An Awards Charade: CAF Mafia @ Their Best

At their controversial best, the body charged to oversee the running of

football on the continent, Confederation of African Football (CAF), has yet

again stirred perhaps the biggest controversy in its history.

Not entirely unexpected as it has

been the stock-in-trade of CAF over the years to award relative outsiders to

the award citing funny reasons, one such being the physical presence of a

player at the ceremony as basis to be named winner in any year.

And so possibly the most controversial football announcement of year

2010 as I see it, was not that Russia and Qatar were billed to host World

Cups 2018 and 2022 respectively, neither was it the ban on all football-related

activities in Ghana – following the raid of the offices of the GFA by the

Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) recently - or the Abedi Pele CAF

post-saga.

Rather it was as perpetrated by CAF and its President, Issa Hayotou,

when against all odds and in the face of clear evidence to the contrary, they

named with glee and facetious disgust his fellow country man, Samuel Eto’o Fils

of Cameroon and Inter Milan fame as CAF’s African Player of the Year 2010.

If the saying goes thus, “With God all things are possible,” on

the back of the Almighty’s Omnipotence, Omnipresence and Omniscience, I state

along same lines that when it comes to African football awards at least, “With CAF,

all things are possible,” What!

Let me first dissociate myself

from any perceptions as might be created of presenting an argument laden with

emotions and to that extent, on grounds of being Ghanaian and as such having

vested interest in the triumph of a fellow contender - Asamoah Gyan (alias “Baby

Jet”).

SHAME UNTO CAF? THEY’VE GOT NO SHAME

In his article “Shame unto CAF if …,” published online

and in The New Weekend Crusading GUIDE

of December 17, 2010, Lewis Neneyewode Numekevor, having done a comparative

analysis of the three contenders, had concluded to some extent that Gyan was

the man to beat.

Perhaps forgetting that as CAF

had stated on countless occasions, the award in question is voted for by

respective national team coaches of the 52 member nations affiliated to it;

that is after the shortlisting of prospective winners had been chosen and

pruned to three by its Technical Group.

By repeating who knows for the

umpteenth time what all three players brought to the table would be like

flogging an old horse, the broad analysis over the year in review as was

measured by pundits was player performance at club and national team levels.

By the naming of Samuel Eto’o for

the fourth time as winner, I draw two straightforward conclusions;

1. AN AFRICAN LOSS, EUROPEAN VICTORY

Gyan’s credentials as a contender

were strongly rooted in his commitment to the National side comparative to the

Eto’o story last season. Do I need to state that it was this Gyan guy who

enchanted soccer lovers in January and July during two major competitions here

in Africa?

I will dare say that for the benefit of analysis, in January Gyan was

key in the Black Stars set-up that reached the final of the Cup of Nations in

Angola and was even more integral as Africa lost out on a historic feat

regrettably at his feet at the World Cup in South Africa, Where was Monsieur

Eto’o, I ask?

With his flatter to deceive form

when it came to the Cup of Nations and World Cup, Eto’o undoubtedly had a

terrific season in Europe as he aided his

Inter Milan side to an unprecedented treble. That was and is the entire award

winning episode as acted out by Samuel Eto’o.

Football on the continent, ably

represented by the “Baby Jet” had

been trampled upon and left in the cold as European football, symbolized by

Eto’o, stood as winner as has been the case over the time that CAF took over

the awards ceremony from the French football magazine.

2. AFRICAN COACHES LOVE EURO FOOTBALL?

Perhaps with a heavy dose of

European based players lining up for most national teams across the continent,

most African coaches – ironically majority of whom are expatriates – were most

likely busily globetrotting to identify new talents whiles keeping taps on old

players.

Whiles at that, I guess these

managers fell in love with European football, consequent to which majority of

them voted rather for a player whose exploits were more visible across the

oceans than of another who did all things right on the African continent.

This is in no way to question the

independent thinking of coaches who cast their votes in favour of Eto’o, yet

really and truly, this award has created, as many others in the past have, some

hullabaloo that CAF alone does not perceive let alone see or hear.

CAF vs. BBC

The British Broadcasting

Corporation’s (BBC’s) African Player

of the Year voted for by fans across the continent and one that is announced a

few days before CAF does, seems to be a thorny spot as perhaps, CAF wants to

assert some authority and not just go along with the BBC award.

The perception of a deep-seated

politics allied with a CAF mafia has over the years been fuelled when awards

have been given to candidates seen as second fiddle; it further feeds into the

very curious manner in which players of francophone Africa

have been picking up the award since 2000.

The BBC’s role in all of this being that, coming from a position where

the global broadcaster has been in the thick leveling of accusation against

massive corruption against Federation Internationale de Football Association

(FIFA) and CAF officials, CAF I reckon, will not want to rubber stamp a BBC position

and perhaps vice versa.

GYAN: A WINNER IN HIS OWN RIGHT

CAF may have succeeded in making the world believe that Asamoah Gyan

did not deserve the accolade at least as the number one African player but

truth is; many footballers, managers, pundits and soccer fans the world over I

believe, know all too well that Gyan had done all things possible but CAF has

ruled and who are we?

African Football undoubtedly is

as always - controversy laden and never bereft of the politics and mafia

element which had transcended from the continental level to local football

federations as they (local FAs) slug it out with state institutions to assert

some independence, despite their dependence on public funds. Interesting times

ahead.

© Shaban Barani Alpha (The New Crusading GUIDE)

E-mail: alfarsenal@yahoo.com/

newcguide@gmail.com