The World Cup & The French Question. (Whom Should One Play For & Why.)

Well, when Qatar promised to deliver the World Cup of a lifetime, many were skeptical about its desert conditions & its treatment of migrant workers, prohibition of alcohol in stadiums as well as a clamp on the LGBTQ movement. Many people tried to protest against the last two & it makes me wonder why people don’t want to respect the rules & customs of the countries they go to. Each country has its rules & especially if those rules don’t lead to execution but maybe arrest & or deportation then, why the fuss? Go home if you don’t want to obey them.
Anyways, away from the rant, World Cup 2022 was insane. The final was such a climax. A sporting, emotional thriller. Calories & tears were shed, and money was lost or made depending on the bets one made. Dreams made and dreams shattered & probably, settled the goat debate between Messi & Cristiano. (Sadly for me, Messi seems to have taken it.) Conspiracies were also made especially since the competition was rigged for Argentina to win. Penalties were awarded to it throughout every level of the tournament. Some, quite controversially. Then there was the Morocco debate. With few facts, some people quoted their coach saying that their courageous run all the way to the semis was dedicated to the Arab world and some were wondering why not to Africa since it’s on the very continent that they belong to. History was dug up. Of how they always wanted to join the European Union, and how in their country, they don’t consider themselves Africans. How they don’t belong to the OAU. Conspiracies. Conspiracies. Conspiracies.

The 2022, FIFA World Cup French National Team.

But I cared about the French team drama. Some called it the African team in Europe because most of their players are of African descent. Some even suggested that the French team be disbanded and each player deported back to their countries of descent. That they are African traitors. And that is where I came in guns blazing.

African football is as good rubbish. (To some extent.) It is not something that we have invested in properly. We don’t really support our clubs but our colonialists’, it’s rare to fill our stadiums, and there’s insane corruption (But that’s everywhere). Everything is just a circus. I hear that the African delegates that were bribed by Qatar to host the World Cup just pocketed the money while the delegates from other non-African countries brokered deals for their countries so as to award Qatar the hosting rights. Imagine. Even if were’ doing the wrong thing that would set us right, we do it selfishly.

When Embolo scored for Switzerland against his country of origin, Cameroon, Cameroonians back home stormed his father’s home and vandalized it. It was later revealed that for some countries like Cameroon, even one joining the national football team, you need to bribe your way around. That alone sent some of them footballers selling themselves to countries that actually value talent over money. “Play for us and we’ll give you all you need.” A complete difference.

Imagine a young man being sought after by a country like France but staying to play for Uganda Cranes because they were told to be patriotic to the African continent only for him to be told that it’s reported that Uganda has only so few excusable fields that can hold football matches. Many of the football fields have been taken over by arcade developers. We are clinging to private, artificial turfs for recreation purposes. Recently, the She Cranes netball team was fined for failing to feature in the Africa Netball World Cup & their reason for it is that there was no money to sponsor them yet these girls are the best sports ambassadors we have had for
decades. Look up their achievements on the international stage and you will marvel.

The guy in charge of Ugandan football, who’s just bought his wife a Range Rover Vogue for a birthday gift worth big millions came out saying that he was given less money for his budget yet the giving body says they gave him enough. Of the 18 billion Uganda shillings that were given, his department, FUFA, received only 8.5 billion shillings. After hearing this, why then wouldn’t you really sell your soul to France?

Because now, even the national team you’re sticking to is going around begging for money so as to be able to feature in the next World Cup, which they’ve not even qualified for yet. That means even your government has failed you.

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