Racist Tropes Describing Nigerian and African Football

[Enugu II]

Just a note when you read consistent descriptors of African and Nigerian football that leaves little room for individual differences.

The racist myth of the 'physical' African football team
Racist tropes continue to dominate white commentary of global football events.
James Yeku by James Yeku
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opini ... 43810.html
27 Jun 2018

I love listening to white men, especially old white men, talk about black athletes during major global sporting events. I have been following the kind of language white pundits use during FIFA World Cups and Olympic Games for years, so I am well aware to their fascination with and ridicule of the black body.

I was hardly surprised that someone like British businessman and reality TV star Alan Sugar came up with a bitter and racist tweet about the Senegalese team at the World Cup in Russia.

Sugar's colonial mindset saw the Senegalese team as people selling sunglasses on beaches, not as world-class players who deserve praise for their success.

Sugar's statement demonstrates the implicit prejudice that often surfaces in Western media discussions about African players. That Sugar and many of his supporters initially did not see the racism in his tweet and tried to play it down as a "joke" confirms the latent bigotry that haunts football and how media covers it.

But beyond Sugar's raw racism, there are all kinds of "veiled" racist discourses that dominate the language white commentators use during football matches.

My favourite is their widely normalised assumption that African teams are always the "physical" and never the "tactical" side. When Senegal faced Poland in their first World Cup appearance since 2002 earlier this month, the same assumption was repeated.

After Senegal defeated its Eastern European opponent 2-1, NBC Sport claimed in an online article that Poland had succumbed to Senegal's "pace and physicality". Former West Ham Coach Slaven Bilic, now pundit for British ITV, also commented on Senegal's "pace and power".

Of course, pundits do not have a monopoly on assuming a black or African team is going to be the "physical side". Ahead of his team's June 24 match against Senegal, Japan's coach Akira Nishino said "[Against Senegal] rather than physicality, we have to use our brain to come up with some tactics and strategies."

These suggestions tying Senegal's success at the World Cup to the team's "raw energy" brush aside the excellent and tactical play Aliou Cisse, the only black coach in Russia 2018, beautifully masterminded for his team.

Another example of the same brand of covert racism is one of BBC's commentators excitedly describing Nigerian player Ahmed Musa as a "gazelle" after one of his goals. He undoubtedly wanted to emphasise Musa's pace with this comparison, but drawing parallels between black people/Africans and animals has a very long and racist history and it has to stop.

The aforementioned examples are not isolated cases. Narratives about the "physicality" of African players are perpetuated and circulated tournament after tournament, match after match - so much that New York-based writer and producer Rose Eveleth came up with a World Cup Bad Announcer Bingo in the run-up to the Russia 2018.

The "bingo card" illustrates perfectly well the subtle discursive violence tightly linked to colonial-era racism that often dominates football commentaries. A similar "bingo card" could also be made with words and expressions used to describe white football teams; they are always "tactical", "strategic", "disciplined", "creative", etc.

Recall the commentary surrounding Iceland's unexpected draw against Argentina. At that instance - unlike Senegal vs Poland - the underdog's success was not explained away by Icelandic players "physicality" or "energy". Of course, a "white team" can also be described as "physical" at times, but only when it has many black players (think of the French national team at the 2014 and 2018 World Cups).

Some may say that the context in which "a physical African side" is mooted may be flattering. But this language perennially marks a black team as having no other significant skills, practicing strategies or creativity. It doesn't matter whether Paul Pogba produces moments of tactical brilliance as he plays for the French national team or Manchester United. His performance will always be deemed one of pace and power, because - at least in the eyes of football commentators - Pogba is black first, then a successful football player second.

Senegal may have outplayed Poland, yet according to pundits, it was a controversial win that came mostly on the heels of the "pace and power" of the West African players, not because their tactics and gameplay were better than the Polish team's.

The obvious reality is that football pitches or Olympic stadiums are not only venues for sports competition, but also a space where power relations play out, with white commentators serving mostly as biased arbiters.

