In Luanda, Angola’s capital, a group of teenage girls sit together, chatting and giggling. They are excited to share in the parties marking 40 years since their country’s independence. One member is especially jubilant, celebrating a double victory. Earlier that year, Catarina Serra joined a team in Portugal for Angola’s first ever international showjumping tournament, bringing back a silver medal and a heightened sense of national pride.
“Portugal was the highlight… showjumping fascinates me and I always intended to pursue it as a career,” says the 18-year-old Serra, exhibiting a determination belying her age.
Showjumping is an Olympic sport, judged according to a rider’s ability to clear obstacles in the shortest time possible. While participants are not judged for style, it is widely seen as one of the most stylish sports in the world, attracting luxury brand sponsors and a jet-set elite from across the globe. While the sport may appeal to those seeking glamour and excitement, in practice it requires dedication, strength, stamina, balance, as well as empathy with and control of the horse.
Angolan riders must train regularly, face internal competitions at least once a month and are encouraged to take part in at least three regional competitions each year. While her friends enjoy leisurely weekends at the beach or the mall, Serra starts her weekends at 7.30AM, taking the traffic-logged journey to the riding school. Here she tacks up her horse, begins training, showers her down, and then starts all over with another mare.
“It is hard to balance riding, school, family, friends…” she huffs as she runs from one stable to another.
Showjumping began in France and Britain in the 18th century but is very new to Angola, where riding itself can only be traced back to the 1950s. It was then that horses were used for combat purposes by the Portuguese colonial forces against guerrillas in the Angolan War of Independence. These cavalry units, known as the Dragöes de Angola, benefited from a better view of the battlefield above the tall grass. They also held a psychological advantage over their enemy who were unaccustomed to dealing with soldiers on horseback. Since independence, Angola’s cavalry forces were expanded and the mounted unit remains an integral and highly-regarded part of the national police force. Horses were first imported from South Africa, and later from Argentina. The former Minister of Petroleum, Desidério Costa, boosted the equestrian movement further by importing the first Lusitano breed from Portugal and setting up the first riding school after independence.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-4936" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1D4_1328-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" />
This school, Gimunalu, on the outskirts of Luanda, remains one of the top training grounds for athletes today, featuring a stadium and a riding school with a covered ring and jumping arena. It also houses a 42-box stable yard, accommodation for the riders, and several fields. In addition, a specialist hippotherapy center provides rehabilitation for people affected by motor, sensory and mental disorders through interdisciplinary training with the horses. Meanwhile, the Huila riding center at Lubango, born out of the dust in 2013, now boasts a three-hectare field, five paddocks, a 34-stable yard, three training rings, as well as accommodation and event rooms.
A mostly rural country, with many farms and a predominantly young population, Angola is now seizing the opportunity to become a major player worldwide. In 2009, it set up its own national federation for equestrian sports, Fequangola. In 2014, it was accepted into the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), the top governing body for equestrian competitions, and in 2015 it sent a team to compete in Portugal at a Grand Prix tour, the highest level of showjumping competition. In the same year, in line with the leading governing body which oversees the breeding of competitive dressage and showjumping horses, it also began its first insemination program for a local line of specialist horses.
It’s an expensive business. Contrast this with Angola’s extreme poverty and one would be forgiven for thinking that its foray into equestrian sports comes at a shameful expense. However, unlike many countries where the sport is traditionally reserved for the affluent, Angola is keen to utilize the sport as a lifeline for the disadvantaged. The mounted police unit gives free riding lessons to children of all staff, while Gimunalu also offers free lessons to stable grooms, relatives of farmers, as well as top students from the neighboring school. FEI Solidarity, a global program to support the next generation of riders, is also being implemented in Angola.
“[Showjumping] is a means to give some hope to children of a poorer background and have them practice this wonderful sport. I just love to see the smiles on their faces when they sit on horseback for the very first time,” says Fequangola Vice President for Foreign Affairs, Ginga d’Almeida.
Considering the slump in oil prices and its need to diversify the economy, Angola’s focus on equestrian sports is also pragmatic. Equestrian sport is just one of several areas targeted for creating jobs and boosting economic growth. The nation aims to attract foreign direct investment through the sale of its showjumping bloodstock to neighboring countries, as well as to boost tourism through top-class riding schools and international competitions.
Unsurprisingly, showjumping is being taken very seriously at the upper echelons of government, with President Jose Eduardo dos Santos attending the first competition held in the country in 2009. Other African nations are providing ample competition, with the FEI now boasting 14 members across the continent. Angola will be focusing on jumping in particular over the coming years, working closely with the FEI, neighboring national federations and the African Confederation of Equestrian Sports.
“I personally intend to pursue efforts… for Angola to become the most equestrian nation in southwest Africa,” says d’Almeida with a determined smile.
Sadly, the fall in oil prices and global economic recession has forced the country to tighten its belt, and the lack of funds is proving a higher obstacle than the jumps themselves. If Angola is to maintain momentum in the world of showjumping, it will need private sponsorship. Top-notch trainers, qualified veterinary surgeons and horse medicine are not readily found within the country and come at a huge cost. Add to this the maintenance of the riding schools, entry fees into international competitions, along with the logistics of getting the team there in the first place, and the costs spiral. For this reason Angola will not be competing at this year’s Olympics in Brazil.
“Unfortunately riding is an expensive sport so we need to find sponsors so we can better finance our activities. I trust that, with time, people will understand this sport better and support us more,” says d’Almeida.
While Angola faces many challenges, it holds a promising future. Serra has her eye on a particular prize.
“I would be very pleased if one day I could get to the World Equestrian Games and maybe, who knows, the Olympics,” she says.
FEI Secretary General Sabrina Ibáñez says that this is not such a distant dream.
“This is a real possibility for Angola looking towards Tokyo 2020 and beyond,” she says.
All the more reason for a double celebration at the country’s 50th independence anniversary.

