It’s so depressing, annoying and humiliating that in this day and age we still have football fans dying in stampedes on the African continent.
What happened at the Africa Cup of Nations in the last 16 match between the hosts Cameroon and Comoros on Monday evening is something that should shame all Africans, like myself, who still deeply care about life. Especially lives lost so cheaply.
Eight people (by Wednesday’s count) died outside the Paul Biya Stadium in Olembe and scores of others are fighting for their lives in hospitals after a stampede as people pushed to gain entry.
One would have thought that the Confederation of African Football (Caf) had, in their planning of this tournament, included stiff measures to ensure efficient crowd control, with security personnel on point.
This is the same organisation that’s backing Fifa president Gianni Infantino in his extraordinary endeavours to have the World Cup played every two years instead of four.
The plan, according to Infantino, would among other things see the African continent hosting World Cup tournaments in the coming years.
If Caf wants to show the world they’re ready to host big money-spinning tournaments like the World Cup, Afcon is their best platform to demonstrate that.
Caf is also behind Infantino’s call to experiment with a Super League in Africa, notwithstanding that the same Fifa president was the number one opponent when the top European clubs wanted to launch a Super League in Europe last year.
If Caf can’t take care of the fans at their premier event, Afcon, why would they be the first to endorse Infantino’s crazy ideas that would require more effort and finance from the hosts?
You’d also have thought that, with Patrice Motsepe at the helm of Caf and given his experience of these tragedies in SA, he would prioritise the issue of fan safety in and around the stadiums during his first Afcon tournament as Caf boss.
It seems Caf have not used SA’s 2010 World Cup hosting experience, an event that was not tainted by supporters dying inside or outside a stadium due to a lack of control.
Such poor handling at Afcon gives credence and ammunition to those like Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp who have described it as a “small” tournament.
Surely some Liverpool fans are asking themselves why their star strikers Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane are still in Cameroon when their safety can’t be guaranteed.
What happened in Olembe on Monday makes it difficult to defend Caf when they’re attacked for their handling of this premier competition.
In less than a year another Afcon tournament will be played in another West African country, Ivory Coast. Like Cameroon, Ivory Coast have their own socio-political and economic challenges and it is through Caf, with Motsepe leading, that they should be assisted in planning a stampede-free event.
I was looking at the pictures of traffic after the Cameroon match on Monday and it was not a good sight, with roads so jammed with cars that one couldn’t make out whether they were going south or west.
All this shows incredible unpreparedness by the hosts and Caf, who insisted that Cameroon, who were given more than four years to organise this event, were ready.
This event was supposed to take place in Cameroon in 2019 but after battling to get everything in place, it was given to Egypt with the hope that they would be ready in 2021.
Covid-19 happened and it gave Cameroon a breather and more months to get their ducks in row, but Monday’s tragedy tells another story.
For Motsepe and company to remain in cushy hostels and offices in Cameroon, discussing and planning next bigger tournaments when the one taking place is not a good advert for Africa, is unacceptable.
Monday’s tragedy takes away a lot from what has happened on the field in this competition, where Gambia, Comoros, Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Malawi have defied the odds by sending some pre-tournament favourites such as defending champions Algeria and four-time winners Ghana packing at the first hurdle.
That’s what we should be focusing on but poor planning by the tournament organisers and Caf has stolen the players’ thunder.
Malawi’s Gabadino Mhango’s spectacular strike in the Flames’ 2-1 defeat by Morocco in the last 16 match on Tuesday should be on everyone’s lips.
For debutants Gambia to beat Guinea 1-0 on Monday to become the first team to qualify for the quarterfinals of this year’s tournament is remarkable and something that everyone should be celebrating.
Nigeria bombing out in the last 16 at the hands of Tunisia is a big surprise given the way the Super Eagles started the tournament and how the Tunisians struggled in their group matches.
Senegal had to sweat in order to beat a nine-man Cape Verde 2-0, who had an outfield player (Chaker Alhadur) as their goalkeeper, on Tuesday to move into the last eight; Cameroon were not convincing in their 2-1 win over a 10-man Comoros on Sunday; and Gabon, also reduced to 10 men, gave Burkina Faso lots of trouble on Sunday before they succumbed 7-6 on penalties after the match had ended 1-1 in 120 minutes.
These are some of the fascinating football stories we should be telling, not another report on a stampede that could have been prevented if the continent’s football authorities had their eyes on the ball.
I humbly repeat that Motsepe and his executive should be focusing their energies in making sure that this Afcon is a success before backing every crazy idea Infantino dreams up in his Swiss office.
The same Infantino, if he really has the African continent at heart, could have also done something in preventing Monday’s tragedy.
What happened doesn’t only give Caf and the continent a bad name, but Fifa too must be seen as culprits, as every football event on the planet is sanctioned by them and therefore they should take close interest in how their most precious assets, the fans and the teams, are looked after.
It’s fine for Caf and Fifa to make grand plans and pronunciations on what they’re planning, but they should be concerning themselves with what’s happening now to ensure confidence in what they can do in the future.
After all, if Caf want to show the world they’re ready to host big money-spinning tournaments like the World Cup, Afcon is their best platform to demonstrate that.
And if they fail to do that, as they did with Monday’s calamity, we might as well forget about things like a Super League in Africa. Certainly not in our lifetime.
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