Who’s got the corner flags?
Where’s the driver?
What’s the point of sport for development?
Some of the questions being asked (sometimes by myself) on day one of the East Africa Cup: by day two I have some answers.
The first one – yes, the referees are formidably organised at this tournament by an impressive Kenyan lady: the question came up in an organising committee meeting, but I think they were trying to wind her up.
The corner flags I can’t remember but I do remember the planning meetings needed to get 50 teams from all over East Africa to Moshi, Tanzania. It’s a bit like being a goalkeeper organising a sports tournament: people only notice you when things go wrong and admittedly there was a power outage at the opening ceremony (and a diplomatic crisis over national anthems which was skilfully averted).
The driver showed up, and the point of sports for development is that the only way to get to some young people is through involves lots of running, an inflated sphere (made of leather or other suitable material as I learned from the referees seminar) and something called the offside law.
Adidas and Nike know this – the value of sports to advertisers is ultimately what made Ronaldo rich. But football here is a force for the good.
The USP of this tournament is that it goes beyond sport: the mornings feature workshops on education, leadership, first aid, disease prevention and cultural exchanges between countries who used to be at war with each other.
And one or two former pros too …
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