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From: awetnayu@hotmail.com
Date: Wed Sep 01 2010 - 21:59:55 EDT
Eritrea: Bright
Young Hope of Africa
Amanuel Biedemariam
On August
13, 2010, the 5th Central and Eastern Confederation of African
Football Association (CECAFA) Cup under the age of 20 was officially opened in
Asmara Stadium gloriously under the theme: “Friendship and Development Cup”.
According to CECAFA, the organization is the oldest football tournament in Africa.” It is a tournament of FIFA and the Council of
East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA), and includes national
teams from Central and East Africa: Kenya,
Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan,
Ethiopia, Eritrea, Zanzibar,
Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi
and Djibouti.”
CECAFA is and will remain a significant tournament. However,
relative to the African cup or other major global tournaments; it could appear
small. This year Eritrea
hosted the event for the first time. The tournament was significant event for Eritrea, the region and for Africa
for many reasons.
The Eritrean Football Federation established in 1936 during
the Italian colonial rule with teams from the localities formed and run
independently under scrutiny by Italian colonial power. From 1952-1962, during
the federation with Ethiopia,
Eritrean Football Federation flourished independently until Ethiopia illegally annexed Eritrea. Eritrea
is full of colorful football history, one of the first; most organized and well
run organizations in Africa at the time. Eritrea
had teams and players that played at a high level based on international
standards. In fact, many nations came to play friendly matches with Eritrea and Eritrea always fared well. In 1956,
Admira and Austrian team that won international championship lost to the
Eritrean team 1-0 in Asmara
and this was amongst the first if not the first time an African team hosted a
European club. In 1965, CR Vasco Dagama a premier Brazilian team played and
defeated the Eritrean team 3-1 as well as Baku
from Russia.
Ethiopia dissolved
The Eritrean Football Federation (EFF) immediately after the annexation of Eritrea.
After that period, the head of Ethiopian football federation Yidnekachew
Tessema deliberately and systematically disallowed Eritrea from playing independent
international matches. In other words, the dissolution of EFF was a reflection
of the freedoms that Ethiopia
peeled off from every aspect of Eritrean life.
Football in Eritrea
was a highly developed sport. Even after Yidnekachew dissolved the Federation,
the teams flourished and the players were incredibly talented. Moreover,
contrary to Ethiopia’s
intent to disintegrate the Eritrean team, the Eritrean players, as many
Eritreans, were strong nationalists and used football as a covert tool of
Eritrean national expression. In 1963 when Ethiopia won the Third African
Nations Football competition, eight of the players namely Gila,Berhe, Ahdego,
Tesfai, Luciano, Tekle, Kiflai and Berhe. Those players actually believed the
cup belongs to Eritrea.
Eritrea
had several popular clubs that had members that were engaged and proactive.
They supported their teams financially and they loved and cared for the players
like they were their own kids. The standard and the quality of the players in Eritrea
were high even by international standards. Eritrean teams and players dominated
the Ethiopian football scene winning multiple championships from 1964 until
1974.
The Eritrean football was a family affair for me. My older
brother Tesfaghiorghis AKA Qoqah was one of the premium median players
(number six) for Ganta (team) Hamasien for a long time. Campo Cicero was a treat on Sundays because my
father took me to every game to see my brother play. Therefore, I grew up
watching football regularly and watched like most of the funs with intense
emotions. I sat alongside my father and watched many dramas unfold in front of
my eyes. It was fun, exhilarating and the games were never dull. The
competition was world class. Campo Cicero
was always full to capacity. While the teams were always competitive, Hamasien,Akeleguzai,
Serae and Tele were amongst the premiere teams as were Mar Rosso and Adulis.
The players knew where they were in terms of their standard
relative to the international levels. These players competed at a high level
around the world. They played in Africa parts of the Middle
East and actually attended world cup games as observers so they
can learn from and gauge how they might stuck up. I remember pictures of my
brother, with two Eritrean players and the Brazilian Pele during the world cup
in Germany.
The teams and some funs sent many Eritrean players to watch the international games.
Therefore, to say the funs were-engaged is doing them a disservice. These
players were celebrities and classy group of individuals that cared deep about
their funs; and the people, in turn, treated them as celebrities with a great
deal of love.
However, for me, those players were part of my family. They
congregated together and were great friends of each other. I attended their
wedding and celebrated their honeymoon (hitsinot) with them. I grew up
listening to their jokes, laughed when they kidded each other and enjoyed
hearing their funny stories about their experiences everywhere. Their families,
wives, brothers and sisters were a close part of our lives. What was
fascinating was the friendship amongst the opposing players. It was humbling to
see competitors from team Akele, Tele and Hama
as friends as Jamil, Ahmed, Ele, and Qoqah were best friends. Actually, all
these players treated me like their own little brother and allowed me to grow
up with fond memories that carry me to this day.
