The latest selections of the ILS have not disappointed in the debate and controversy they have generated. At the forefront of this debate has been the usual question of who should or not have made the lists as pundits have not failed to notice that some players continue to be left out without apparent reason and the home based players continue to be supposedly underrepresented in the ILS.
As this debate has raged on the lingering questions of exactly what happened in Paris before the Korea/Japan world cup and the exact role of the different protagonists have remained unanswered to this day. It is interesting to note however that as a team, the ILS has never reacted to the fate of these fallen compares; seemingly turning their collective backs on their consorts of the Paris strike. While there are a few bad names that could be used to describe this behaviour, one can’t help but wonder at this rather curious development. It happened to the super eagles before; it is happening to the ILS today and the enemies of our football dance the dance of victory.
As to the none inclusion of our locals in the national team. Some have questioned the logic behind this baffling development, remembering with nostalgia a not so long ago past when the core of the ILS was home based and and professionals like Milla, Tokoto, Kaham, Makanaki, Nkono to name these few were called in only as timely reinforcement. To buster this position we need only point out that even with this predominantly home based team the national team did not achieve any less than it has today, winning continental trophies and attaining our highest level so far in the world cup, the quater finals.
Those were the good days when the Kunde Emanuels, the Abega Theophile, the Mbida Arantes, the Ndip Akem Victor, the Mbouh Mbouh Emiles, the Tataw Stephens, The Massing Benjamins, the Sinkot Isaac, and do you need any more, could be seen year in, year out plying their trade for the Canons , Unions, Tonnerres etc. The level of our local league could hold its own against the best, and clubs’ successes at continental level attest to this fact. As a result the players not only gained in notoriety and maturity but also in technical ability. Such was the quality a Cannon # Union, or a Tonnerre # Canon, that lines stretching almost to the now rue Marc Vivian Foe were formed as early as Mid-day in a desperate desire to obtain entry tickets. True clashes of titans.
Those were the good days when players played from the heart and the influence of money on the game was less apparent and the disruptive effect of prolonged strife over players’ bonuses and other stipends (even on the eve of important continental appearances) was unheard of, let alone the constant bickering and squabbling of team officials and other administrators over club finances. The all pervasive influence of our changing times and the less than sterling character of those who run our football has resulted in widespread corruption in our game. Even as match officials are probably the greatest culprits in this domain, corruption permeates every facet of football in Cameroon. It spans from « fans » and « supporters » who unwilling to pay the three hundred francs gate fee, bribe their way in, through the police and other law enforcement agents who all have to take a cut for supposedly keeping peace during games, to official at the Cameroon Football Federation who have been known to flood the market with personal tickets on the eve of crowd pulling encounters. The result is that gate takings are usually not enough to cover clubs’ travel expenses, let alone pay players’ bonuses and other expenses. The clubs are poor and few are the clubs that can boast of two or three pairs of football shoes for each player.
For their continuous survival, the clubs have all resorted to selling their most talented players (and some less so) to the first buyer, the players anxious to escape this inferno of unending troubles are only too happy to leave. The core of today’s indomitable lions, almost to a man, left Cameroon before they were supposedly twenty-one. Even though the nefarious effects of this exodus on our local league is known to all, nobody has lifted a finger to stem the tide, the chop a chop philosophy overriding any feelings of patriotism. A large percentage of the players, players who were the joy of our local league, who have left Cameroon under these less than ideal conditions have ended up in other less honourable professions in Europe and the far east. To say our football has taken a nose dive as a result in recent years is to say the least, our clubs who in years past rubbed shoulders with the best in Africa have not won a continental trophy for the past two decades.
Without trying to take anybody’s defence, it is easy to see why Mr Schafer (and some of his predecessors) is more comfortable with players from more organised leagues. In the face of widespread corruption, broken down or inexistent infrastructure, a seventy-five percent empty unsanitary stade omnisport for most encounters (even Derbys), most of our coaches have chosen to look elsewhere for representation. And as if to confirm the mistrust of the coaches, our locals selected into the ILS have tended in recent times to play very marginal roles, Njanka, Ndoh Cerille, Kwekue Eric, Abanda Patrick and even the very promising Simo Augustine. Even then their invitation into the national team signalled their departure for greener pastures.
It is even less likely today that we are going to see an influx of locals into the ILS than it has been in the past. The ILS having won the last two ANCS have played fewer and fewer matches in Africa. The pressure on Mr Schafer to take up residence in Cameroon has dissipated and with it the opportunity for him to watch our locals in action and get truly acquainted with our game.
Because our local league is regarded with so much suspicion internationally, our players when they break into the big league are paid less than their south American or European counterparts and it is only grudgingly that our referees are called to international duty. The reasons like the song says lie with us. Yet it is a trend that could be easily reversed and our football given a brighter face. This bright future passes unfortunately through a total change from top to bottom of the mentality which regards our football as a free for all farm. That we still have players of such pedigree as Marcus Mokake sprouting from our local league gives us so much more hope and reason to clean up our act.
Ndopman