For instance, athletes from Kenya, Ethiopia, and other East African countries are naturally seen as unmatched champions of long-distance running at the Olympics or any other global games. Their success, however, is never tied to their tactics or training traditions - which, ostensibly, constitute the white man's exclusive domain. Instead, their victories are almost always explained by a romanticised notion of "physical endurance".

The problem with this idea of physicality is that it is a mythology of racialism that dispossesses the African or black sportsperson of creativity and strategic thinking in the eyes of Western audiences. In a Barthesian sense, it is a system of speech that promotes racial bias. By not challenging and questioning this language, its hegemony is consolidated and normalised.

There is no denying the fact that every sport requires a lot of energy and physical stamina, and both black/African athletes and their white counterparts exert much energy to win games. But to reduce only the black athlete to their physicality in media discourse is simply racist.

African and black sportsmen are more than their bodies. The coverage of black bodies and the discourses around them require an urgent rewriting.

[scholl]

Na today? The people I feel sorry for aren't the African audience who never sense this, when the stiuation presents itself, but those who know this and continue to be willing participants in this charade.

[Tobi17]

Unfortunately we tacitly enable these stereotypes, I've seen lots of supposedly enlightened African pundits talk down on the tactical brilliance of African teams just to agree with, and pander to the narratives of their white audience (they probably do it for approval ratings) but it's really sad to see.

[akamoke]

Unfortunately we tacitly enable these stereotypes, I've seen lots of supposedly enlightened African pundits talk down on the tactical brilliance of African teams just to agree with, and pander to the narratives of their white audience (they probably do it for approval ratings) but it's really sad to see.

Exactly, my favorite is "Naïve" which some folks here use eloquently ONLY for African team
They go further with words like "Headless chkcken", "no football brain", and other condescending comments aimed at projecting a false sense of superiority over their fellow citizens...Im more concerned about Africans bringing down Africans than Europeans who these guys supposedly give so much validation to

[Damunk]

Unfortunately we tacitly enable these stereotypes, I've seen lots of supposedly enlightened African pundits talk down on the tactical brilliance of African teams just to agree with, and pander to the narratives of their white audience (they probably do it for approval ratings) but it's really sad to see.

Exactly, my favorite is "Naïve" which some folks here use eloquently ONLY for African team
They go further with words like "Headless chkcken", "no football brain", and other condescending comments aimed at projecting a false sense of superiority over their fellow citizens...Im more concerned about Africans bringing down Africans than Europeans who these guys supposedly give so much validation to

KPOM, KPOM and KPOM again!

Within Nigeria it plays out as a north/south prejudice.
We all know who they regularly describe as a "headless chicken" with "no brain".
Other (southern) culprits are described as "masturbatory dribblers" but no allusions to their (lack of) intelligence.

When however, we find ourselves playing oyibo teams, that's when you find Nigerians describing everybody on our team as "lacking intelligence".

On physicality, it is equally frustrating. Yeah, we can play the 'physical' card when we need to and have the players to do it and likewise the speed game. But there is far more in our armoury than just that.

I remember the Iheanacho U17 team of 2013 being described as 'physical' by the TV commentators v Mexico and Sweden (imagine!).
I thought physi-weytin?
That team had some of the smallest and scrawniest footballers in the whole tournament yet were still described as 'physical'. Compare to some of their peers from other countries in the background.








Then I got into an argument with you-know-who about the very definition of physicality and he insisted on agreeing with the racist view.

[Dammy]

I remember having to call Archie McPherson of Eurosport during the 1994 AFCON and giving him a piece of my mind about his stereotypical commentary.
He stopped those comments subsequently.

[Damunk]

I remember having to call Archie McPherson of Eurosport during the 1994 AFCON and giving him a piece of my mind about his stereotypical commentary.
He stopped those comments subsequently.

You must have been here on CE at the time becos we were seriously complaining about that guy in those early days.

