The tragedy of Marc-Vivien Foé’s death hits much harder at his gravesite.

It overlooks a soccer field, but not the kind the late Cameroon and Manchester City player wanted. The goalposts are part of a shoddy metal frame, unpainted and leaning to one side. The field is bare earth and lined with trash.

There’s a crumbling building nearby with windows and parts of walls missing. The whole site once became a haven for criminals and drug users.

This was meant to be Foé’s dream.

When Foé collapsed on a field while playing for his country at FIFA’s Confederations Cup in 2003 and died in an awful moment for world soccer, he was in the process of building a sports complex and school in the eastern outskirts of his hometown of Yaounde. It was to be his legacy, his gift to his people and a precious resource for budding young soccer players in a part of the world where they get little help.

Foé never got to finish it and instead it became his final resting place.

But at Foé’s funeral, when he was buried with military honors and hailed as a “fallen national hero,” promises were made by representatives of the Cameroon government that the project would be completed in his memory. Nearly 20 years later, it’s in ruins. The only part of the complex that isn’t broken down is the marble block that marks Foé’s grave.

Foé’s nephew, Nama Mvogo, says he visits every week to clean the grave. Every time, he’s struck by how forsaken it appears.

“I feel that my uncle has been abandoned,” Mvogo said. “Even to come and see his tomb, (there’s) nothing. It’s deplorable.”

The last month has been a painful one for Mvogo as he watched his central African country host the African Cup of Nations, the continent’s biggest soccer tournament, for the first time in 50 years. It’s a tournament Foé won twice with Cameroon and Mvogo thought it would be the perfect opportunity to revive Foé’s project, or at least recognize him.

But there was no mention of Foé at the tournament, Mvogo said, and watching Cameroon’s current team play at this African Cup invoked nothing but sadness for him.

Foé played for Cameroon for a decade and also became a popular player in England with West Ham and Manchester City. He died at the age of 28 from an undiagnosed heart condition, which was discovered in the days after he slumped to the ground in the center circle at the Gerland stadium in Lyon, France during the Confederations Cup semifinal against Colombia. It united world soccer in grief.

Tens of thousands lined the streets of Yaounde for his funeral procession. Then-FIFA President Sepp Blatter and Cameroon President Paul Biya attended the service but Foé’s true value as a person was only revealed when an unknown 14-year-old boy stood up and explained how the soccer star had been paying for him to attend a special center for the disabled.

Since then the academy project fell into disrepair. Mvogo said its future is complicated and Foé’s father and widow, who live in France, and the government haven’t been able to work together to revive it.

But it’s not completely abandoned.

Two small soccer schools make use of the land, somehow managing to train and play games in the dirt near Foé’s grave. The original field Foé marked out was overgrown with palm trees long ago, Mvogo said.

Goalkeeper David Neabo, who plays for an under-9 team, stands under those crooked goalposts clutching a ball. His coach, Ewodo Yves Laurent, said he still invokes Foé’s memory to inspire the kids, who weren’t even born when Foé died and can’t really grasp his success from the dilapidated state of the academy.

“I tell them about Marc-Vivien Foé, who also motivated me to come here,” the coach said. “When I look at what he did, what he became in life, I ask myself why not sustain his dream?”

The only image of Foé at the complex is a statue of him in Cameroon’s team uniform, his right arm raised in celebration. But its proportions are not quite right and the figure appears stunted and doesn’t resemble the powerful 6-foot-2 midfielder Foé was. Years of neglect have chipped away at it and Foé’s green Cameroon shirt is faded and discolored.

Mvogo doesn’t know if his uncle’s dream will ever be realized but a recent incident did give him hope for the future. He came across Eric Djemba-Djemba, the former Manchester United midfielder and Foé’s Cameroon teammate, visiting the grave.

“He said he couldn’t afford to be in Cameroon and not stop here,” Mvogo recalled.

Foé’s memory, at least, remains alive for some.

Culled from AP

Yannick Noah has been a tennis star and a rock star. Now he has a new role in life; chief of his village in Cameroon. It was the dream of his father, Zacharie, who raised his son to become the French Open champion and who saw his grandson, Joakim, become a star in the NBA.

When Zacharie Noah died in 2017, Yannick Noah made a decision to return to the home of his birth, the country he left when he was 12, in order to fulfil his father’s dreams. Now, the 61-year-old Noah is chief of a former village called Etoudi, now a part of Yaoundé.

