In
2010, against all odds, South Africa brought the world the biggest
football party they had ever seen (and we even gave them a rather loud souvenir too). The Rainbow Nation was united for a month, football was
the winner, and streams of tourism income was due to flow in the coming
months and years to provide long-lasting prosperity for South Africans.
Or at least that's what we were told.
For years,
public funds have not been enough , it seems, to provide a large number
of poor communities with access to decent sporting facilities. Yet,
somehow, Mzansi decided to build expensive stadiums such as the Nelson
Mandela stadium, Mbombela Stadium, Cape Town stadium and the Peter
Mokaba stadium at great cost and these stadiums are fast becoming white
elephants. Furthermore, the Polokwane Municipality apparently pays
Kaizer Chiefs around R1 million rand (per game) to play matches at the
Peter Mokaba Stadium, which means even more money is coming from the
public purse. There's also no need to discuss how the investment into
Concert City Soccer City is going.
Cue the Brazilian people of
2013. Facing similar problems that South Africans are currently facing
(corruption, failing public services, large income disparities and an
unresponsive government), these people did not even wait for the main
event (World Cup) to start voicing their opinion. Already, only a few
days into the 2013 Confederations Cup, the voice of the protestors has
gotten so loud that it is getting the attention of the attention-grabber
extraordinaire himself, Neymar, who recently stated that he would
"enter the field inspired by this movement".
In case you have
been living in a hole, in the past few days, more than a million people
have marched against the government in major cities around Brazil. They
have been protesting, waving Brazilian flags, dancing and chanting
slogans such as “Pardon the inconvenience, Brazil is changing".
Protests
were sparked this week initially by a rise in bus and subway fairs.
Protesters are now also fighting for an improvement to the currently
inadequate and overcrowded public transportation networks, better health
and education, and for corruption to be tackled.
With the
football world's attention on Brazil, the people have grasped the
perfect opportunity to to make their voices heard. The protestors are
accusing the government of spending billions building recreational
stadiums and ignoring priorities such as as health and education.
For
those who didn't know, hosting the FIFA World Cup is set to cost Brazil
about $15 million (significantly higher than the reported $7 billion
it cost South Africa in 2010). Some reports claim that FIFA walked away
from the 2010 World Cup with $3.2 billion, while the Local Organizing
Committee only earned about $70-100 million. Furthermore, the tournament
only added 0.4% to South Africa's gross domestic product.
I
digress. In 2013, the Brazilians have used football - or football's
ability to draw the world's attention to a nation - to make their voices
heard. As a certain journalist pointed out, "mega sports events create
a coterie of crooked politicos, corporate interests, and professional organizers indifferent to the realities outside the stadiums," and in
spite of Brazilians' immense love for the game, the Brazilian people are
making sure that the world is aware of the realities outside their
beautiful stadiums.
Bill Shankly once famously said: "Some people
believe football is a matter of life and death. I am very disappointed
with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important
than that." Personally, I believe that football has been put on this
pedestal and its importance has been greatly exaggerated by many. But
now, the Brazilian people are managing to put social issues back into
focus. I hope that this does not eventually come at the cost of a
life.
I also hope that the actions of Brazilian protestors can
lead to some sort of long-lasting positive effect on their lives and
while also opening up people's minds to the greater costs and disadvantages of hosting a mega-events such as the World Cup, because in
the end, football is just a game. It is a great game: a great game that
provides a form of enjoyable escapism. Governments and citizens alike
should never forget that public money may be better used helping the
poor escape poverty and helping those who cannot read to escape illiteracy (among other things) rather than channeling scarce resources
to once-off events like the World Cup.
Good luck, Brazil!
Thomas Monyepao