Growing up, that is what I aspired to be. I played soccer
from dawn to dusk and in school during break I run to the field to play. I
imitated Ismail, Pace, Abraham and at times Yemane. My dream was to play
professional football and I felt that I was a shoo-in with a spot in the team I
adored, Hamasien. I dreamt that I was going to be better than my brother Qoqah.
After the Sunday games, in school, for the entire week, all we talked about was
the games. We analyzed and dissected every play with unparalleled passion. With
photographic memories, we replayed the plays. They were the best moments of my
life and the fondest memories as a kid growing up in Asmara. In other words I was intimately
familiar with Eritrean football and I know many of the players.
One day, that entire dream disappeared, poof and gone
without any hope. All the teams stopped their operations. The entire
Team-Eritrea including my brother joined the struggle for Eritrean liberation
and, after military training were sent to play friendly matches representing Eritrea to Middle East countries that were
friendly and supportive to the Eritrean cause such as Syria and Iraq. However, some players opted
to stay and fight like Ele and Seyoum Kidane who was married to my sister and
left a child behind. Not long after they joined were both martyred. For a long
time after that, I lost interest on football and I only watched the world cup
with little interest. Cicero or Asmara Stadium became a place where I enjoy
watching Eritrean national celebratory activities. I have long forgotten what Cicero meant to me as a
kid. All those beautiful memories were conveniently set aside so as not to
arouse embedded emotions.
With the coming of a military Junta, after 1974, the
infrastructure of Eritrean football ceased to exist. The clubs closed doors and
the personalities that run the clubs and the fun base that supported the teams
disbursed. The only thing left is the memory. In a short time span, Asmara went from one of the best football cities in Africa
and the Middle East to below rock bottom. Therefore,
when Eritrea
won independence in 1991 everything was bare, as was everything else. As a
result, victorious Eritrea
needed to prioritize and, football ranked in the bottom. It started from a scratch because there was no
football or any other sports programs to speak of. Imagine; this is a new
country in Africa, with no structure, money,
resources, limited expertise, fatigued public and dilapidated infrastructures.
There was no talent, no way to identify talent even if existed. In addition, Eritrean
people have to deal with mixed emotions while in one hand joyous for the
victory the other was dealing with colossal loses. Moreover, once the program
started it was-beset with obstacles. Eritrea was-engaged militarily due
to a war of aggression the TPLF waged tying down thousands of youth at the war
front. That also minimized the appetite for sports. In addition, there was a
deliberate attempt to demoralize Eritreans and discourage them from resuming
all nation-building activities in every turn including football and other
sports. That is all history now; Passé!
New Day
With all these adversities, Eritrea is overcoming by doing the
right things. Eritrea
focused on the basics. Eritrea
kept the dream alive no matter what. Eritrea is building a nation and
rearing citizens with vision and purpose. Eritrea
provided the vision of a country that is purposeful based on selflessness, for
the sake of the good of the country, Africa
and the greater good. Eritrea
is complimenting that vision with efforts to build skills and talents; with a
mission showing Africa there is another way.
Eritrea
allowed her children to be free and play in their neighborhoods, as it was when
I was a kid. Eritrea
availed facilities for kids everywhere even in remote areas and established
administrative bodies to give it structure. Eritrea is making the investments
necessary to build a national sport programs with a holistic approach and doing
all she can to promote sports. To that end and, as part of the ministry of
information, Eritrea
developed very professional sports journalists that report using their
indigenous languages. They report all types of local and international sports,
with a great deal of depth and detail. By turning to ERiTV, one can enjoy track
and field, bicycle races and other sports broadcasted with a great deal of
fanfare.
Moreover, ever since independence in 1991, Eritrea has been celebrating year
after year in a grand scale. These organized and public celebrations performed by
the youth are- based on culture, history, arts, tradition and the nine ethnic
groups in Eritrea.
They are colorful, fun, and carnival-like and they have become an expression of
what Eritrea
is all about; consistent, hard working, focused, sweet, expressive, and
artistic and, every year it gets better and better. This is when new songs that
set the mood are displayed, talents exposed and, in a sense; it is a public
display of the nation’s mood. In addition, the weather in Eritrea is nice year around; Eritreans are
hospitable and Eritrea
is a very peaceful nation. Moreover, the government of Eritrea is keen
on making sure that Eritrean sports are developing based on high standards and
to the end, all pertinent ministries are-engaged at the highest level. For the
above combination of reasons, it was about time for Eritrea
to host an international event and begin to display the hidden gem of Africa. Eritreans were ready and hungry.
