Unbelievable finish! Ajax CT needed to win at Cape Town Stadium against lowly Maritzburg United, but only managed a 2-2 draw. Meanwhile Orlando Pirates took care of business at Orlando Stadium, beating Golden Arrows 2-1 thanks to an 84th-minute goal by substitute Isaac Chansa. The video captures the excitement in Soweto. We can only imagine the despair in Cape Town.
Author: Peter Alegi
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Hamba Kahle Glenn Cowley
Glenn Cowley, a giant in the South African publishing industry, died after a short illness in Johannesburg. As Publisher at University of KwaZulu-Natal Press for eleven years until his retirement in 2009, Glenn developed the Press into what BooksLive called “an academic publishing powerhouse in Africa.”
Glenn’s inspiration, vision, and courage also transformed UKZN Press into arguably the leading publisher of sport history books in Africa. He was a trailblazer in recognizing how football and cricket were important topics of scholarly inquiry in their own right. Glenn also understood better than most that athletic contests have long influenced, and been influenced by, social, political, and economic factors. He passionately supported those of us who connected football and cricket with the broader quest for human rights and civil rights in South Africa. The books listed below are a testament to the ways in which Glenn helped to advance the democratization of South African history and culture:
Blacks in Whites: A Century of Cricket Struggles in KwaZulu-Natal by Ashwin Desai, Vishnu Padayachee, Krish Reddy, and Vahed, Goolam (2002)
Caught Behind: Race and Politics in Springbok Cricket by Bruce Murray and Christopher Merrett (2004)
Sport, Space and Segregation: Politics and Society in Pietermaritzburg by Christopher Merrett (2009)
Laduma! Soccer, Politics and Society in South Africa, from its Origins to 2010 by Peter Alegi (2010; first edition 2004)
Glenn’s wisdom, sense of humor, generosity, and relentless pursuit of the goodness in/of life was memorable. The photo at the top of this post was taken at my book launch at Ike’s Bookshop in Durban in May 2004, just a few days before FIFA awarded South Africa the 2010 World Cup hosting rights. Glenn is beaming next to Henry “Black Cat” Cele — the former goalkeeper who played King Shaka in the 1980s Shaka Zulu mini-series. That image captures him at his best: happily surrounded by books and people. Hamba kahle Glenn.
Click here for a tribute to Glenn by Books LIVE.
An investigative report by the Mediapart website revealed that numerous managers of the National Technical Directorate (DTN) and the French Football Federation (FFF) approved the “principle of discriminatory quotas” in November 2010. Their objective? To limit the number of players of West African and North African origin.
According to Mediapart, Laurent Blanc — manager of Les Bleus — would have played an active role in those discussions. It is alleged that Blanc highlighted the problem of players who spend three years in training in France and later go abroad to wear other teams’ jerseys. “Something like that cannot not create problems, it applies to the Latin Americans as well,” said Philippe Tournon, press officer of the national team.
At the heart of the problem, the report claims, is growing dissatisfaction among French managers, coaches, and administrators about players who are trained in France, develop into potential national team stars, and who then instead choose — for whatever reason — to represent another country thanks to their double citizenship. “The fact is, there is a large presence of bi-national players at the junior level,” said Fernand Duchaussoy, FFF President, “and some of them later do not want to be part of the national French team.” FIFA rules allow a player with double citizenship to play for a junior national team in one country and still go on to play for another country’s senior national team.
In response to the uproar that followed these revelations, Sports Minister Chantal Jouanno suspended FFF technical director Francois Blaquart, the author of a “quota chart” published on Thursday (May 5) by Mediapart. The explosive issue of racial quotas in French football is embedded in wider debates about immigration, race, and national identity in contemporary France. As Laurent Dubois puts it in Soccer Empire: The World Cup and the Future of France, “When a team takes to the field, the fans say, ‘They are us, and we are them.’ But sometimes that can also force a question: ‘Who are they? And who are we?'”
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Let’s Fund The Anderson Monarchs Film
The Anderson Monarchs are talented students and gifted athletes who are creating a level playing field for girls everywhere. The team plays on a modest pitch and has virtually no money. But they have something special, a sisterhood that is supported by their community of parents and their coach.
Eugene Martin is seeking financial support for a feature length documentary film about this inspiring girls’ soccer team living and playing in a tough Philadelphia neighborhood. The project will only be funded if at least $25,000 is pledged by Thursday April 21. I became a backer and hope you will too. Click here for more information. Only eleven days left!
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Football and Politics in Bahrain
Two of Bahrain’s top footballers, Ala’a Hubail and his brother Mohammed, have been arrested for participating in anti-government demonstrations. “The dismissals are widely believed to have occurred at the behest of the government,” writes James Dorsey over at the mideastsoccer blog. 200 Shi’a sportspeople in the Gulf kingdom have been suspended as the hardline Sunni government continues its repression campaign against the democratic reform movement.
Read the full story here.
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Indi’s Freestyle
Indi Cowie — a 16-year-old soccer phenom from North Carolina — can freestyle with the best. “The family garage is her laboratory,” notes the New York Times Magazine. “There are times when there’s an enormous bang and I wake up at 5 in the morning thinking there’s an intruder in the house,” says Indi’s father, Logan Cowie. “Then I realize it’s just Indi practicing her latest trick.” Interestingly, Indi plays with a boys’ club team rather than with her high school’s girls’ team. Would she rather be the best freestyler or the best soccer player in the world, she answers: “You mean I have to pick one? I can’t. Both.” Read the full article here.
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Artificial Clouds for Qatar 2022
Saud Abdul Ghani, head of the Mechanical Engineering department at the University of Qatar, recently unveiled a special plan for the 2022 World Cup: remote-controlled artificial clouds over the stadiums!
Powered by four solar engines, the man-made clouds would be made of ultra light carbon fiber in an attempt to bring some relief to fans in the stands and players on the field from temperatures expected to reach 122 degrees Fahrenheit (50 Celsius) during the Qatari summer. The cost of this Addams family trick? $500,000.