YANNICK NOAH, SON OF ZACHARIE

In a touching video published by Brut, the 1983 Roland-Garros champion takes cameras around his village, where he is greeted by children at his old school. Pointing out the school that his mother founded, his home and the bedroom that is now a classroom, Noah’s role is to watch over both the children and the elders. The people call him “Papi Yannick” or “Tonton Yannick

Yannick Noah

“I am the patriarch of what used to be a village and now it is one of the neighbourhoods of Yaoundé,” Noah says. “This is my town.”

It was only when his father passed away in 2017 that Noah felt ready to take on the job. In that year, France won the Davis Cup under Noah’s captaincy

“It was like a calling. And his crazy dream was for me to come. And not just that I would take care of it but that I would be there. I don’t think I could have come three years ago, it was not the time. And then, all of a sudden, it was time. It’s my destiny to be here.”

Noah says his biggest job now is to get to grips again with the local dialect but said he’d find a way. “It’s a real responsibility, but I’m a fighter,” he says, with a smile.

Source: Tennismajors

Cameroon have finished 3rd in the Africa cup of Nations after coming from 3 goals down before winning 5-3 in the penalty shootout.

Burkina Faso surprisingly beat the host nation 2-nil in the 1st half and Djibril Ouattara scored the 3rd before the hour mark. But, Cameroon responded in a superb fashion as Stephane Bahoken pulled one back in the 71st minute. Then, Vincent Aboubakar netted twice in a span of 3 minutes to tie the match at 3-all in the regulation time and the match went to penalties without any extra time.

The 5-time winner then converted all 5 of their spot-kick to finish 3rd. The final of the tournament will be held on Sunday and Egypt will face Senegal to extend their 7-time winner record while Senegal are bidding to claim their 1st continental title.

The Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) buzz that has gripped Cameroon, which not even a stampede and eight people dying could damper, has yet to reach some parts of the country even as the tournament reaches its crescendo. In certain areas of the central African nation, watching football is a luxury.

While most of Cameroon and the rest of the continent have been enjoying the football fiesta, fear and militarisation have gripped the English-speaking parts of the country. The government pulled out all the stops to ensure no embarrassment when those fighting for secession threatened to use the Afcon to amplify their voice and cause.

At the heart of this is the so-called Anglophone crisis that began in 2017 with a strike against the marginalisation of those in the English-speaking parts of the largely Francophone country. This culminated in a strong push for secession of the Northwest and Southwest regions.

The ugly side of the beautiful game

Ardent football fan Tata Tilion comes from Buea, the capital of the Southwest Region. With Cameroon hosting the continental showpiece for the first time in 50 years, he had been looking forward to enjoying the extravaganza. But when it came, insecurity had got the better of his hometown and made football a menace to his existence.

“Teams lodging in Buea aren’t comfortable. They train with so much fear. Imagine having just military people watching training sessions,” says Buea resident Obasse Romeo.

Limbé in the Southwest Region hosted Group F – Mali, Tunisia, The Gambia and Mauritania – and two last-16 matches. But for Tilion and many like him, going to the stadium to enjoy the tournament didn’t cross their minds because of the prevailing atmosphere.

Stray bullets

The situation is worse on Mondays. This is the day when separatist fighters impose a sit-at-home strike. “The town is dreadful … [Only] courageous people are on the streets because anything can happen,” says Tilion.

As a taxi driver, he is forced to leave his home on Mondays. “The issue is you don’t know who is monitoring or if the separatist fighters have spotted you.”

In this area, secessionists fighting President Paul Biya’s French-majority government to form a breakaway state called Ambazonia are everywhere and do not wear identifiable attire. They infiltrate gatherings and public places to gain information. Improvised explosive devices that are suspected to have come from them have killed many people, particularly those they said had disobeyed their orders or sympathised with the government.

Inside the stampede at Olembé Stadium

This is why Tilion has been watching the tournament on television rather than risk his life to the detriment of his wife, three children and other relatives. Stray bullets killed three people on the opening day for Group F during shootings by both state forces and secessionist fighters.

Since the crisis started, more than 3 500 people have died during spates of violence and about 700 000 forced to flee the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon, according to UN reports.

The death of team spirit

Football fan Tiku Musu Kasa has no problem with the government deploying gun-wielding soldiers. “The advantage we have now is witnessing it [the Afcon] and being able to recount to the next generation. If you are watching it on television or following it on radio, you will not be able to give a vivid testimony of the experience in years to come.”

Kasa appreciates the role football has played to bring unity to the country. “After the abortive coup d’état of 1984, a lot of hatred continued in Cameroon, and there was an opportunity for another coup.

“But with the brilliant performance of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, defeating 1986 World Cup holders Argentina in the presence of the god of football at the time, Diego Armando Maradona, and other victories in the same tournament, it made people move with peace plants all over. Peace automatically returned to the country.”

