Bleacher Report - Articles by Joel F

Football in the DR Congo: Past and Present

Joel F — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 10:51:19 -0500

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is about four times the size of France and has a population that exceeds 63 million. Since 1997, it has been embroiled in a destructive, vicious civil war that has caused considerable division and involved neighbours and other African states.

According to the Lancet, approximately 3.9 million people died between 1997 and 2004 from a multitude of causes. A further study by the International Rescue Committee in 2008 estimated the total number to be 5.4 million, giving the conflict the grim status of being the deadliest since the Second World War.

The accounts and reports published by various media have shocked and appalled, to the extent of incredulity, from starvation, disease, rape, massacres, and the murderous persecution of "Pygmy" ethnic groups such as the Mbuti.

An election overseen in 2006 by a combined UN/EU force of peacekeepers and monitors witnessed the endorsement of the incumbent President Joseph Kabila. But ethnic-related conflict continues unabated in the east—a partial legacy of the policies instituted by the Belgian Congo and its precursor, King Leopold's "Free State".

A war-ravaged society and impoverished populace (average GDP is just 610 dollars) has therefore logically relegated the improvement of the nation's prospects in international football to the extreme financial periphery. That contrasts with the undiminished passions of the national team's supporters.

Under its former name of Zaire, the Leopards (its nickname) qualified for the 1974 World Cup, 14 years after the attainment of independence from Belgium. During a brutal 32-year reign, dictator President Mobutu Sese Seko invested considerable resources in sport, convinced that it would, among other benefits, strengthen national identity and prestige.

The investment did yield two African Nations' titles in 1968 and 1974 respectively, success for domestic sides in pan-African tournaments, and endowed the national team with the Stade King Baudouin, constructed for the iconic Rumble in the Jungle match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman.

But corruption and mismanagement was rife under Mobutu's regime, and affected football as much as it did every facet of society.

In the 1974 World Cup, having become the first sub-Saharan nation to qualify for the tournament, Zaire was grouped with Brazil, Scotland, and Yugoslavia—the homeland of its manager Blagoje Vidinic.

As daunting as such a group would have been regardless of other concerns, off-field issues proved a constant distraction that condemned the team to an inevitable and farcical elimination.

In an interview with the BBC, retired international Mwepu Ilunga claimed that when the team learned they would not receive expected payments, and having apparently been dissuaded from an impromptu strike, the players refused to be competitive for their second match.

Humiliating defeat to Yugoslavia followed (9-0), as did intimidation from accompanying security officials warning of severe consequences should the team lose to Brazil by more than four goals. Zaire ended its first and only World Cup participation ignominiously, conceding 14 without reply (but fortunately losing to Brazil by just three goals).

Today, despite its footballing heritage, the national team has yet to produce an equivalent to Roger Milla, George Weah, Samuel Eto'o, or Didier Drogba. The country's top scorers happen to be former Premier League strikers Lomana LuaLua and Burundi-born Shabani Nonda. Regrettably for the Leopards, Claude Makéléle and Jose Bosingwa emigrated to France and Portugal as young children.

The team almost qualified for the 2006 World Cup under the resourceful Claude Le Roy and have been managed by fellow Frenchman Patrice Neveu since March. Performances have been erratic—the team finished third in its 2010 World Cup qualifying group, and occupy 94th place as of the November FIFA rankings.

Still, under the conditions much of the country's populace endures, it is more than remarkable that the side galvanises national interest and attracts capacity attendances at the 80,000-seater Stade des Martyrs, as it did against Egypt in September.

The bowl-shaped stadium is situated near its predecessor, in Kinshasa, where evidence of conflict and poverty is tangibly inescapable. On occasion, the venue manages to accommodate more than 100,000 people to create an imposing atmosphere that can comfortably be the proverbial twelfth man.

In 2004, the then manager Mick Wadsworth regaled a correspondent from the Observer with anecdotes that candidly highlighted the Congolese FA's all too serious financial and organisational struggles.

But despite being deprived of the infrastructure and support available to established footballing powers like Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa, the DRC's size and the sport's popularity seems to ensure the prospect of a globally-recognisable talent emerging is more than feasible.

Clichés have become almost obligatory in football but it feels appropriate to imagine that the future stars of Congolese soccer may only require a football, if even that, to nurture their talent and love for the beautiful game that provides frustrating and joyous escapism.