The Showjumpers   Of Angola

There are two African countries playing in the Rugby World Cup. One is a powerhouse of the world, the other a minnow; neither is likely to win.
South Africa and Namibia carry the continent’s hopes when the tournament begins in England on September 19. The best Namibia can hope for is a headline-grabbing upset. South Africa are expected to win every time they play. That’s where the problem lies; they haven’t won an official match this year. Narrow defeats to arch-enemies Australia and New Zealand were followed by a first loss to Argentina.
<div id="attachment_4051" style="width: 173px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-4051" class="size-medium wp-image-4051" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/unnamed-1-163x300.jpg" alt="" width="163" height="300" />Schalk Burger (C) of the Springboks during the Castle Lager Rugby Championship match South Africa v New Zealand at Emirates Airline Park, Johannesburg South Africa Saturday 25 July 2015. Photo by: Christiaan Kotze/SASPA</div>
The embarrassment of this result was coupled with fury from the rugby-mad South African public. Just weeks before the World Cup starts, there were calls for the coach, Heyneke Meyer, to be sacked. It also reignited the debate on quotas. Labor union, Cosatu, former Springbok coach, Peter de Villiers, and journalists joined the uproar over the lack of black players in the national team.
A lack of transformation has always been a criticism the sport endures in South Africa. Although there have been high-profile black players in the green-and-gold jersey, such as World Cup winners Bryan Habana and Chester Williams, they are still too few. Critics say a country with a black majority should reflect this in its rugby team.
Meyer denies any racial bias in his selections, claiming players are chosen on merit. The only way to silence his critics, perhaps, is to win a record third title for South Africa.
Former Springbok player, Jan Boland Coetzee, is not giving up on a South Africa that is given little chance.
“In modern times, any team can beat any other team on any day; it just depends on the team. But you need to put yourself in the way of luck. Luck won’t come to you. You prepare properly and you play properly, and you can change your game-plan while playing,” he says.
Fans are praying he is right.

Never Turn Your Back On A Thirsty All Black

Green And Gold But Not Black Enough

He hits the ball with deadly ferocity but there’s more to Kevin Anderson’s game than a booming serve. In recent weeks, the tennis player from Johannesburg, South Africa, has proved he is a match for the best. He made the final of the Wimbledon warm-up tournament, Queen’s, where he was beaten by Andy Murray. At Wimbledon, the tournament every player wants to win, he gave the champion, Novak Djokovic, an almighty scare. On the way, he beat Grand Slam champions Stan Wawrinka and Lleyton Hewitt.
After winning 6-7, 6-7, 6-1, 6-4, 7-5, Djokovic, the best player in the world, said Anderson also deserved to win.
“It’s good to hear that he felt the same way. It’s tough losing matches like that but it would be unfair on myself not to try to take as many positives out of it as possible,” says Anderson.
The 29-year-old Anderson, who stands 2.01 meters tall in his tennis shoes, grabbed the world’s attention when he won the first two sets against Djokovic.
“I was in a very good position but the margins are so small. In the third set, I was trying to find a way to keep the pressure on him and by giving him that early break, he got some confidence and ended up being too classy for me. But, for the most part, that is how I want to be playing.”
His form this year has been rewarded. After reaching the final at Queen’s, he earned a career-high world ranking of 14.
Anderson has long been seen as a dangerous player but the world’s stars probably lost little sleep. That could change.
“I think it’s been my hunger to keep improving and put myself in this position. I made some small improvements but those small improvements make a big difference. Also, just playing different guys more, playing in different match situations and different rounds; it’s tough to beat that kind of experience. I think everyone’s improving, so you’ve got to work hard and when you see the results it gives you more motivation.”
His hard work is finally earning South Africa’s highest ranked tennis player the recognition, many believe, he deserves. Before this year, Anderson was not as well known as a top sportsman in a sport-mad country should be. He hopes his newfound fame can help revive tennis in South Africa.
“Schools sent a bunch of their tennis players to Wimbledon to watch me play and train and interact with me&#8230; It was great but it’s such a difficult thing because you need to start tennis at a young age. My hope is the better I do, the more influence I can have.”
South Africa has a rich history of great tennis players such as Johan Kriek, Kevin Curren and Wayne Ferreira. Anderson is reaching their level. He has won two tournaments on the ATP World Tour – the SA Tennis Open in 2011 and the Delray Beach Open in 2012.
Curren, a finalist at Wimbledon in 1985, is interested to see what Anderson can do.
“He’s done very well with what he has with his game. It will be interesting to see whether he can step it up to that next level&#8230; I don’t think the guys like to play him because he’s a dangerous opponent,” says Curren.
Being the highest ranked South African doesn’t worry Anderson.
“I’ve been the highest ranked player since 2008. I’m really proud and happy to do that, especially for players that are looking up to me. I feel excitement rather than expectation. I feel like I give my best and there’s nothing more I can do; I’m comfortable with that.”
Winning the SA Open in Johannesburg is the highlight of Anderson’s career so far.
“It’s my home event and 15 minutes from where I grew up. To win my first tour title there was a great feeling; friends and family were watching and it was a special week.”
Family is the reason tennis has been so prominent in his life.
“My dad taught me and my brother when we were growing up. He was incredibly passionate about the game and had high hopes for both of us. We worked really hard as kids and practised a lot. Tennis is an individual sport and that really appealed to us. It’s a sport that relies on pretty much just your ability, sometimes in team sports it’s not always in your control,” he says.
“My dad played himself. Tennis was big in their family. When he lived in Zimbabwe they had a grass court. He was really into sport but I think the individuality of tennis appealed to him.”
Anderson attended the prestigious St Stithians College in Johannesburg. In his final two years of school, he went to British International College because he had started to travel as a junior player to Europe and the school allowed distance learning.
His tennis skills allowed Anderson to attend the University of Illinois in the United States (US). He has lived in the US ever since.
“It’s an expensive sport, especially in South Africa, where you’re trying to play internationally. Even when you’re juniors, you need to travel with a coach and even a physio and these are very expensive endeavours. One of the big reasons I went to college [in the US] was to establish a base outside of South Africa. In the US, traveling around is much easier and there are always players to practice with.”
Despite being South Africa’s best tennis player, Anderson has been criticized for not playing for his country. Over the years, he has withdrawn from South Africa’s Davis Cup team; the result of a busy diary.
“I don’t want to speak out of turn, but as a rugby player you dream of playing for the national team. As a tennis player you dream of winning Wimbledon. Golf doesn’t have the Davis Cup, so it’s much less taxing on the body. It’s one week during the year rather than two or three weeks. The way tennis is set up makes it more difficult than other sports.”
You could argue that by blasting tennis balls past Djokovic’s head, he’s doing his bit for South African tennis.

