Its been a few days since I last wrote as I have had problems logging onto my account and took a couple of days off to travel to Cape Coast, about 3 hours west of Accra. The road was terrible with many potholes and in places becoming a dirt track rather than a road due to roadworks. That aside, it was a welcome change of pace from the city as it is a rather sleepy kind of town. Visited the old slave fort there; a hangover from the colonial era. If you weren't Ghanaian, they charged you 7 times more, which was annoying but still worth it or so I thought.
Have finally gotten past the phase of matches and witnessed both Ghana and Togo in action. Watched the Ghana v Italy match at Independence Square where there was a big screen erected for the public. Hundreds of people came down to watch but as the square is massive, it still seemed rather empty. The crowd got worked up into a frenzy just before the match, especially during the national anthem. When the result didn't go their way, they slowly trailed off quietly, muttering that they didn't have any strikers that could shoot on target and some blaming the coach for his tactical decisions (although I have only heard one person criticise him for being foreign and therefore not being able to understand the 'Ghanaian way", whatever that is). Almost everybody believes that Ghana played well and that they were unlucky as the poseesion throughout the match was equal. There is a conspiracy theory abounding that the coach didnt want to start Sammy Kuffour, the defender that made the weak backpass leading to the second goal due to pressure from GFA officials although it looks as if the coach has his way for the Czech match this afternoon. This morning, as I was walking down to the internet cafe (wearing my big Ghana hat and yellow Tiverton Town shirt - definitely a striking combination!), many people stopped to talk to me and were really touched and pleased that I would be supporting Ghana. A walk that would usually take me 10 minutes took 25!
Being in Lome for the Togo match was an experience that I will never forget, especially as I have some great video clips. There was a much bigger party atmosphere from the start, with a procession of lorries and bikes with load of people on them waving their flags and generally making lots of noise and creating traffic jams. Lome has a couple of big screens set up in the centre but the space is much smaller than that of Independence Square so that would have partly attributed to a much livelier atmosphere but even so, the crowd was going wild whenever they showed Adabayor on the screen (he really is a god there) and there were even massive cheers for their German coach Otto Pfister, even though he had just rejoined the team after walking out on them a few days earlier over the non-payment of bonuses to the players. Many people blame, and this is backed up by the independent press there, that the poor state of Togolese football is down to the FTF (Togo FA) and their poor organisation and corruption. The head of the FA is the brother of the President I believe. When Togo scored first, it was as if I was in the best place in the world at that moment in time. Flags, shirts and plastic chairs were waved and thrown in the air as people were shouting and screaming. Obviously it was a more sedate atmosphere when they finally lost but even at the end, over half the crowd stood up and applauded their team.
What was more interesting was during the France v Switzerland game when I got talking to a couple of lads not much older than me. They were talking about how they wanted England to do well but one of the reason they used to justify it was that they did not like France due to the way they decolonised. They were saying that many Togolese (and other Francophone countries) look at the former British colonies, especially Ghana as being much better off thanks to the British. I have to take this with a pinch of salt as I have seen people wearing France shirts and other shirts with French players' names on. Saying that, the people that I was watching that game with prefered the Swiss to win.
Must go and watch more football now. It doesn't seem to end although that's not a bad thing.
Hey mate, long time no speak. Meant to get in touch sooner, but there aren't many hours left over once three World Cup matches and a day at the office are taken out of thr equation, and I need most of them for sleep considering the games last from 10pm to 6am where I am. Glad to see you're having a good time though.
Interesting point before about 'African solidarity'. African players have often been quoted in the past about their achievements being 'for Africa', including most notably World Cup successes, and indeed I think it has been reasonably well documented that supporters get behind other African nations in a similar way to the one you've experienced with Ghana and the Ivory Coast.
If we're talking about 'identity', could it even be argued that the symbol of 'Africa' is one that holds a deeper significance than that of the countries, which may to an extent just be considered arbitrary relics of colonial rule rather than true representative symbols of peoples?
Obviously I know much more about the football-identity-symbol thing than I do about Africa, about which I'm not going to pretend to know much about, but just thought it was an interesting point. It also strikes me that this image of 'Africa' really just refers to sub-Saharan Africa, or (to use a broad and probably inaccurate term) 'black' Africa, as opposed to the Arab north - wonder how this works in places like the Ivory Coast with the different communities?
I wouldn't be surprised if the fact that the World Cup has traditionally been a party for Europe and South America has something to do with it as well - and so it's good for the region as a whole to have someone do well. The TV commentators here talk about the Asian teams as a whole in terms of performance, though that is probably more to do with 'Asia' being a marker of similar strength as it is a blanket term for such an enormous area. Japanese don't generally have any interest in Iran or Saudi Arabia but do like to see and spend time concerning themselves about how Korea and China get on. There's a sense of similarity and familiarity there, though don't say so too loudly because the national pride comes first. Japanese will not generally be supporting Korea in their games in the World Cup, though will perhaps be (grudgingly) wishing them well as it's good for the region. A bit like the dilemma I'm faced with when I want the best for English football but then Liverpool or Arsenal get to the Champions League final!
Anyway, ended up being a bit long for a 'comment', many apologies. Will go and watch the second half of Switzerland-Togo, as I'm sure you're doing now.
PS - Be a good fella and pick me up a Hearts of Oak scarf or similar piece of merchandise if such things exist (not sure whether Ghana has the same rainy Wednesday nights in January that necessitate the scarves as the UK does, but just in case they have something! Japan has towels...). Hearing that name always makes me want to play Sensible World of Soccer!