Remembering Sacrifice: A Sports Perspective

Joel F — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 08:49:25 -0500

Sport has long been affected by war—it has even caused conflict in a few instances—with some of its most promising lights extinguished at a tragically young age.

With the passing of the Armistice's 90th anniversary, Remembrance Day, and Veterans Day (and other incarnations) continue to resonate.

Whatever your political beliefs, no matter how polarising and divisive current conflicts may be, it is as important today as it was 90 and 63 years ago to acknowledge and remember human loss.

To evoke the sentiment of enduring adages, if history is forgotten the traumas and suffering of the past are liable to be repeated. This article is intended neither to present condemnation or glorification, just remembrance.

The cumulative total of deaths for the world wars exceeded 90 million. I struggled with that figure and tried to translate it into something I found remotely comprehensible; those deaths would equate to a city roughly comparable in size to Birmingham, England, vanishing every month for about 76 months.

Football (soccer) brought fleeting respite to the carnage with the Christmas Truce of 1914 but each sport was drastically impacted by the grief and loss; athletes would die and sustain personally devastating wounds, while those who survived had their careers disrupted or ended and returned to unrecognisable communities.

The War to End All Wars

In the First World War, many athletes served and perished in the trenches of the Western and Eastern Fronts, the deserts of the Middle East, the disease-ridden morass of Macedonia/Salonika (modern Thessaloniki) and East Africa, the beaches of Gallipoli, and in the world's oceans and skies.

The attitudes that prevailed in contemporary society have been extensively documented and debated since the war ended.

So instead, it seems more appropriate to try to encapsulate the rhetoric that appealed to athlete and fan alike—so many of whom appear now to society to have been idealistically naive and fatefully ignorant of what awaited them—with the words of author and amateur cricketer Arthur Conan Doyle:

"There was a time for all things in the world. There was a time for games, there was a time for business, there was a time for domestic life. There was a time for everything, but there is only time for one thing now, and that thing is war. If the cricketer had a straight eye, let him look along the barrel of a rifle. If a footballer had strength of limb, let him serve and march in the field of battle."

In the British Army, entire battalions were composed of people associated with sport: The 16th Royal Scots derived much of its strength from players and supporters of Hearts and other Scottish teams; the 17th Middlesex also attracted both footballer and fan, notably 41 members of Clapton (Leyton) Orient; the 15th West Yorkshire contained cricketers from Yorkshire CCC and other athletes; while the 23rd and 24th battalions of the Royal Fusiliers also had an array of sport talent.

Despite soccer clubs initially being accused of reticence, some 2,000 of an estimated 5,000 British-based footballers served in some capacity.

By February 1918, when the 17th Middlesex disbanded, just about 30 remained of more than 200 footballers who had been assigned to the battalion.

For Britain, the war did claim sporting greats and other significant personalities: British rugby alone lost 80 internationals, including captains of England and Scotland, Ronnie Poulton-Palmer and Fred Turner; 34 of 210 first-class test cricketers never returned; while football's dead contained players like Walter Tull, Britain's first Afro-Caribbean infantry officer, FA Cup winners Jimmy Spiers, Bob Torrance, and Sandy Turnbull, and Olympic gold medallists Tom Burn and Joe Dines.

Enough British Olympians died to create a seemingly endless roll of honour. They ranged from professional soldier and promising double bronze medallist runner George Hutson, killed during the Battle of the Marne, to Oxford rowers Duncan Mackinnon and John Somers-Smith, who won gold in 1908's coxless fours event and died during the battles of the Somme and Paschendaele.

All countries experienced similar loss of athletes, many of whom had also competed in the Olympics, among them, Germany's Hanns Braun (Silver, running), Willy Lützow (silver, swimming); Hungary's Béla von Las-Torres (silver, swimming); footballers Karl Braunsteiner, Robert Merz, Andrei Akimov, Nikolai Kynin, Grigory Nikitin, André François, René Fenouillière, Piere Six, Justin Vialaret, Hermann Bosch, Otto Thiel; New Zealand's Wimbledon champion Tony Wilding (bronze); and Australia's Cecil Healy (gold, silver), an early swimming icon who was killed shortly after his arrival on the Western Front, on 29 August 1918.