Dangerous And Determined

It is a cold Saturday morning in Soweto, a township in south west Johannesburg. A short drive from where the World Cup final was played at Soccer City, three boys kick a soccer ball on its last life on a netball court in what used to be a fan park for the football tournament in South Africa in 2010. When World Cup fever grasped the country, these lads and hundreds of soccer fans, dressed in layers of clothes, gathered in this park to watch the games on a big public screen. The boys were all 10 years old then; they remember the camaraderie and piercing noise of the vuvuzelas.
But last year the screen was removed, leaving a gaping hole. A painting of a soccer ball on a lamppost is the only sign that the World Cup was once here.
It is exactly five years after the tournament came to Africa for the first time. It was the event that brought hope to the country, with promises to develop the sport and give business to local hospitality spots. People renovated their homes and let them out to tourists. But few are still in business. The promise of sustainable post World Cup business seems to have gone to the dogs. Several world class stadiums were built and upgraded to the tune of $1.1 billion. But today the majority of those stadiums are white elephants.
There was controversy around the tender processes to build these stadiums. Whistle blowers were murdered and several people went on trial. One prominent figure that was tried was Bobby Motaung, a Kaizer Chiefs manager and son of the club’s founder Kaizer Motaung. He was implicated in a tender saga for building the Mbombela Stadium, in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga province. Due to a lack of evidence, the case against Motaung was dropped in 2013.
A few weeks before the 5th anniversary of the World Cup in South Africa, it emerged that the country had paid $10 million to secure votes to win the bid for the event. This was never declared in public until the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) indictment emerged alleging the money was a bribe to Jack Warner, the former Fifa vice president. It also identifies two South Africans as “co-conspirators” but their names are withheld. The South African government denies there was a bribe. According to a letter written on March 4, 2008, by Local Organising Committee president, Molefi Oliphant, the money paid was a donation to the Diaspora Legacy Programme in the Caribbean.
A few days ahead of the FIFA annual meeting in Zurich on May 28, Swiss police arrested Warner and six other officials in the five-star Baur au Lac hotel. By the end of May, 14 people involved with Fifa were indicted in connection with wire fraud, racketeering and money laundering.
“[The South African Football Association] requests that the Diaspora Legacy Programme be administered and implemented directly by the president of Concacaf who shall act as a fiduciary of the fund,” it reads.
Warner, who was the president of Concacaf, and his co-accused are implicated in Fifa bribes that include awarding the World Cups in France in 1998 and South Africa in 2010. Chuck Blazer, a former Fifa official from the United States (US), has admitted to his involvement in these bribes after being implicated in the FBI investigation.
“How Warner took a $10-million bribe from South Africa in exchange for his vote is laid bare in six pages of a 164-page indictment made public in the US following the arrest of Fifa executives ahead of the corruption trial of the century,” says Ray Hartley, Editor At Large at the Times Media Group.
The South African Portfolio Committee on Sport and Recreation has called for the Minister of Sports and Recreation, Fikile Mbalula, to summon the former members of the Local Organising Committee before parliament.
“The allegations contained in the indictment are yet to be proven in a court of law. But, the evidence is mounting that South Africa bribed its way to hosting the World Cup,”
says Hartley.
He also says the former organizing committee members are not accountable to parliament, but to the minister.
“It is a bit paranoid to block them from publicly speaking about the allegations,” he says.
Dominic Chimhavi, the South African Football Association director of communications, says the allegations that South Africa paid a bribe to Warner are unfounded.
“They are baseless and untested and we request proof from anyone who has evidence to the contrary to come forward. Our bid campaign was run, by among others, late president Nelson Mandela and former President Thabo Mbeki and several government ministers, who are men of integrity,” says Chimhavi.
So, it appears the 2010 World Cup has vanished from Soweto but it is likely to be in the headlines and the FBI investigation for years to come.