Shikamo CECAFA Under
20 “Development and Friendship” Cup
For the very first time Eritrea hosted international tournament,
in this case CECAFA U-20 calling it, “Development and Friendship” Cup. It was
fitting that Eritrea hosted
the tournament at a key and transitional moment in the history Africa and particularly the Horn of Africa. The region
needed the event and it needed it to be hosted in Eritrea a country that has been a
focus of slanderous campaign under false pretenses for a long time.
All the preparation and the combination of factors mentioned
above jump started the tournament with a bang with EriArtists singing “Shikamo”
a Swahili for welcome. Eritrea
showed her true African colors by showcasing the various ethnic groups that are
the very embodiments of Africa with all the
cultural adornments, traditional dances and songs that electrified the opening.
It brought back memories of my childhood when I heard first, a song originally
sung by Osman Abdulrahim “Ane-Ye Sport” meaning “I am Sport” and ended the
beautifully organized ceremonies with Taniko singing “Sport” originally sung by
Younis Ibrahim of Asmara-Police-Orchestra. They highlighted the positive aspect
of sports by stating how it could serve the greater good for unity.
As a kid, I watched Younis Ibrahim sing this very song in
the middle of Asmara Stadium with the crowd going crazy as he stood with one
leg while resting the other on a black- and-white football ball with his red
sports jump suit. I still remember the lyrics and I was ecstatic to hear it
again. It is fitting that Eritrea
went back to those moments because the heydays of football ceased at that moment.
Therefore, while it is a new beginning it is also a sign of continuity. It is a renewal of the spirit that reigned
then and a good beginning as we look for better future.
While this event marked a beginning, it meant a lot on many
levels. Firstly, it affirmed to the world that Eritrea is like no other. It showed
what Eritreans believed all along that Eritrea could do anything including
host major events such as the African cup. Most importantly, Eritrea showed Africa that Eritrea is committed to use sports as a tool to
help Africa get to know each other and to bring people and nations together
because the people of the region and Africa need
it. And the trend is encouraging. Just few months ago Eritrea hosted a tour of Eritrea bicycle race and, in it, many nations
participated that included national cycling teams of Sudan,
Morocco, Kenya, Egypt,
Libya and Saudi Arabia.
Concluding Remarks
This event was a continuation in line with good news that is
piling up on Eritrea.
Eritreans have been working hard to establish their country as a nation in ways
no other African nation has to endure. Yet, that only sharpened Eritrean
resolve and helped Eritrea
persevere to see the light. Hence, the fruits are just in the offing stages and
Eritrea is poised to take
Africa by storm because Eritrea
has all the right ingredients to make it happen. This is precisely what Africa needs. Africa
needs to establish its own sports events that can develop and help a continent
that desperately needs it. It is about time for Africans to be envious of the “Tour
de France”, “Wimbledon”, “US Open” and many other sports events that the West
enjoyed while they fan the flames of war in Africa.
In addition that is the only way to stop the brain/talent drain. It is also a
great opportunity to shut up hate mongering PR-reporters such as Jeffrey
Gettleman from New York Times and others that chose to ignore a grand regional
event after years of reporting nonsensical articles regarding Eritrean youth.
Sports have a way of bringing nations and people together.
Sports tend to help establish trust amongst people of different countries. It
was incredibly brilliant to witness the Ugandan players covering themselves
with Eritrean flag even as they hoisted their hard won CECAFA cup. At that
moment they told the disappointed Eritrean fans, we are all Eritreans at this
moment. That meant a great deal not only to those who were in the stadium but
also to the people of Uganda
in Uganda.
They deserve kudos for a brilliant sportsmanship. This was a historic moment that
the players developed a newfound respect for the people of Eritrea. It was
also a stark example of how Africa has-been disillusioned and out of focus when
the coaches spoke of their experiences in other countries and praised Eritrea for the
new standard of hosting and hospitality. “I have participated in many CAF and
CECAFA tournaments and, to my surprise, I have never seen such high quality
healthy facilities before, I congratulate Eritrea on the good beginning it has
made" Somali Coach, Mohamed Abdulle Farayare told reporters.
The Chairman of CECAFA, Mr. Liegar Tanga, expressed his
appreciation for the “warm hospitality, admired Eritrea’s excellent preparations,
and stated that the tournaments would not only serve as a steppingstone in
developing football in the region but also in promoting socio-economic
progress.” That is precisely the spirit that Africans and sports loving people
should espouse.
I congratulate the Eritrean team for a brilliant showing and
for making it to the finals. While it is hard to swallow such a loss in the
finals, at the end of the day, it is going to serve the Eritrean team well.
Praise goes to all those who participated, the organizers and kudos to CECAFA.
Most of all “Go Eritrea” for shining brighter! On many interviews, the players expressed
their satisfaction and said coming to Eritrea changed how they feel about
the nation and the people. These players are lifelong witnesses for Eritrea.
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