Then the climax came when CE contacted another western journalist - chai! I don forget him name now - for his racist views on African football. It was around the time SA lost their bid to host the 2006 World Cup to Germany's magomago.

To his credit, he registered and came on to CE where he engaged in a civil debate and received the schooling of his life. At the end he thanked us all for "enlightening" him in a way he had never been before.

Unfortunately the thread has been lost but I'm sure many will remember the name of the journalist I'm referring to.
At the time he was writing for Sports Illustrated, but I believe he was European, not American.

Those were the good old days when people like Banza had no role here on CE.

[Damunk]

I don remember him name now - Gabrielle Marcotti.

[Dammy]

I remember having to call Archie McPherson of Eurosport during the 1994 AFCON and giving him a piece of my mind about his stereotypical commentary.
He stopped those comments subsequently.

You must have been here on CE at the time becos we were seriously complaining about that guy in those early days.

Then the climax came when CE contacted another western journalist - chai! I don forget him name now - for his racist views on African football. It was around the time SA lost their bid to host the 2006 World Cup to Germany's magomago.

To his credit, he registered and came on to CE where he engaged in a civil debate and received the schooling of his life. At the end he thanked us all for "enlightening" him in a way he had never been before.

Unfortunately the thread has been lost but I'm sure many will remember the name of the journalist I'm referring to.
At the time he was writing for Sports Illustrated, but I believe he was European, not American.

Those were the good old days when people like Banza had no role here on CE.

Wow! I didn't know that CE was in existence in 1994!

[Gotti]

Once any Oyinbo team is drawn in the same group with an African team (male or female)...
They start to “prime” the officiating by talking about the “physicality” of African teams over and over again at every opportunity.

Having said that however...
Cameroonian teams tend to be just a tad bit PHYSICAL!

[Gotti]

I remember having to call Archie McPherson of Eurosport during the 1994 AFCON and giving him a piece of my mind about his stereotypical commentary.
He stopped those comments subsequently.

You must have been here on CE at the time becos we were seriously complaining about that guy in those early days.

Then the climax came when CE contacted another western journalist - chai! I don forget him name now - for his racist views on African football. It was around the time SA lost their bid to host the 2006 World Cup to Germany's magomago.

To his credit, he registered and came on to CE where he engaged in a civil debate and received the schooling of his life. At the end he thanked us all for "enlightening" him in a way he had never been before.

Unfortunately the thread has been lost but I'm sure many will remember the name of the journalist I'm referring to.
At the time he was writing for Sports Illustrated, but I believe he was European, not American.

Those were the good old days when people like Banza had no role here on CE.

Wow! I didn't know that CE was in existence in 1994!

It wasn’t...
Egbon Allard brought us together around 1997/98 or thereabouts.
>

[Damunk]

I remember having to call Archie McPherson of Eurosport during the 1994 AFCON and giving him a piece of my mind about his stereotypical commentary.
He stopped those comments subsequently.

You must have been here on CE at the time becos we were seriously complaining about that guy in those early days.

Then the climax came when CE contacted another western journalist - chai! I don forget him name now - for his racist views on African football. It was around the time SA lost their bid to host the 2006 World Cup to Germany's magomago.

To his credit, he registered and came on to CE where he engaged in a civil debate and received the schooling of his life. At the end he thanked us all for "enlightening" him in a way he had never been before.

Unfortunately the thread has been lost but I'm sure many will remember the name of the journalist I'm referring to.
At the time he was writing for Sports Illustrated, but I believe he was European, not American.

Those were the good old days when people like Banza had no role here on CE.

Wow! I didn't know that CE was in existence in 1994!

It wasn’t...
Egbon Allard brought us together around 1997/98 or thereabouts.
>

Yeah, possibly '96?
But Dammy must have contacted McPherson way before we started complaining here on CE.
I remember exactly where I was, watching the '94 Nigeria-Zambia AFCON final and fuming over that particular guy.
Maybe CE wasn't around at the time but it sure feels like it was!