The FBI Tackles Fifa

He’s the elder statesman of golf in South Africa who fought his way up from nothing. He has 165 worldwide tournament victories, including nine major championships. The man they call the Black Knight, who has gained so much from the game, now wants to give back.
At the Zimbali Country Club in KwaZulu Natal, where he was host to the Gary Player Invitational in November, 2012, Player, 78, talks about his round the previous day.
“Yesterday, I spent the day with this young boy with lupus and I changed his life, but he also changed my life. He was smiling throughout and I thought to myself, ‘Here’s a guy who could die any minute,’ yet he was smiling the whole way. The problems you think you have are not really that bad and that brings things into reality,” says the legendary golfer.
Player started out as a poor kid in Booysens, south of Johannesburg, who began playing golf at the nearby South Downs Country Club. Later, he began dating the daughter of the greenskeeper and today they have 21 grandchildren.
“Gratitude is the mother of all attributes. When I check out of a hotel these days, I say thank you for the bath, toilet and the bed because most people in the world don’t have those things. The sense of entitlement is something we have to be very careful of in the world we live in today. Nobody’s entitled to anything. You have to go and work for it and earn it.
“Thank goodness I was a very poor boy and… I really struggled. It was the best thing that ever happened to me. That’s the reason I became a world champion. So many people have so much ability and never become world champions because they’ve never had to really endure any real adversity,” he says.
When Player completed the grand slam, all four grand slam titles, by winning the US Open in 1965, he famously gave his winner’s cheque back to the organizers, saying it should go to cancer research and the development of junior golf programs by the United States Golf Association. As his regular playing career came to an end, he formed the Player Foundation, which has raised more than $50 million to help alleviate poverty globally.
“At my age, to get on a plane and fly to China, India, Dubai, America, Europe and then to South Africa is not easy. Every time I do that, I seem to get invigorated when I see what’s happening. I go to India and I do a golf clinic with 300 young Indians. You go to China and—with Coca-Cola being this phenomenal sponsor—you raise 20 million RMB ($3,2 million) for children with AIDS, and you see these kids with no mother and father; and they’re living with their grandfather. You see things that are so sad and you are able to help them in their lives. It’s very gratifying,” he says.
“That’s why golf and golfers are the greatest catalyst for raising money. The American PGA tour will have raised $2 billion by 2014—more than any other team sports put together. Most pro golfers have a charity and are giving back, and I think this is fantastic.”
While Player’s major wins account for a large portion of South Africa’s major tally, the Rainbow Nation has experienced a surge in victories post-1992. South African golfers have won nine majors since then, including a major in 2012, 2011 and 2010. Player puts this dominance on the world stage down to structures in South Africa.
“South Africa is remarkable for a small country. We’ve won more major championships than any country post-war; other than the United States. We have a lot of golf academies. I have the Gary Player Golf academy at the World of Golf in Johannesburg, we have Ernie Els’ academy and we have Louis Oosthuizen who has started one now. Sally Little is trying to get things going for the ladies,” he says.
“We have the right system here; we have the right climate and the right golf courses. Our guys have done so well and they’re great ambassadors for our country… Golf is played in almost every country I know; so the coverage we are getting is fantastic.”
As for the performances of South African golfers in 2012, Player said he was pleased in particular with Ernie Els’ win at the Open.
He noted in particular the way the golfer known as ‘The Big Easy’ played the 72nd hole, which he birdied to ultimately seal the win over Australian Adam Scott.
“Watching the British Open was interesting. He came to the last hole and his course management was brilliant. Ernie said to himself, ‘If I birdie this hole, I have an outside chance of winning.’ And that’s just what he did.”
Player has often been asked what his greatest achievement in the game is and he always gives the same answer.
“Winning the grand slam as a senior… There are five of us that won the grand slam on the regular tour, but I’m the only one that’s won the grand slam on the senior tour. No rugby player, no cricket player, no tennis player, no other sportsman is playing their sport at that age with any success. It is a bit easier to do that in golf than other sports, but to go there after 50 and win the senior grand slam; that is my great joy. I never take that for granted. It’s a gift from the man above.”
Player will be remembered for his majors; he may want to be remembered for his charity, but there is no doubt he will leave behind a legacy as a humble boy from Booysens who took on the world and won.   FL