During that period, people watched football freely all over the country. Sociocultural and economic activities boomed. Kasa remembers how Ekata Farmers FC of Bafia pulled in the crowds when they visited Kumba to play.

“When Cameroon had to play, people used to wear their jerseys, flags. Some dressed like footballers with boots and walked the streets. If you were a fan of a particular player, you wore that player’s jersey.”

Today, “people are afraid that if they wear team colours, fighters and people with secessionist ideas will consider them blacklegs”, Kasa says referring to the derogatory term used against people who act against trade unions by working when others are on strike. He continued that secessionists also “kill, beat them or burn their houses”.

Match day with the military

It is match day in Limbé on Sunday 23 January. In neighbouring Buea, with six hours to go before Burkina Faso’s clash with Gabon in the last 16. There are no vuvuzelas, excitement, flags or Afcon colours. The streets are heavily militarised, and soldiers line the roads and watch over suspicious joints and byways. Some use incomplete buildings and flyovers as watchtowers.

Here, unlike in the other host cities, sirens and escort drivers are not in use, perhaps for fear of attracting fighters. The driver of the Confederation of African Football-branded bus taking reporters to the stadium makes two stops to pick up journalists, much to the dismay of the military escorts who see it as risky.

Limbé is relatively calm, a little more congested with fans waving as we pass. Traffic police officers clear the way as we descend to Ngueme, where the stadium is located.

Down right, another contingent of soldiers lines both sides of the road. Checkpoints, too. Security is tight at the entrance with others along the stadium’s perimeter. Unlike in Buea, there are fans walking, some running, some gesturing at us to help them catch up with the game.

Before kick off, Gabonese fan Manitou, who refers to himself only by his first name, says he was afraid to come to Limbé. “On my way here, I saw military people with firearms. They told me that the area had security issues. That’s why I decided to lodge in Douala. But personally, I think it’s good. It prevents those coming with bad intentions. Our government provided 10 buses to transport us and we were escorted by these soldiers. That’s needed for us to feel secure.”

Somehow, attendance at the 20 000-seater stadium is impressive. Ruling party politicians and pro-regime administrators desperately mobilised crowds to show up at the stadium to cheer. Spectators say they received free tickets and vaccination passes – even those who aren’t inoculated.

Abductions and torture

When the Afcon ends on 6 February and all the dignitaries are gone, a good number of soldiers will be taken off the streets. Problems will remain. Football will still be a tough sport to follow.

Shootings, killings, burnings, brutality and kidnappings have seen many amateur clubs withdraw from regional competitions. The few enduring ones play fewer games, with matches held in towns that offer better security, such as Kumba, Buea, Limbé and Bamenda. The peripheries are no-go zones.

Former footballer Obasse Romeo remembers the day that unknown gunmen attacked Mount Cameroon FC players at training. Players subsequently withdrew for their safety.

Amba Boys, as separatist fighters are commonly referred to, send death threats and disrupt games. They abducted Buea University’s football team from the campus training ground and tortured them. Unknown gunmen shot and killed Kombe Israel, the owner of Bau Manibok FC, in Kumba in June 2021.

The dark side of sport’s power

In the country’s Northwest Region, second and first-tier clubs have had their share of trouble too.

Emmanuel Ndoumbe Bosso, the former coach of Yong Sports Academy (Yosa), was kidnapped while driving to the club’s training ground. Augustine Choupo, the coach of 2020 Cameroon league one champions PWD Bamenda, was also kidnapped. The clubs didn’t say if ransoms were paid to secure their releases, and Bosso left after the incident. 

When the clubs host league games, gun-wielding officers serve as stewards. This is after armed groups attacked visiting Dragon de Yaoundé as they made their way to a match venue in Bamenda. Heavily armed security forces accompany visiting teams to and from the field, and sometimes out of town. When a game ends, the visiting team is quickly taken away, sometimes before they have even changed out of their match jerseys.

Club repercussions

Yosa press officer Wanchia Cynthia says the instability in the region has affected their club. “Initially, we had Francophone players ready to play for the team. But since 2021, it hasn’t been the case, reason being the insecurity. Those players are afraid of kidnappers and stray bullets. Yogo Sorel is the only Francophone who played for the team last year.”

This isn’t an issue for the team though, says Wanchia, because it has made room for players from the two English-speaking regions.

The Bamenda Olympic Stadium project remains unfinished. Constructors are said to blame the slow progress on insecurity in the area.

Kasa says the crisis isn’t helping in any way. He wants peace to return so “young people will express their talents and football will grow again”.

Culled from New Frame