For France, the war had a profound, enduring legacy that left a vast swathe of the country scarred. The devastation wrought at the Battle of Verdun and elsewhere would culminate in an exhausted and demoralised French Army experiencing a series of temporary "mutinies" in 1917.

Among the hundreds of thousands of casualties incurred within the first month of the war were silver medallist Jean Bouin, one of France's earliest long-distance runners, bronze medallist shooter Henri Bonnefoy, and rugby internationals Emmanuel Iguiniz, Gaston Lane, and Alfred Maysonnié.

More inevitably followed, including Grand Prix motor driver Georges Boillot, cyclists Octave Lapize and François Faber, and a further 21 rugby internationals.

Today, these athletes and the millions of other casualties are still remembered as a lost generation—consumed most poignantly by the quagmire of Flanders, disfigured by the destructive implements of war where poppies flourish as they did before.

The Second World War

In a conflict driven and defined by racist ideology and extreme nationalist dogma, it was not only those athletes in uniform who suffered. A significant proportion became victims of systematic persecution by regimes which killed because of disability, ethnicity, politics, religion, sexuality, and resistance.

Some athletes born in Germany and its allied countries opposed the governing regimes, two such being Werner Seelenbinder and Paolo Salvi.

Seelenbinder was a Communist German wrestler and avowed opponent of the Nazis who received a 16-month ban in 1933 for refusing to give the Hitler salute and was only allowed to compete in the 1936 Olympics because the authorities believed he would medal.

He was was executed in a concentration camp during the war, along with Salvi, a double gold medallist in gymnastics who was murdered in Mathausen for continued anti-Nazi activities in Italy.

Perhaps the most famous dissenting voice was Austrian international footballer Matthias Sindelar, who vehemently opposed Nazi Germany's annexation of his homeland.

Obliged to play in a match designed to celebrate the Anschluss and reputedly instructed to allow the German team to win, Sindelar missed numerous chances but nevertheless scored a goal in Austria's 2-0 win.

He later retired and died with his girlfriend in mysterious circumstances at their apartment, variously the result of an accident, murder, or suicide.

Conversely, at least one athlete was killed for collaborating with his occupiers. That individual happened to be French football international Alexandre Villaplane, who became notorious for his treatment of resistance fighters. After being convicted of treason, torture, and murder, Villaplane was executed by firing squad in December 1944.

For those who decided to resist, the prospect of death was indeed a constant spectre. In Poland, the Home Army represented one of the largest organised resistance movements in occupied Europe and contained many sports people, including athlete Józef Noji and three-time Olympian skier Bronislaw Czech, who were killed in Auschwitz concentration camp, while Robert Benois, a Grand Prix motor driver and French resistance leader, was arrested in 1944 and executed at Buchenwald.

Others expressed their opposition differently but nevertheless had similar fates: cycling silver medallist Tomasz Stankiewicz was executed in Palmiry for distributing resistance literature, while footballer Antoni Lyko was killed in Auschwitz after being arrested by the Gestapo.

Various, incredulous "reasons" condemned countless sportsmen and women to their deaths in the concentration camps. Those who somehow survived could never be the same, such as retired Norwegian footballer, manager, and association secretary Asbjørn Halvorsen, who was tortured and sent to a camp because he refused to collaborate.

Those who perished witnessed and experienced unimaginable things in their final days. Victims included four of the five Dutch Jewish women and their families who won gold in the 1928 all-around team event (Estella Agsteribbe, Helena Nordheim, Ans Polak, and Jud Simons); three of the contrastingly unsuccessful men's team (Moses Jacobs, Elias Melkman, and Israel Wijnschenk); footballers Eddy Hamel (Ajax FC) and Julius Hirsch (German international); Allan Muhr, a Jewish American who represented France in its first rugby match in 1908, and became commander of the Red Cross's American military service until captured and later killed; Victor Perez, a Jewish Tunisian boxer who was shot during a death march; and Attila Petschauer, a Jewish Hungarian three-time gold and bronze medallist.

As in the First World War, in addition to the resistance and victims of the Holocaust, the Olympics experienced a diverse loss of life.