2013 Gary Player Invitational: Pro-Am

The Poor Boy  Who Became  The Black Knight

It was the strangest tournament that Warren Bond ever played in. He was in Egypt, playing for South Africa, against four of the world’s hockey nations. Their hosts had put them up in a military hotel; outside Bond’s window was a parked fighter jet. Every now and again a tank rumbled past. A police escort took them to the stadium.
Their matches were just as daunting. The stadium in Cairo was empty but for a small bunch of men in suits and ties including Hosni Mubarak, being a big hockey fan, says Bond.
When the final game came, Bond but his fellow South Africans could see nothing but angry soldiers.
“We got to the stadium thinking it was going to be completely empty but it was full. Every spectator was in military uniform. It was quite intimidating. They had been given instructions that whenever an Egyptian got the ball they went mad and the crowd would be silent when we had the ball. You couldn’t script it,” says Bond.
The silence was deafening as South Africa scored the winning goal. As the ball hit the net a sublime moment turned bizarre when Gregg Clark celebrated.
“I won’t show you what he did, but basically he ran along the sidelines abusing and shouting at all the spectators. We were shouting ‘Clarky they’re the army, they’re lethal, they’ve got guns. What the hell are you doing?’” he says.
Bond remembers Clark’s victory dance before the Egyptian army like it was yesterday. He last played for South Africa in 2003 where he clocked up 64 caps, five of them as captain.
Few hockey players these days can say they have beaten Australia twice and been to the Commonwealth Games, but Bond can. He was even supposed to have gone to the 2000 Sydney Olympics until the National Olympic Committee of South Africa pulled the side three months before the event, saying there were not enough players of color.
Then in March, he got the call. His country needed him again. He was called to play for the South African Masters side, a team for those that are 40 years and above. They needed him to brush the dust off his boots and play in the FIH Masters World Cup in The Hague, Netherlands.
“It used to be you would be called up to a squad, then you would go to national camp and at the end of it you would wait, praying for your name to called out by the selectors. If they did, you would go and play for South Africa. Now, your mates call you up and say ‘hey, you’ve been selected to play for South Africa for your age-group’. And you’re like ‘well how did I get selected?’ and they say ‘no we just decided that it would be cool if you joined the team,’” says Bond.
In the 10 year gap between internationals, Bond had not been idle. He has completed the Comrades Marathon twice, a grueling 89-kilometer road race between Pietermaritzburg and Durban in Kwa-Zulu Natal.
South African hockey players have to work. It simply doesn’t pay. When he was in his heydays as an international player, Bond worked as a chartered accountant. He also founded Sport For All, a franchise operation which has 15 sports coaching businesses running in South African townships. On the business side he invested in Luminous, a banking innovations technology company which revolutionized online accounting with First National Bank (FNB).
“One of my partners got tired of capturing bank statements and recapturing the same data later on. We thought this made no sense, there had to be a smarter way, so why not get the banks to do this? We invested in it and landed up with FNB as a customer,” he says.
Bond also created an innovation matchmaking site, called Matchi. It helps connect entrepreneurs with banks.
“I’ve seen it. People can spend two years talking to the wrong people at a bank, spending millions and millions of rands.”
It’s a sign of his outdoor life that the idea was born nowhere near an office or a bank, but on a river to Mandalay in the jungles of Burma. Another entrepreneurial venture was born while hiking the Himalayas below Mount Everest.
“It’s minus 15 degrees outside and you have your piece of chipboard and your little mattress. You wake up and everything is frozen, it’s an amazing place for ideas.”
From the road to Mandalay to a small piece of astroturf in the Johannesburg winter where aging hockey stars play. Bond takes to hockey like a fish returning to water. For a moment it could be Cairo in 2000, instead it’ll be in The Hague in 2014 when he pops off a few skilful moves with his dusty old stick.
“I am not too worried about the fitness; I am a bit worried about converting it to the sprinting which is a different ball game,” he quips.
“It’s a bunch of mates you see once a year. What’s more you get to compete against some of the people you played against internationally, under more relaxed circumstances. It’s different at Masters. You are going there knowing you will have a few beers with them after them game. You couldn’t have too many of those when you were in the middle of a series against Australia,” says Bond.
His return to hockey will be less daunting. This time, Bond won’t be in the middle of stadium of mean sounding soldiers.

‘They’ve Got Guns,  What The Hell Are You Doing?’

More than half the world’s seven billion people watched some part of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and it is expected many more will tune in to the Brazil tournament over the next few weeks until July 13. Less than a tenth of those will watch the tournament’s women’s equivalent.
Even though records of women playing football date back to 1892, it took 61 years after the first men’s World Cup in 1930 for a parallel women’s event to start. Six editions of the women’s tournament have been held and it commands only 407.8 million viewers. Africa and the Middle East, grouped in the same bracket for the official statistics, contribute only 39.2 million of those eyeballs.
That number is influenced by factors including technology and access to information but it also serves as an indicator of the value of the women’s game to the region. It is no surprise that Nigeria and South Africa – two of the counties with functioning women’s football leagues – lead viewership statistics with 13 million and 4.2 million people watching the Women’s World Cup respectively.
<div id="attachment_6336" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-6336" class="size-medium wp-image-6336" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/B13KYMN0421-300x208.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="208" />Cape Town Roses (Dark blue) v Gauteng (blue) during the 2013 Sasol League National Championship on the 25 November 2013 at Alabama Stadium ©Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix</div>
Nigeria is, by some distance, the African country that has advanced furthest in women’s football. Matches were reported on from the 1940s and it has had a women’s league since 1978. The most recent edition of the league, the 2013/14 season, has three divisions funded by the Nigerian Football Federation in the absence of sponsorship.
Despite a lack of regular competition, especially in their region, Nigeria’s women’s team is the most successful in Africa.
The Super Falcons are the top-ranked team on the continent, sit 34th in the world and have triumphed in eight African Women’s Championships (AWC) between 1991 and 2010. They have also participated in every women’s World Cup but have failed to get out of the group stage.
A large part of their success is on account of intense practice. In early April, Nigeria organized a training camp for their final qualification match for the AWC in May, giving themselves seven weeks of training time. Included in that was a friendly match against Cameroon, the next-best team in Africa. Games such as these is what captain Evelyn Nwabuoko thinks will make the team even better.
“We need friendly matches and we ought to play bigger teams. It’s not about results but about access to your players. You get to know your players and those to rely on during international games,” says Nwabuoko.
South Africa’s national women’s team has fared better in that department. They were the only African country to participate in the Cyprus Cup, an annual invitation-only tournament for women’s teams. South Africa have been to the event four times since 2009 but only won three matches and struggled against European opposition.
However, players described it as important to their growth.
“I found things very different from club level to the international stage – the tactics, ball work at training and moving into space at specific times during matches was a key learning area for me,” says Shiwe Nogwanya, a striker who is based in Bloemfontein in South Africa’s Free State.
South Africa also has a strong domestic structure in place. Last year, petrochemicals company Sasol signed a four-year deal to sponsor the women’s league and national team. Their’s is a multi-tiered league consisting of 144 teams, 16 in each of the country’s nine provinces.
Teams play every weekend to ensure continuity of game time and the provincial winners compete in a week-long national championship
in December.
<div id="attachment_6337" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-6337" class="size-medium wp-image-6337" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/B13LAMN0368-300x183.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="183" />Cape Town Roses (red) v Bloemfontein Celtics (green and white) during the 2013 Sasol League National Championship 3rd and 4th on the 01 December 2013 at Matlosana Stadium ©Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix</div>
Although not ideal because there is no premiership, South Africa’s new women’s national coach, former Dutch player Vera Pauw, believes it provides the pathway for players to develop.
“Without the league, there is no national team because all those players play in the league. The big challenge is how to get the 144 Sasol League teams playing with the best against the best on a more regular basis,” says Pauw.
Other African teams do not even have the luxury of that problem. Ten African women’s teams, including Congo, Uganda, Angola and Benin, are not ranked because they have been inactive for more than 18 months. Two others, Liberia and Kenya, have not played more than five matches against official opposition and so are only provisionally ranked. Others like Mauritius have yet to play even a single match.
Funding is the major challenge, something Lydia Nsekera, the first woman elected to the FIFA executive committee, who hails from Burundi, agrees with.
“There is little or no funding for female football in Africa, compared to what the male teams get. In Africa, there are people who even question the rationale for funding female football,” says Nsekera.
Small attempts are being made to change that. FIFA provides all African member associations a grant of $250,000 a year and since 2008, 15% ($37,500) of that had to be set aside for women’s football. Just like the number of people keeping an eye on the women’s game, that money is significantly less than the men get but it is all the women’s game has
for now.

