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| There is a World Cup Bono, the famed Irish singer who thinks of himself as a development specialist, especially as it involves Africa, gets a lot of grief from us, but in 2010 he once did something we can’t disagree with. Africa was hosting its first World Cup and the American sports channel, ESPN, had commissioned him to narrate a commercial to hype the World Cup to its American audience. The result is still the best piece of advertising for the World Cup out there, and captures why for one month every four years, the world stops. This World Cup, held for the second time in Asia and the first time in the Middle East, divided opinion before the tournament started. Qatar’s human and labor rights record is rightly under scrutiny, but people can’t help but notice the hypocrisy of the West. As usual, we want the African countries to do well (that they’re all coached by African coaches is significant), stress about the politics of belonging, or spend hours debating who should win the world, who’d we’d like to win, and who best represents its traditions. To quote Bono, this is “the one month every four years when we all have dreamed of one thing …” – Sean Jacobs, editor .https://africasacountry.com/ |
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