April 29
Hello everyone!
100 is often a good number in sport. Scoring a century in
cricket draws great acclaim; 100 is seen as the benchmark 3-dart average for a
professional player. Being ranked the 100th best country in the
world at a sport, however, isn’t something to shout about.
Malawi’s national team certainly haven’t had their share of
success. Ever. The ‘Flames’, as they are known, have qualified just twice for
their continental football tournament, the Africa Cup of Nations. They were
knocked out of qualifying for the next World Cup in the very first stage of
qualification, along with other football luminaries such as Mauritius, Somalia
and Central African Republic.
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| Malawi's old, flag, used between 2010 and 2012, was the only one available outside the stadium |
Natives see their football team – or more specifically, the
administration running football in their country – as a very bad joke. This was
made evident recently when Malawi almost withdrew from Africa’s secondary
continental competition, stating that they didn’t have enough money to
participate.
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| BBC reporting the withdrawal, which was partly due to a disagreement with the government over hiring a foreign coach |
Money was miraculously found (no easy feat in a country
currently dealing with a major corruption scandal called ‘Cashgate’) and Malawi
were entered into the qualifying stages of an event I’ve never heard of. Having
read up on it, I think it’s a great idea. It’s a tournament played between
national teams, with the catch being that no expatriate players can take part.
It encourages players from their local league to take centre stage, which is
great considering the talent drain which has happened from Africa over the last
20 years.
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| Africa's version of UEFA is based in Egypt |
Malawi were deemed rubbish enough
to be placed in the very first round of regional qualifying, to play
Madagascar. Disappointingly, their nickname was nothing to do with lemurs,
instead being Barea, a type of zebu.
I had to Google both.
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| Zebus are the only type of cattle that lives in tropical rainforests |
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| The less tropical surroundings of Lilongwe's fancy new stadium |
The second leg of this titanic
match-up was Malawi’s first FIFA-recognised game in their new national stadium.
If you’ve followed my previous blogs, it’s the spaceship that can be seen from
our back garden.
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| View of the Bingu National Stadium from our garden in August 2016 |
We took the opportunity to check
out the Bingu National Stadium (named, as many things are here, after the
former President whose brother currently runs the country) at close quarters.
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| The stadium doubles up as an athletics arena |
The Chinese-funded stadium has been
beset with problems since construction started, ranging from power outages to
some people stealing the copper wiring from the electrics. It does look,
however, like it belongs in the 21st century.
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| An example of Chinese influence |
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| The spaceship has landed! |
Unfortunately, the football team
and its administration seem stuck in the dark ages. The lack of moveable posts
in the stadium meant that the national team actually came to train at our
school earlier in the week.
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| This photo followed a rather bizarre training drill involving doing diving headers from 6 inches off the floor |
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| Parking: anything goes |
The stadium was probably one-third
full to its 41,000 capacity. Tickets are 2,000 MWK (£2) but when the average
monthly wage is 15,000 MWK, it’s quite a significant outlay. Sensibly, most
people choose to sit in the shade.
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| Our second half view - we were just to the right of the large green sign for the first half |
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| Open stand - unless you looked foreign, in which case you were moved into a nicer seating area |
The stadium experience in itself
was particularly interesting. Sights in the stands included a man selling
boiled eggs, a man dressed in full chef’s garb, and another entrepreneur
carrying a camera and printer to take instant photos for supporters.
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| The man would often wait for the egg to have been eaten and collect the shell from the consumer |
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| Fresh from the restaurant, obviously |
Then there’s the atmosphere.
Vuvuzelas blaring. Anthems being loudly and proudly sung.
The match itself was fast-paced,
with the lack of qualify reflecting both team’s position far down the world
rankings. It was almost comical watching the number of air kicks, shanks and misplaced
passes. Malawi’s fear of shooting ended up costing them, with a 1-0 defeat to
Madagascar resulting in them – along with the Seychelles – being the first
teams eliminated from their region. In spite of this, the fans were still
supportive of both the team and their new manager.
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| Madagascar's team talk must have been inspiring - they scored minutes after the restart |
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| Malawi supporters flock out of the stadium |
Love you all,
Matt
Matt