Not This Time  For Africa

The Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, in the United States, will host the 78th Masters tournament in April, but this is only the second since it allowed females to join the golf club. But no women will participate in the international major. Instead, they will compete in the Kraft Nabisco Championship, which will take place a week earlier in California and is in its 41st year.
Gender-equality is not much more than a concept in golf, which takes pride in its staunch adherence to tradition. South Africa is one of the countries making strides to close that gap. This year February saw the launch of the Sunshine Ladies Tour, a six-tournament event, each of which carries prize money of R100,000 ($9,430). But is it enough to reignite the game among women who are oft-ignored?
“Women’s professional golf in South Africa was in a wasteland since 2009,” says Margie Whitehouse, the chairperson of the Women’s Professional Golf Association of South Africa (WPGA).
Prior to 2009, the only tournament on the women’s golf calendar was the South Africa Women’s Open, which did not have status abroad and was canceled in 2010 and 2011. When the WPGA elected a new board in 2012, they sought to change that.
“We acknowledged that our members and aspirant professionals were being forced to seek a competitive platform abroad. We set about, immediately, to create a local competitive platform,” says Whitehouse.
The Women’s Open, which is part of the European Tour schedule, is one half of how women are gaining ground on the golf course. The other is the new Sunshine Tour. Like its male counterpart, it too will serve as a qualifying event for the season-ending Investec Cup, a marquee tournament on the local golfing calendar. The men’s event has prize money of R6 million ($562,000), which according to Selwyn Nathan, the Executive Director of the Sunshine Tour, “heightens the sense of camaraderie in the South African golf community”.
For women, the purse is R300,000 ($28,000), but Investec see it as a way to support the fairer sex.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-6191" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Apr-May-074-075-SPORT-Golf-FM-004-300x201.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="201" />
“By incorporating a ladies element into the Investec Cup 2014, we are indicating support for the commitment, enthusiasm, skill and personal development that is required to succeed in this sporting code. Women’s sport is an uncluttered market commercially, and we look forward to showcasing some of South Africa’s top female golfers as athletes and individuals,” says Janet Larsen, Investec’s Head of Marketing.
Lee-Anne Pace is a Mossel Bay-born golfer, who won three tournaments on the Ladies European Tour in 2013 and was named the European Tour’s Player of the Year for a second time. She hopes to bring more success home to grow the local game.
“It is vital for South African golfers to support the Sunshine Ladies Tour and to help it become a successful and strong competition. As it grows, it will get more money and attract players from overseas. For now it’s just great that there is an opportunity for South African players to compete at home,” she says.
Like many South African golfers, Pace, who started caddying for her father as a teenager to earn pocket money, had to leave South Africa, the country of her birth, to kick-start her golf career. She received a scholarship from the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma and turned professional after representing the institution. Soon, she hopes to receive her full card for American tournaments, called the LPGA. With that will come increased earnings and the opportunity to compete in events such as the Kraft Nabisco Championship, both prestigious and lucrative.
She does not want to focus on the pay discrepancy too much.
“The men earn more money than us, but you know that going into this career. It should not really make a difference to how you approach the game. I am not too worried about the male-female inequality in golf. I am just enjoying myself and my career. I love golf and the challenges it holds and to be able to do it for a living is such a privilege.” For now, she is perfecting her swing.

