Africa 2010 – Bridging the knowledge divide – soccer – Part 15 of 30
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...By MUTUMWA MAWERE
Published: January 3, 2010
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On this Sunday, January 3, 2010, I could think of no better subject to write about than soccer not only because South Africa, my adopted home, will host for the first time on African soil, the biggest and most prestigious sport event in the world, but behind the game is a sophisticated business model that has to be appreciated and understood.
It has been argued that Africa was and continues to be subjected to the influence of foreign cultures because of many factors including weak institutional capacity.
The soccer political economy when properly understood can help enlighten us on some of the key ideological questions that confront us as we try to advance the cause of Africa.
Behind the game of soccer is a complex business model. The soccer society is self governing and global in character and composition.
It has its own government with its own global president. It has its own business model that provides value to its stakeholders who include the soccer loving public.
Its practitioners have to be rewarded like any other service provider. The allocation of seats is market driven. Have you ever wondered what would happen if the soccer economy was socialist in orientation how the tickets would be allocated?
We are comforted that the allocation of tickets for the world cup will not involve state actors or powerful people.
Those who can afford and are willing to abide by the contract inherent in purchasing a ticket will get a seat to see a live game.
Those that cannot afford will not be left out as they can watch the game far from the fields where the games will be played.
They say that the closer you want to be to the actual game the more you will have to pay. Without a market system, there would be chaos in terms of the actual administration of the game.
Even those who argue that Africa must be governed under a socialist system would agree that such a system would not produce optimum results in the soccer world.
We have heard of FIFA and many of us do not understand what the acronyms stand for. It is the equivalent of the United Nations in the soccer world society.
However, its members are not states but football associations. The soccer government relies for its survival on member support and sponsorships.
FIFA stands for the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (International Federation of Association Football).
It is the international governing body or association football that is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland.
Sir Sepp Blatter is its current President. It is responsible for the organization and governance of football’s major international tournaments, most notably the FIFA World Cup that has been held since 1930.
It has 208 member associations making it larger than the UN with 16 fewer members and the International Olympic Committee with 3 fewer members and smaller than the International Association of Athletics Federations that has five more members.
Knowledge is power because it is not perishable like life or wealth. What do we know of FIFA? When was it established? What was its purpose? Why was this initiative not driven by nation states?
FIFA was founded in Paris on 21 May 1904 in response to a need for a single body to oversee the worldwide game that had a popular support base.
The new organization presided over its first international competition in 1906, but this met with little approval or success.
This was followed with executive changes and the next football tournament was hosted as part of the Olympics in London in 1908.
This event was more successful than the inaugural event but the players were professional footballers contrary to the founding principles of FIFA.
Membership of FIFA that started as a European affair; expanded beyond the continent with the application of South Africa in 1908, Argentina and Chile in 1912, and Canada and the USA in 1913.
At its core it is a federation of national soccer bodies. It is a voluntary association of soccer bodies.
Like any institution, it is seized with the responsibility of crafting the rules of the game. Without the rule of law, there can be no World Cup.
The soccer economy is bigger than many nation states and yet there has been no call to nationalize the economy in the name of efficiency gains or protecting the soccer loving public.
Yes, FIFA has its own institutional challenges but one cannot say that the soccer would benefit if the society were nationalized.
What lessons do we draw from FIFA? As we count down to the great game, we must pause to reflect on the dynamics that are at play to administer this popular sport.
We learn that there is no substitute to working together. Any supranational body has to appreciate the politics of diversity.
FIFA has one President and his replacement has not followed the pattern of power transfers in many of our nations.
Yes, there is corruption in the soccer economy. We all know that human beings are inherently corrupt and any human institution can never be free from this vice.
Notwithstanding, we are confident that the World Cup will be successful not because governments want them to be but because underpinning the game is a secure belief that free people when given a choice will make things happen.
The spectators who will converge on Africa will do so out of their own choice. If the entrance fee is not properly prized or marketed, there is no doubt what will happen.
What FIFA controls is the right of nations to host the game. Such a right is prized to give value to the sponsors.
If the arithmetic is wrong the game will not attract the support that it has enjoyed from the private sector.
Nation states that host the game benefit both directly and indirectly from the human traffic without whose support the game would represent just another social enterprise with no commercial impact.
The soccer economy is a mutual. It relies on the support of members. It is as strong as its weakest link.
Our knowledge of institution building can assist in the transformation of Africa. In the political sphere we are less organized than in the other human endeavors.
Politicians need state power to remain relevant whereas members of civic organizations have to remain relevant through the active support of members.
Africa can only be better if we choose to be better. We have to understand how to organize ourselves.
As a member of Africa Heritage Society www.africa-heritage.com I have become acutely conscious of the real and potent risk to advancement.
It is not unnatural for people to want the organization to do more than what they can do through the organization.
Sir Blatter, for example, can only be important if all the constituents of the soccer pyramid do what they are supposed to do.
He has 24 hours in a day and can only see what his eyes allow him to.
He can only be powerful if at the level of a soccer club there is consciousness on what is required to build a progressive and successful society.
In the case of soccer, the value lies in organization.
Even the best player would come to know that without a society called FIFA, the talent would definitely be wasted.
It is self evident that institutions do give value to civilization and it is in institution building that Africans in the majority are found wanting.
It was South Africa that became the first African country to apply to be member of FIFA. We have to ask why South Africa. What made South Africa different from other African states of the day?
Even the racially conscious South Africa understood the need to be part of a community.
The real power lies in being part of something bigger than you.