Equatorial Guinea: The good and the bad

If only praises, honour and appreciation were commodities to be stored, our closest neighbour, Equatorial Guinea could hardly have found space enough to accommodate all.

Equatorial Guinea deserves appreciation for accepting to host the African Cup of Nations competition, at a time when Morocco feared daring the raging spread of Ebola, and when other African nations were either not prepared logistically for the event or could not just face the risk of exposing their people to the Ebola attack.

So, when Equatorial Guinea took up the challenge, it took off the heat from the Confederation of African Football.

For the central African region, to which Equatorial Guinea belongs, it was an exhibition of how to save a crisis situation at very short notice.

For the African continent, it did not only portray our gift of hospitality, but redesigned the image of the continent away from what we were known to be, a dark and barbaric people difficult to change.

With all these to the credit of Equatorial Guinea, all was set to host the competition and on “D” Day everything went on smoothly.

Equatorial Guinea, which started rather timidly, like most other teams that surprisingly reached the top towards the end, made it to the semi-finals, which is exactly where the good came into direct contact with the bad at Equatorial Guinea and the hard earned reputation which that country had acquired disappeared in thin smoke.

Equatorial Guinea’s encounter with the Black Stars of Ghana changed a romantic success story to a gruesome scenario. An overzealous crowd of spectators turned wild, throwing bottles into the pitch just when their team started losing the match, wounding several.

There is no doubt that we in this Newspaper were among those who wished our neighbours well, and lauded their courageous hospitality and every other endeavour that kept the spirit alive.

We cheered them up when the spirit yearned for good. But as soon as things turned shabby and disgraceful we since withdrew our goodwill.

The incident of Ebosse, a Cameroonian footballer who died as a result of crowd jeering and stoning on the pitch is tragic to us and not easy to be forgotten. A repeat performance of such barbaric acts not too long after the Ebosse incident is loud enough not to be taken seriously.

We have always emphasized football as a unifying factor, not only in Cameroon, but also serves as a shortcut to areas where politics has failed in Africa and the world. It should therefore not be transformed into a sport that will provoke tensions in place of entertainment.

We are therefore satisfied with the disciplinary measures taken by the Confederation of African Football, CAF, against Equatorial Guinea, even though they deserved an outright suspension.

We hope that the prescribed fine of €100,000 and an undertaking to take care of the wounded will serve as a lesson, not only to Equatorial Guinea, but to other football fans who do not believe in the winner-loser principle in every contest.