Teeing Off At Home

Nobody knew how to say Zarah Razafimahatratra’s surname when she was crowned Africa’s junior tennis champion in Lagos, Nigeria, in 2010. All they did know was that the young girl from Madagascar, who was a little over 15 years old and brimming with confidence, could become a star.
She had a solid backhand and controlled the baseline with ease, skills she learnt in South Africa, where she was a student at a Pretoria academy backed by the International Tennis Federation (ITF). Razafimahatratra describes her journey to victory as a “great adventure”, but admits that the excitement quickly gave way to real concerns.
Razafimahatratra’s form was improving to the point where she wanted to start playing in the junior events at grand slams. “I should be playing the Australian Open but for financial reasons, I cannot,” she said at the time of her junior title win.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5960" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2013-Dec-Jan-078-079-SPORT-Tennis-003-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" />
“To progress, I have to spend a lot of money, and this is what I currently lack. I’ve already improved by playing regularly in Africa. I made an effort to be at the top of Africa and now that I have, I need to play a lot more tournaments.”
Without sponsorship, global travel was difficult and Razafimahatratra found, like many other players from Africa, that the year’s first major event could not feature on her calendar.
Later that year, Razafimahatratra secured a small amount of corporate backing when motor vehicle company Materauto Ford in Madagascar decided to back her. It was too late to head to Australia, but she used the money to concentrate on making a name for herself.
In 2012, Razafimahatratra played two Grade 1 tournaments in South America and a full season of junior clay court tennis in Europe. She found the competition much tougher, losing in the first round in both Costa Rica and in Venezuela, but managing to reach the quarterfinals on clay. That was when she decided to turn professional and start playing with the big girls on the ITF circuit.
Razafimahatratra’s first outing was back in Nigeria. If she won the tournament, she would take home $25,000 in prize money, with the knowledge that she would have to be the best player on the court in order to pay for her career. Razafimahatratra knew she had to up her game.
She struggled initially, losing in the early stages of competitions, but by the end of the year, the Malagasy player was crowned champion in both the singles and doubles events in Potchefstroom, South Africa. She started 2013 with two victories in doubles tournaments in Egypt.
At 19, Razafimahatratra is her country’s top tennis player. She has handed Madagascar its first Fed Cup – a team event that is the female version of the Davis Cup – victory in a decade. However, money is still the biggest obstacle to her continued success.
Razafimahatratra is not alone. Across the continent, tennis players rely on slim pickings, even though the ITF runs three centers of development. The academies, in Morocco, South Africa and the most recent addition in Burundi, create a home for the sport in the north, south and east of the continent.
West Africa used to have a base in Dakar, Senegal, but the facility has lost its ITF status. It continues to ope-rate as a national centre of development, and with similar operations in Mali and Togo, that part of the continent is not entirely out in the cold when it comes to tennis.
Talented African players are awarded scholarships from the ITF, which allow them to spend up to a month at any of these centers. If they are deemed superstars in the making, they may be invited to spend longer periods at the academies, honing their skills. But the ITF has repeatedly exp-lained that the financial assistance it provides is insufficient.
“We would love to see the governments being more committed to developing the game,” Frank Courard of the ITF’s development projects told CNN when Burundi’s facility was opened. “If you look at our budget of $4.3 million each year, it’s what FIFA gives to maybe one or two nations. There’s a huge discrepancy.”
Football and athletics remain the most popular sports in Africa and one of the reasons is because the continent consistently produces heroes in those sports. Tennis role models are few and far between. Courard says the last one was probably Yannick Noah, the Frenchman of Cameroonian descent who began playing tennis in Africa and won the French Open in 1983.
“When he won, in Cameroon, kids identified (with him) and wanted to play tennis because they saw Yannick winning,” Courard recalls.
Currently, Burundi’s Hassan Ndayishimiye leads the stakes in the men’s game. He became the first Burundian to play at Wimbledon. He was ranked 112th on the junior table when he was given a wild card entry to the qualifying draw. Not only did he make it into the main section of the tournament, but he went on to play in the second round, an achievement he described as one of the best moments in his life.
“It was amazing. It was when I realized that this kid from Burundi can change the tennis world, he can make it. He can go where no Burundian has ever been – and no one has even heard of Burundi,” he said at the time.
Similarly, very few in the tennis world associate Madagascar with the game, and even fewer have heard of Razafimahatratra. Malagasy authorities would do well to heed the young woman’s call for support. The last tennis player from Madagascar to progress internationally was Dally Randriantefy, who reached a career high of 44 on the Women’s Tennis Association rankings. She “fought alone without the help of the state and finally decided to stop” in 2006.
Razafimahatratra has no intention of quitting but her country has already come close to losing her.
“I was asked by Egyptian coaches and South Africans to change nationalities but I have said no. I am proud of my country. I’ve given a lot to Madagascar and I still hope for some recognition,” she explains.
She may get that recognition if she makes it to an event such as the Australian Open. She will not be the first Malagasy to play there; Randriantefy participated in the tournament and retired in 2006 after losing in the first round. But Razafimahatratra could become the first African woman in a long time to do something special in a grand slam.
South Africa’s Chanelle Scheepers was the only representative from Africa at the 2011 Australian Open, and since then, Zimbabwe’s Cara Black has played in doubles events at the Rod Laver Arena. No other African woman has made it, but the next one could well be Razafimahatratra. The commentators had better start learning how to pronounce her name.

