Of Sepp Blunder, shattered hearts, Hand of the Devil and Vuvuzela legacy

Simbarashe Msasanuri
(Bongoblast)
THE curtain finally came down for the historic FIFA 2010 World Cup held in Africa for the first time, ending the soccer madness that had gripped the world for the better half of the year. Just as expected, the event left a lot of broken and bleeding hearts, while others were left on cloud nine after their team scooped the prestigious silverware.
My heart falls in the group of those who were left shattered after Africa failed to rise to the occasion and make sure that history books are rewritten. It’s official, the Brazilian soccer legend, Pele’s prediction has been proven wrong. If his prediction was within religious circles, then we were going to quickly label him as a false prophet. This is so because he had foreseen an African team lifting the world cup by 2010, something that never materialised.
I believe we had the arsenal to let the cup remain on our soil until we were cheated out of the tournament. When I read a headline on one of the South African newspapers during the tournament, I was left wondering as to why they had chosen to slander the president of the soccer controlling body (FIFA), Joseph Sepp Blatter. The newspaper had a headline, ”Sepp Blunder”. They were referring to the irregularities, questionable decisions by referees and so on which had rocked the soccer tournament in SA. But, the main reason they labeled him Blunder is that, his organization is full of blunders and at the same time is so rigid, or rather to be frank, they are stubborn in the sense that even if they see that there is continuous injustice because of lack of technological intervention, especially the goal line technology, the organization remains adamant, arguing that use of technology will kill the game.
In as far as I am concerned, this is utter rubbish as we have other, not only successful, but prominent sporting disciplines such as cricket, tennis and even rugby where technology is used to determine fouls and scores in desperate times where a naked eye cannot see it. If Blunder’s blundering organization had embraced technology and changed some rules that are disadvantaging other teams, we could have watched a more interesting and different world cup.
Players continue to use their hands to control, score or even defending their goal line and going away with it at the expense of the other teams. I am vending my anger on them because this saw our mighty Ghana being bundled out of the WC. To be frank, Ghana deserved to go through to the semi finals of the competition but because some people are too rigid to change the rules and they are reluctant to use technology, then we continue paying the price.
FIFA should borrow from other sporting disciplines and put in place a rule that if a player other than the goalkeeper uses hands to block a goal-bound ball, then that automatically be counted as a goal and on top of that, awards a penalty to the other team, as a punishment and deterrent measure. This is so because cheats like, Luis Suarez go about bragging on how he now owns the hand of god. This is cheating at its best and should not be allowed to continue as it dilutes the game.
I also came across a story from down south by one of Africa's best sports journalist, Robson Sharuko on the issue. He wrote: “Africa will once again feel the excruciating pain, inflicted by the Hand of the Devil on a heartbreaking night for the continent last Friday, when old wounds are reopened today with the appearance of Uruguay in a World Cup semi-final showdown against the Netherlands at the Greenpoint Stadium in Cape Town.
“ …. Four days might have passed since the dramatic events at Soccer City last Friday night when Uruguay striker Luis Suarez deliberately used his hands to keep out a last-gasp headed effort by Ghana's Dominic Adiayah, earning himself an automatic red card with the Black Stars getting a penalty....... While Suarez would have done very little, in the given circumstances, but to sacrifice himself for the cause of his country, his actions - and subsequent post-match statements in which he glorified his deed - have drawn countless daggers into millions of African hearts and turned him into enemy number one.
Suarez's claims that the handball was the "Hand of God" has infuriated African fans and others around the world who believe that it is a reckless attachment of the good name of the Lord to what they generally believe to be an act of the devil.
"The Hand of God now belongs to me," he declared after the match. "Mine is the real Hand Of God. I made the best save of the tournament. Sometimes in training I play as a goalkeeper so it was worth it.
“...But the Africans are taking a different view. Newspapers across the continent have labeled Suarez a cheat, a disgrace, an insult to the spirit of Fair Play and described his save as The Hand of the Devil.
Sharuko went on to conclude his story by saying: “ Whichever way you look at it, the shadow of the Hand of The Devil will continue to loom over Uruguay.”
Dear reader, I need not to tell you what happened to Uruguay in the semis. They suffered the same humiliation and fate as their fellow cheats, France, who were bundled out of the tournament in the first round.
To tell the truth, I couldn’t continue watching ‘the remaining games of the world cup after that incident because to me, the beautiful game was reduced to a lawless game, where players cheat and get away with it. What a shame. Up to now, I can’t comment on the team that got away with the trophy because it’s news to me. So if you have the information about that, dear reader, please kindly pass it to me and I will appreciate.
To the mighty Ghana, you did us proud as a continent and I am convinced beyond doubt that, the youthful team will definitely be the team to beat, come 2014 WC in Brazil. I am referring to them as mighty because hate them or like them, the truth remains that they fell out of the tournament at the same level with the mighty Brazil and Argentina, who are considered as the world’s top soccer giants. If you ask me then I will tell you that Ghana=Brazil=Agentina.
I take this opportunity to urge FIFA to put its house in order and do away with cheating in soccer matches by embracing technology and put on rules that punish those who cheat. We love the game, but when it hurts to support soccer, then there is a problem. I don’t want even to concentrate on four people who lost their lives in Kenya soon after Ghana were cheated. I still maintain that we were robbed and nothing will make me change that.
At least life is now back to normal for many soccer lovers, who no longer need to run away from work only to watch soccer matches. They no longer need to get fake sick leave forms in order for them to watch the games. No more sleeping late glued on television sets watching football.
There is also another happy section of the society - wives. Some wives had become temporary widows as they could not contest for attention with television sets, as their husbands preferred watching television rather than paying attention to them. It’s over now and they can get all the attention they want, but this comes at a price as the WC left them with yet another disgusting nickname – VUVUZELA. Yes some women are now nicknamed vuvuzelas because they talk too much and this name came from the world cup where plastic instruments, which when blown, produces ear shattering noise, were used to unsettle opponents.
To those soccer lovers I hope you enjoyed the tournament, knowing very well that soccer is just but a game. You either lose or win. To Africa I say, we can do it and our time will one day come. Though it’s back to the drawing board for most teams, the tournament was not only a success but something Africans will cherish for a long time to come.
I apologise dear readers for turning this column into a sports column but I promise that since this soccer madness is over, then everything will be fine. May God bless Africa.
bongoblast@thisday.co.tz