NEVER FOR MONEY, ALWAYS FOR LOVE

A heartwarming celebration of the game was shown on BBC the other week, in the film 'More Than Just a Game'. It depicts the story of the Makana FA, a football league formed by the political prisoners of Robben island in South Africa, who harassed guards until they were allowed access to equipment and formed a full administrative body for the 2000 prisoners to play. 

The film and book will explain the significance of the league to the inmates much better than I can. Related to the previous post, our munificent leader took his chance to become apolitically involved around the 2010 World Cup, rightly celebrating the league by granting it FIFA status. Like a true politician, he basked in the glow of better men, trying to let the humanity and strength of their example reflect upon the current FIFA executive.

Without wishing to take a negative approach to a positive story (Criticism is positive!), it should be pointed out how shamelessly Blatter appropriates this as an example of all football, rather than a rare and wonderful example of what the game can do. The executive are still relaxed about racial abuse in many footballing countries across the world and indeed award them licensed tournaments, and are reluctant to comment on other nations involved in FIFA who treat people in the way the men on Robben Island were, and in some cases support them. These people have not become part of the political establishment yet, so are not worthy of Blatter's attention.

To a more optimistic point, one which Blatter and others chose not to highlight. The Makana FA helped give bursts of freedom to the imprisoned, and made their lives more bearable. What they also showed was the essence of the game. A league was significant and enjoyable for its members and spectators without corporate sponsorship, without workers dying to build stadiums, without exorbitant salaries and billionaire owners. It was made by the people for the people involved, it was self governed as the people wished to be on a national level. These men managed to get this from apartheid prison wardens, in the UK today people pay someone to make a profit off playing a 6 a side game. I'm sure there are some lessons to be learnt here for our football and political lives, though far be it from me to force my opinions on you as fact.