Bad news stories in African football in 2016

Bad news stories are part of the tapestry of football and in Africa there are never any shortages, but KweséSports reckons an exciting 2017 means there is likely to be much more drama and excitement – and good news – than there was in 2016.

Refereeing controversies

It is a perennial problem in the African game and one that officialdom seem unwilling to get to the heart and seek to solve. The bribing of referees is hard to prove but the suspicion that this is common cause in the African game is overriding.

But if it difficult to catch cheats, it is certain not hard to pin point poor or suspiciously one-sided performances. There were several in the African Nations Cup qualifiers and African Champions League campaigns but it was only in theWorld Cup qualifiers, perhaps because they are overseen by FIFA, that an errand referee was handed a banning for a blatant one-sided performance.

Joseph Lamptey of Ghana will not be blowing at the upcoming Nations Cup finals in Gabon because of the way he favoured South Africa in their narrow 2-1 win over Senegal in Polokwane in November. A soft penalty and a second goal, scored off a free kick while he was still talking to some of the Senegal players, raised more than just an eyebrow. His suspension was a step in the right direction but there was still no investigation into whether it was just a bad day at the office or something more sinister.

Stadium disorder

Entente Setif were one of several Algerian clubs who suffered the consequence of badly behaved fans but their sanction had a much more dire impact. Stadium bans remain a regularity for clubs in the north African country where tempestuous behaviour in the stands is all too common.

But Setif paid a much heavier price after frustrated supporters threw objects onto the pitch near the end of their Champions League tie with Mamelodi Sundowns.

The Confederation of African Football ruled the game had been brought to a premature halt, even though it was already in stoppage time, and resultantly handed Sundowns a forfeit result (they were winning at the time anyway) while kicking Setif out of the competition. It cost them heavily, both in terms of reputation and as well as financially.

Maladministration

In the qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup, they was an unusually large number of administrative oversights which costs countries points as they fielded players who were supposed to be suspended. It meant a loss of points and fines and in the case of the Cape Verde Islands, effectively cost them a chance to compete in the final play-offs for the tournament in Brazil.

One would suppose those lessons would have filtered across the continent but in 2016 it was the turn of AS Vita Club of the Democratic Republic of Congo to mess up and get kicked out of the group phase of the Champions League, which cost them a minimum of some 200 000 US Dollars. Poor quality administrators are the ‘bête noire’ of African football and purveyors of an unless run of bad news stories.

Gabon turmoil

Just months before the hosting of the Nations Cup finals, the usually sedate Gabon spilt into turmoil after allegations the Bongo family stole yet another election.

After decades of rule by, first father Omar, and now son Ali, Gabon seemed ready to boot out the kleptocracy and install a first democratic elected government. But opposition leader Jean Ping lost the election after results were readjusted to allow Bongo to hang onto power, setting off violent demonstrations.

It cast a pale over the Nations Cup tournament although once the violence died down any eventuality of the tournament being moved to another country dissipated. But the costs and excess of hosting the Nations Cup will come under scrutiny again when the tournament is hosted in the next weeks.