa, the few figures that have learned to appreciate its potential are passionate advocates of greater participation. Jan Pronk, the former Dutch minister for Development Cooperation says that African countries can gain self-confidence through success in sport. ‘The building of nations is an important aspect of development. Hardly a single African country has a long history as a nation. They are often collections of a part of nations, with very many different languages and ethnic groups. In such a situation, everything which can stimulate national consciousness is positive.’
As an example of positive action in this field, Pronk points to the Sports Coaches Outreach (SCORE) project which -supported by Dutch development aid- aims to stimulate sport in schools in the townships of Soweto in South Africa. He also mentions the support for handicapped sport in South Africa, an area which has hitherto been completely neglected. There is a pressing need to develop special sports for the handicapped as part of the development of the society. We need to create options for various groups of the disabled, such as the deaf, the blind, the physical handicapped and the mentally handicapped. This need is recognised by the Norwegian Confederation of Sports which has started ‘the sport for all project’ in Zambia and Zimbabwe for children, women and the disabled.
While it is true that sport helps build bridges between nations and to unite people, the apparently straightforward discourse of sports development can hide some major problems.
For example, it is usually difficult for the majority of people to gain access to sports facilities. Mass mobility is frequently prevented by poor roads. Most sporting facilities in African countries are situated in urban areas while most of the population live in rural areas. These are the areas where donors or major players in the field can make a big contribution. For sports to be more effective, various governments especially from the developed countries must be ready to assist. Other organisations such as the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA), the Commonwealth Games organisation, sports manufacturing companies, private business corporations and successful individuals or philanthropists need to invest more in sports development in Africa. The governments and organisations could help to provide sporting facilities, provide equipment, help to recruit trainers, provide programmes for talent scouting, among other things.
Africa now - People, Policies & Institutions, Stephen Ellis (ed.), 1996
Voetbal in Afrika, Marc Broere & Roy van der Drift. 1996
Truth and Reconciliation - Obstacles & opportunities for human rights, Daan Bronkhorst. 1995
Football in Africa, Anver Versi, London, Collins. 1986
Marc Broere is the author of the book ‘Voetbal in Afrika’ (Football in Africa), Elvis Ndubuisi Iruh is a journalist from Nigeria.
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