The casualties encompassed every hemisphere and included Linn Farrish, an American rugby gold medalist who operated in occupied Yugoslavia and was executed in 1943; American bobsleigher Billy Fisk, who won two gold medals in 1928 and 1932, volunteered for the Royal Air Force and was killed in a crash landing; rower John Lander, who became Britain's sole gold medallist to be killed in the war during the attack on Hong Kong; Egyptian Farid Simaika, a silver and bronze medallist diver, who joined the US Air Force and was reportedly executed by "headhunters" or Japanese soldiers in Indonesia; and Takeichi, Baron Nishi, a Japanese gold medalist equestrian killed in Iwo Jima.

In Asia, a number of Olympians succumbed to mistreatment and privations rife in Japanese camps, such as Eric Liddell, whose exploits in the 1924 Olympics would be depicted in the movie "Chariots of Fire;" Dutch field hockey players Jan Ankerman, Emile Duson, and August Kop, who won silver in 1928; and Fillipino bronze medallist swimmer Teófilo Yldefonso, who survived the Bataan death match only to die in Capas.

North American sports, unlike in 1914-18, had players enlist en masse with consequent disruption to the leagues and loss of life: Major League Baseball lost Elmer Gedeonin (outfielder, Washington) and Harry O'Neill (catcher, Philadelphia), while 116 Minor Leaguers would never have an opportunity to become major leaguers.

The National Hockey League would mourn Canadian Red Garrett and American Joe Turner, while of the more than 900 American Football players and staff who served, 23 died, with New York Giants end Jack Lummus a posthumous recipient of the Medal of Honor.

For Nazi Germany, which had reduced the 1936 Berlin Olympics to a platform designed to promote "Aryan" supremacy and propaganda, many of its sportsmen died, including gold medallist rower Hugo Strauß, wrestler Georg Gehring, football internationals Ala Urban and Karl Wallmüller (Austrian), and runner Luz Long, who famously finished second to Jesse Owens in 1936.

Italy would degenerate into an effective civil war epitomised by the deaths of two footballers: Dino Fiorini, a Bolonga defender who was shot by partisans, and Bruno Neri, of Fiorentina and Torino, who was killed by the German Army.

After the surrender of the Axis powers, the world attempted to return to a state of relative normality after six traumatic years. A new generation of athlete would emerge from the war itself when some British veterans participated in a competition organised in 1948 by Dr. Ludwig Guttman for hospital patients with spinal cord injuries. That competition evolved into the Paralympics, first officially hosted in 1960, in Rome.

France's Footballing Youth: Always in Demand

Joel F — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 02:07:12 -0500

Despite the declining reputation of French football in Europe, the country's clubs continue to produce talent that will inevitably be tempted abroad. Arguably, Karim Benzema and Hatem Ben Arfa are the current generation's most recognisable representatives still playing in France.

There are many others, established or only just emergent. Among the youthful luminaries are Jimmy Briand, Andre-Pierre Gignac, Bafétimbi Gomis, Yoann Gourcuff, Damien Le Tallec (brother of Anthony Le Tallec), Steve Mandanda, Blaise Matuidi, and Henri Saivet.

With some fans, this generation might never replicate the popularity of their predecessors—players like Youri Djorkaeff, Thierry Henry, Patrick Viera, and Zinedine Zidane—but the majority crucially remain contracted to domestic teams.

Regardless, clubs elsewhere in Europe have begun to be linked with them. A few have already accepted overtures, including Jeremy Ménéz and Samir Nasri, while some, like Gael Clichy and Mathieu Flamini, have long been resident abroad.

But influential voices in France have begun to express reservation and even opposition to these departures. In March 2008, France's technical director, Gérard Houllier, went so far as to publicly urge the country's footballing youth to continue their development in France. Ironic as that may appear for a man who bought numerous prospects to Liverpool as manager, he did express his position with clarity: "Nasri, Ben Arfa and Benzema are being selected in the best French teams. They are therefore in the best conditions to develop their game, progress and make that step up. They must stay and get more confidence into their game, assert their qualities and achieve things. And leaving Ligue 1 shouldn't just be a question of money. You must be professional in your approach to leaving. Going abroad must be motivated by the desire to assert your potential, your play."

French players have long prospered abroad and achieved global recognition in Europe's major leagues. At Arsenal, Arsene Wenger has been one of the most committed advocates of French talent. But there have been undoubted failures, all too often occurring because of premature moves and subsequent squad marginalisation.

