Be A Sport, It's Only A Game
A Touch of Nokoko by Kofi Akumanyi
Since leaving school some years ago, I have left the touch line, taken a seat in my armchair and continue to enjoy these games from the comfort of my living room, very close to the action via the television with cans of beer, of course. The bulge around the middle of many an armchair "sportsman" is thus explained.
Believe it or not I draw the line somewhere in my armchair sportsmanship. I abhor blood sports of all kinds.
So when someone asked me the other day how I can enjoy such a violent sport as boxing which has killed many a poor man working for his daily bread and be against hunting of pheasants and rabbits, my answer is simple: sports is meant to be enjoyed and among the benefits that are too many to be listed here, I don't count the spilling of blood as one of them. Let physically fit men and women sweat it out, and pitch their mental and psychological wills against each other to achieve the apex of perfection to the delight of their fellow men.
But for God's sake let us leave out the deliberate spillage of blood - an issue which makes very frequent incursions into the media in the UK and very often raises a lot of political dust.
Doubtless, politics and sports always send a few ripples through the entire field and with the forthcoming Olympic Games in Los Angeles only months ahead the usual rumblings about whether participants from South Africa should be allowed to take part is already in the air. One thing is for sure however - the usual noises would be made and political decisions might be taken by countries determined to score points even before the Olympic torch is lighted. But happily, the games would be held and medals would be won by some while others would go home empty-handed - which situation aptly sums up the spirit of sportsmanship (very familiar with vociferous armchair specialists) that it is not the winning but the participation that counts.
I wish sportsmen in our part of the world (Africa) would understand and accept this maxim and operate assiduously to uphold it. The aftermath of the recent Africa Cup finals in Ivory Coast has clearly underscored the point that it would be very difficult to stamp out from our minds the fact that there can be a better side in a game without assigning this or that reason for losing.
Take the reaction of the Ghanaian Times of Ghana to the defeat of the Ghana Black Stars at the Africa Cup match, for instance. It cannot be taken as "just one of those things", the paper shrieked editorially. "This is the general reaction of many Ghanaians to the unedifying manner in which the national team has been shown the exit from the Africa Cup Championships going on in the Ivory Coast".
"We went as champions but what has happened to us is like the very re- spected elder of a town who was locked out of his own house by his children. It is unfair, annoying and preposterous." Nonsense! What right have the children to prevent their father entering his own house? But it is humiliating all right… the matter is not a small matter, because the responsibility for this disaster which ruined everyone's meals and sleep for two days spreads from our contingent in the Ivory Coast to the offices of the Secretary for Youth and Sports..."
Children locking the father out of his own house? Meals were ruined because of the team's defeat?, and Kate Caesar, chairman of Interim Ghana Football Association is being pressured to resign?
Whatever next would people do in pursuit of sports laurels? I suppose that must be the difference between "sportsmen" like me who can enjoy the game dispassionately and others who become so emotionally wrapped up in the whole exercise that they can lose their appetite and sleep over a mere game. And to think that food prices are so prohibitive in that country that these days food would be wasted like that!
And who would call the magnanimous gesture of President Houphouet Boigny a waste of money when he treated his countrymen and women sports fans to his birthday treat by ordering the gates of the stadium to be opened free of charge. I have not as yet got the report of the attendance records but I would not be surprised to hear that quite a number of armchair sportsfans let the side down badly by abandoning their radios and televisions to swell the numbers of regulars surging through the stadium gates. How much did it cost the country? Well, I suppose a few million francs, but who would begrudge an old man some fun?
Looking at the game result from the effort and expenditure angle, one would be easily tempted to expect the Nigerian Eagles to be the most disappointed side. Nigeria right from the onset had meticulously laid out an elaborate strategy aimed to horn the beaks of the Eagles to perfection. That's why Coach Onigbinde, after 29 international matches in which his team won 10, drew 12 and lost seven in 15 months could not afford to laugh but managed only a weak smile for being second best. But as we armchair sportsmen are often wont to say, "better luck next time".
In the Cameroon camp, the euphoria of winning the cup and going home with the title of "Kings of African Football" would surely take a long time to simmer down in the country. The celebrations are well-deserved and I am happy that the three Cameroon ian breweries have decided to give the team cash gifts totalling about 409,000 FCFA - a wise decision considering the effect that booze may have on the prowess of the lions. Beer is the curse of all armchair sportsmen and I should know.
Everything considered, however, this celebration may be on a lower key than that promised the Zairean champion club Englebert F.C. some years ago when the players were expected to get a car each on winning, but met a disastrous defeat by Ghana's Asante Kotoko.
Ironically, when the Black Stars of Ghana themselves won the Africa Cup in 1978, the then head of State promised them an Estate House each a promise he did not deliver. The players have never forgotten nor forgiven the authorities.
Everything considered - the preparation, money, anxiety, frustration and the general aggravation, the end result of all games should be a healthy test of skills which must end with the best side winning.
