The English League - An African Delicacy

Tony Yeaboah

 

Growing up in the streets of Accra [capital of Ghana], names that ate my head off - back then - were players like Nana Arhin-Duah, Charles Taylor, Louis Agyemang, whose glowing qualities were much like the lighthouse that flooded everywhere, in the mid-2000s. Few weekends would pass without me yearning to watch a local league game. The hype and aura were just unreal.

In a larger though same vein, I trust many Africans of my contemporary sacrificed numerous activities to savour and patronize their local matches to the max, not forgetting how much woo was thrown behind their dear clubs respectively.

Yes - the good old days that!

Abruptly yet strategically and gradually, the cherished round ball much relished on the continent by folks, lost steam and gas. Our once loved diet lost all of its appetite-wetting-ingredients and sugary content. Debilitating and disheartening enough, only a handful of citizens cared to still throw their weight behind the game, even up till date.

The more they make heroes and legends out of our Black-African players gleefully, they'd perpetually maintain their status as the leading football-delicacy in our part of the world till an epoch when the much-anticipated-yet-never-coming revival of the African game takes seat.

Some new breeze had taken Africa by storm. We now had a substitute - chalk it off - now a primary focal point where a new sight was given continental-folks. One providing almost same, if not more of what we were acquainted with. 

Well, enough drama.

Amongst these new 'leagues of whitemen' the African-folk had embraced, there was one that was met with an overawing enthusiasm beaming spontaneously, the faces of Africans. Reasonably, it should be the Dutch Erevedise or French Ligue 1 given the amount of Blacks in both countries, but it wasn't the case.

The new delicacy that elicited incessant drool was the English Premier League.

A league that treated the Black-player as their very own darling-boy. Legends like Didier Drogba, Tony Yeboah, Bruce Grobbelaar have their names engraved in golden letters in the annals of the Premier League. Admittedly, nothing beats the feeling of having another race hailing a fellow 'race-man' for his commendable exploits. Sometimes, worth much-heralding a crusade than individuals appreciating themselves for similar reasons, yet belonging to the same class.

This epitomizes why many an African support English clubs than teams in the French Ligue 1 or the Erevidise. You might as well reckon, other top leagues like Spain's La Liga, Italian Serie A have a number of Africans steering affairs - but - the racial discrimination often perpetuated by fans and other white-players alike, make those leagues/clubs almost-unsupportable from a genuine pan-African point of view.

Not as though, the English League wholly is devoid of racial abuse whatsoever, no, but the quantum and heightening effect levelled against Blacks agreeably isn't on the rife relative to others.

Another attracting element in English clubs [and the league as a whole], is the pattern of play. More synonymous to Africa's own - but recycled and upgraded - blatantly. Little flair and less technique deployed [in comparison to the German Bundesliga et al]. Pragmatically, kick-and-run. Exuding robustness, grit and sheer zeal for success whether toiled for/not. Few will argue with me, that many African teams possess characteristics bigly different from the aforementioned. 

So indeed, if the English League will forever exhibit these desiring-attributes [from an African perspective], it sure will never trail any other league in our sight. The more they make heroes and legends out of our Black-African players gleefully, they'd perpetually maintain their status as the leading football-delicacy in our part of the world till an epoch when the much-anticipated-yet-never-coming revival of the African game takes seat.