The Gown Student Newspaper at Queen's University Belfast

SPORT: Terrorism at African Nations Cup – What does this mean for the World Cup?

December saw the draw of the group stages for this summer’s World Cup finals, the first time they will be played on African soil. At the ceremony, the world watched as Nelson Mandela – a man who dedicated his life to improving rights and bringing relative peace to the South African nation – described his joy; at last the world will witness just how far Africa has come.

BY DON MCDERMOTT

Fast forward one month and this idea has taken a significant blow. On the 8^th January the football community was rocked by the news that the Togo national team’s bus was subjected to gunfire on their way to Cabinda in the host nation of Angola. Sadly, three of the men travelling on the bus were murdered; the driver, the team’s assistant manager Abalo Amelete, and their media officer Stanislas Ocloo. What makes this all the more tragic is that this is the second major casualty to befall the Togo national team in three years. This follows the death of their Sports Minister Richard Attipoe in the 2007 Paramount Airlines helicopter crash, as he was on his way back from an African Nations Cup qualifier in Sierra Leone. This attack by the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda has led many figures in world football to question just how safe players and fans will be in South Africa during the World Cup finals?

What these people and many other worried observers need to remember is that Africa is a continent, not a country. The finals will be held thousands of miles away from Angola in South Africa, thus making such fears somewhat unfounded. People must remember that in the summer of 2009 the FIFA Confederations Cup was held in South Africa as a tester as to how they would host competition. The results on the whole were very positive with no such horrors as that which took place in Angola.

The next factor to consider is the organizational bodies behind the two events. The African Nations Cup is run by the Confederation of African Football. The blame must rest with them for scheduling the competition in a country where security was likely to be an issue, particularly when choosing Cabinda as a host venue in the first place. Responsibility also falls on the heads of the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda, who harmed their own cause by earning the condemnation of the entire world for their unprovoked and callous attack. But the fact remains; FIFA has a lot more money and power at its disposal that the CAF, and are sure to take every precaution necessary to make sure the World Cup goes ahead without a hitch. The world’s best players will be on display, and the potential for revenue is far greater than anything the African Nations Cup could dream off.

On the 10^th June 2010, the eyes of the world will be on Soccer City in Johannesburg for the first World Cup on African soil, and I for one cannot wait for what is sure to be a great festival of football.

Tags: Don McDermott, Gown, newspaper, qub, Queen's, queen's university, student, The Gown

This entry was posted on Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 3:06 am and is filed under Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.