Perhaps Houllier's philosophy is influenced by personal experience of what happened at Liverpool to Bruno Cheyrou (the new Zizou), Djibril Cissé (bought after Houllier's departure), Alou Diarra, Bernard Diomède, Anthony Le Tallec, Florent Sinama-Pongolle, and Grégory Vignal.

While the division still contains older footballers of the calibre of Mamadou Niang and Juninho Pernambucano, Ligue 1 has consistently struggled to retain its strongest, invariably youngest players. Lamentably, the French leagues have, at times, begun to uncomfortably resemble a farm system.

Ligue 1's prestige has been in decline since the success of French sides came to an abrupt end in the late 1990s. In 1996, Paris St-Germain had gained a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup trophy (and would advance to a second consecutive final in 1997) while Bordeaux reached the UEFA Cup final. International triumph followed in 1998 and 2000 yet the past 10 years have been punctuated three times by a Ligue team losing in a European final: Marseille (1999 and 2004) and Monaco (2004).

The division has acquired a reputation for negative, defensive football and low scoring. Attendances have fallen and the league has been accussed of having few "stars".

What can be done? Earlier this year, broadcasting rights were sold to Canal+ and Orange for €668 million over four seasons. The league would certainly benefit from further investment, expanded resources, and a concerted effort to improve infrastructure. The French Football Federation (FFF) must enable more clubs to be as competitive as Marseille and Lyon have recently proved to be.

Unless measures are implemented to address the disparity between Ligue 1 and its rivals, few will be inclined to emulate 25-year-old Jérémy Toulalan. The defensive midfielder has positively diverged from convention and recently negotiated a lucrative extension to his Lyon contract, which will expire in 2012.

The FFF must attempt to address Ligue 1's problems and endeavour to augment the abundance of talent with marketable, foreign players, lest the division continue to lose its starlettes.

Will John Arne Riise Stay in Rome Long Enough to Tan?

Joel F — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:10:54 -0500

In the aftermath of John Arne Riise's departure from Liverpool, some speculated the Italian weather might be cause for some concern for the Norwegian redhead. Unfortunately, sunburn may well be preferable to the problems Roma are currently enduring.

During his seven years in England, Riise attained cult status and popularity among many Liverpool supporters. Nevertheless, his final season proved indifferent and culminated in him scoring an own goal that contributed to Liverpool's elimination in the Champions League semifinal.

Having been supplanted by Fabio Aurellio and reportedly offered to Aston Villa in part exchange for Gareth Barry, Riise left the Reds in June 2008 for the Giallorossi.

Riise became the first Norwegian to sign for a Serie A club since John Carew (Roma) and Tore Andre Flo (Siena) moved to the league in the 2003-04 season. Remarkably, while numerous Danes and Swedes have established themselves in the league, Norway's most successful exports to the country remain Per Bredesen and Ragnar Larsen of the 1950s.

The season so far has been tumultuous for the Giallorossi. Fans have become vocally restless amidst a situation that has already been described as a crisis. Roma's respected manager, Luciano Spalletti, who was reputedly in contention to succeed Avram Grant as Chelsea's manager, is under considerable pressure to remedy the club's troubles.

Before Tuesday's Champions League game against Chelsea, Roma had won three, drawn one, and lost eight. In Europe, Roma managed to mitigate a shock defeat to comparative minnows CFR Cluj with an unconvincing 3-1 away win over Bordeaux, only to then lose to Chelsea.

After just nine matches in Serie A, Roma's league campaign is equally unpalatable; a meagre seven points leaves Roma in 17th and 14 points behind leaders AC Milan.

Typically thunderous strikes aside, Riise has admitted to poor form, which he has attributed to an ongoing readjustment to Italian football. While understandable, Roma's woes may not allow for patience or sympathy. Indeed, the media in Italy and Norway have begun to debate his performances and ability, both positive and negative.

For Tuesday's potentially pivotal 3-1 defeat of Chelsea, Spalletti relegated Riise to the bench in favour of switching Christian Panucci to left back.

With the return from injury of fellow left back Max Tonetto, Riise faces increased competition in an unexpected quest to end a seemingly enduring national trend for Norwegians in Italy.

But for a player who so often displayed spirit and passion in a different type of red shirt, it shouldn't be a surprise if Riise does overcome current adversity.