By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
Football is the most popular sport in the in the world. Since its existence it has seen legends, from all races - black, white, Asian, Hispanic, etc, - some of whom are the very best sport men the world have ever seen.
Upon retirement, some of these players have taken the next big step in football, managing, coaching and training players. Some of them have succeeded but others are struggling; struggling with even getting the opportunity that they need. Prominent among the strugglers are the Black coaches.
Clarence Seedorf was a black Dutch footballer. He is a legend for Italian club AC Milan and he is the only player that has won the UEFA Champions League with three different teams as a player: Ajax, Real Madrid and AC Milan.
“In football, it’s 99% white men in charge. Why? Well discrimination, fear and prejudice are in the society,” he once said.
Seedorf was sacked as the manger of AC Milan just four month in to his stint. Milan was a club that was already in turmoil before his arrival but for all his big reputation, experience and intelligence he ended up losing the job.
Two seasons down the line AC Milan is as troubled as he left it, but apparently AC Milan is sticking with the coach in charge now, Sinisa Mihajlovic. Today Seedorf is a Cultural and Diversity officer for UEFA, working towards changing the white phenomenon at the highest level of football.
Football experts have always said that if such problem happened with a former player with one of the best CVs in the game, the question is what happens with players without such CVs.
Had Zinedine Zidane been white will he get the opportunity of being the manager of a club like Real Madrid? That has been a big question in the football circle. At the moment, there is no black manager in the top flight leagues in Spain, Italy, Germany and England. This situation shows how grim the picture is.
Sol Campbell is still getting his coaching badges, but he is worried about the current situation of black coaches in the game. Campbell was a captain of the England national team and upon retiring many expected that he will be offered a job in the England national team set up at some level, but that did not happen. Until late last year Gary Neville was part of the England set up under Coach Roy Hodgson.
Greatest surprise
Perhaps the greatest surprise is with African teams themselves; how many of them hire black managers? African countries are notorious for appointing white managers and coaches. When Ghana was looking for its new coach in 2015, five of the top candidates were not black. The job was later given to experienced European coach Avram Grant.
A lot people have different opinions on why black African coaches are not appointed by African countries. But prominent among these opinions are the idea of inferiority, the concept that white men can do it better. This idea cuts across in other parts of the world as well.
Former West Bromwich Albion player Brendon Batson has devoted a huge part of his time in fighting issues like discrimination and racism in football. Batson told the BBC “The message, almost by default, has been ‘we think you are good players, but we don’t think you are good coaches.’”
The African Cup of Nations is the continent’s premier football competition. In the last edition which was in held in Equatorial Guinea in 2015 there were only three black coaches in the entire competition. This number is the record low amount of black coaches in the AFCON tournament ever, since the tournament was expanded to sixteen teams in 1996. These coaches were from South Africa, Nigeria and DR Congo. Florence Ibenga is the coach of DR Congo and with his attacking style of football he managed the DR Congo team to a third place finishin the 2015 tournament.
In 2014, Steven Keshi became the first black coach to take a team to the knock out stage of the World Cup. He did so with the Nigerian national team in the last World Cup in Brazil. Coaches like Keshi and Ibenga are an example of what African coaches can achieve on the continent and even globally if they are giving the opportunities that they deserve.
Most anti-racism campaigners have said that for black coaches to get their turn, places like Africa must be in front in terms of setting the example. Former FIFA Vice President, Jeffrey Webb said: “There is nothing wrong with having a player from Africa, just like having a coach from Africa or someone in your board room from different ethnicity.”
Prejudice
Just over a month ago Cameroonian football legend, Samuel Eto’o lost the chance to become the permanent manager of Turkish club, Antalyspor. Ivorian legend, Didier Drogba is nurturing ambition to coach his beloved Chelsea someday. But with the current situation in world football, those chances might not come anytime soon.
Former England International and Liverpool player, John Barnes has coached Celtic and Jamaica. Barnes last managerial job was in 2009 with Tranmere Rovers and since then he is still unemployed. Barnes is frustrated with the lack of chances that is in the game for black coaches, he said on BBC: “A white manager loses his job and gets another job, he loses his job, he gets another job.”
The English league is regarded as the most multi cultural league in the world. In England 25% of football players in all the levels of English football are blacks. But just 6% of the teams have actually employed black people as coaches, managers, directors and in other top positions. The English FA wants this figure to rise up to 10% by the end of 2016. That is why many programs have been launched to integrate black people and other ethnic minorities at the very technical side of the game.
Former England striker, Les Ferdinand believes that there is some form of ‘covert racism’ going on in the football circle. His opinion might be subject to debate but there is some sense in it.
Black players like their white compatriots can thrive if they are given the opportunity. But judging them by prejudice might just rob football of some of the greatest managers that are yet to come.
(C) Politico 28/01/16
