The Footy Tales

 I love watching football, be it club football, age specific tournaments, or even international football. Truth is football came into my life at a time I was really down bad and it sort of became my savior, my motivator, my source for happiness. As someone who watches most matches live, it was obvious for me to tune into the 33rd AFCON going on at the moment in Cameroon (if you wanna know more about the AFCON read my blog). When I started watching I was full of excitement and hope, after all I was going to watch a new tournament, new countries, new players of whom I had never heard of, new styles of play and the new tactics I was gonna get exposed to....it was like a wet dream for me. But since I've watched a few matches, I'll be totally honest here.....I really didn't enjoy it that much. I mean, sure I wasn't foolish enough to expect European level of football, but still a part of me was really hoping for real entertainment. That not being the case, here are my thought...

  Football, the beautiful game we all love and enjoy, should ultimately be for the players. Its their job after all, to honor their contracts and be professional under every instance, no matter how challenging the situation is. The players who are European and American, including both the North and South, are often helped a great deal by their federations as well the respect they receive from the fans and society. A Brazilian or a Spanish player has a different aura about him in any league he plays . The continental showpieces of Europe and South America, the Euros and the Copa America respectively, are watched admired by people worldwide. This respect and admiration, however drains down the gutter when it comes to the African and Asian tournaments, or the players in that sense.  An African or Asian player will have to work a lot harder in order to make the name an European does. But when the disrespect towards a player, community or even a country is aimed at a continental sh...