Owning the backHAND

This month I pay tribute to the role women have played in shaping world football.
For it is undeniable that they play a major role, not just in the playing of the sport, but also in the administration and growth of the game.
Let me start with the playing of the game—more and more women are taking to the field than ever before. This is against the financial tide. Corporates are only too happy to give millions to men’s leagues, but remain reluctant to do so for women.
The reasons for this are: the men’s game has a greater reach among the public; is generally more competitive and attracts television. It is an easy sell.
But let me tell you something, gentlemen, women are catching up. At the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany, the match between the host nation and Canada sold out and drew a domestic audience of 18 million television viewers, or nearly a quarter of the country’s population. To put that in perspective, that is 10% higher than the viewership for the match between the men’s teams of Germany and Serbia at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. This shows that women’s football can capture the imagination of fans.
The 2011 tournament in Germany was screened in 181 countries, with an estimated audience of almost 408 million. The average viewership per match was more than 13 million, up almost 20% from four years earlier.
The World Cup for women has only been around since 1991; the competition is carving out a niche. That first event, staged in China, featured 12 nations, but the 2015 finals in Canada will see 24 teams compete, just shy of the 32 that appear in the men’s tournament.
What is clear is that there is a fast growing demand for women’s football. It is a part of the global game that can no longer be ignored and this is something FIFA understands very well. The organization is a strong proponent of the women’s game because they see it is vital for the future of the sport.
But it is not just on the pitch where women are making a huge contribution to the advancement of the sport.
Recently, Burundi Football Association president Lydia Nsekera became the first women to be voted onto FIFA’s executive committee, followed shortly by Moya Dodd from Australia and Sonia Bien-Aime from the Turks and Caicos Islands. The latter two are co-opted members for one year, but it shows that women are starting to make their mark at the highest level of decision-making. Anybody who believes that these appointments are mere window dressing, should think again.
First of all, these candidates won via a vote among hundreds of delegates. They have arguably had to work harder, show more ingenuity and face greater challenges than any of the men to earn these jobs.
With the first few appointments having been made, it will surely not be too long before the ratio of men to women on the FIFA executive narrows. The elevation of women into key positions in the sport is not just a FIFA phenomenon, it is happening around the world.
In South Africa, the future of the game is being plotted by the highly-respected Fran Hilton-Smith, who is acting technical director of the South African Football Association.
This is the first time that a member association has placed a woman into the technical director’s role that looks after both the men’s and women’s game in a country.
And closer to home, there is a woman on the Football Association of Zambia executive committee that I head. Lenny Nkhuwa has proven to be an excellent administrator. With her in charge of women’s football, Zambia enjoyed success with the U-20 national team beating South Africa 1-0 in the final, to win the Africa Zone Six Women Football Championship in November. In Zambia, over the past three years we have insisted that the Women’s senior, U-20 and U-17 teams, be in the hands of women. We must be one of the few countries in Africa with an all-female technical bench.
There are numerous women club owners and CEOs and within companies that supply services to the football industry. Where this previously may have been rare, it is now commonplace.
The question often asked is whether a woman might one day coach a top professional men’s team. I think it is probably inevitable, though how long it is going to take, I cannot say. It is likely that we are talking years rather than decades.
There is the notable case of Bolivian Nelfi Ibanez. The homemaker, who studied numerous coaching courses, took charge of a professional men’s team in Peru, albeit in the second tier. It has started to happen in other sports too; in basketball women have become assistant coaches of professional teams.
Certainly, in terms of knowledge and the skillset needed to coach, I cannot see why any woman would not be able to acquire these in the same way that men do. The language of football can be spoken beautifully by either gender.

Sisters Speak Volumes  In New Chapter For The Beautiful Game

Every time a football fan goes through the gate, Daki Nkanyane will make money. Nkanyane is the owner, founder and managing director of eQtickets, a firm he co-owns with ConvergeNet, a JSE-listed ICT group. eQtickets won the rights to design and distribute the tickets for AFCON.
“Over and above that, for every ticket sold we earn a percentage in commission. That is our core business,” says Nkanyane.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) expects ticket sales to surpass previous tournaments. According to Nkanyane, CAF wants eQtickets to sell between half a million to 980,000 tickets.
“They are going to pay us a minimum of R15 million ($1.7 million) inclusive of all costs for designing the tickets, for all the various specifications around the ticket.
“Our responsibility is to ensure that tickets are sold, AFCON does the marketing. AFCON is generating income out of ticket sales and we are that conduit to ensure that they generate their income and then out of that we earn a commission,” says Nkanyane.
Previous tournaments have been dogged by poor attendance and low ticket sales but organizers hope it will be different this time around. The tournament is tipped to be a success as far as crowds and TV are concerned.
According to CAF, the previous tournament, which was co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, recorded an estimated 6.6 billion TV viewers with 87,072 hours of TV exposure. The tournament in South Africa is set to better that.
“We are quite confident that we will break new records for the coming edition in South Africa next year,” says CAF’s marketing and TV director, Amr Shaheen.
eQtickets is also set to make additional income on top of its guaranteed earnings.
“If half a million tickets are sold, we are looking at a total revenue of about R60 million ($6.9 million)&#8230; we get about 8.5% per ticket sold; out of the R60 million ($6.9 million) we will make about R8 million ($1 million) income&#8230; That’s why we also play a role in making sure that we market, we drive sales and promote the sales in the various environments—it’s in our interest,” says Nkanyane.
Other entrepreneurs will also benefit. eQtickets sub-contracted a South African company to produce its 200 kiosks, which were put in strategic locations around the country to sell tickets.
eQtickets has also secured the rights for  another soccer event  to be hosted by South Africa in 2014.
“We are going to sell for African Nations Championship (CHAN). We have been appointed for both tournaments… It’s a two-year agreement that we have,” he says.
According to Nkanyane, the AFCON tournament has provided his company with the opportunity to build its brand while ensuring the firm empowers South Africans through job creation.
“We have about 30 odd people in the office; with other people in the field… We are employing a lot of people to ensure that it complements the growth that the business is going through. As and when our projects grow, we will build capacity,” says Nkanyane.
More entrepreneurs are grabbing the opportunity to benefit from the soccer extravaganza. The 2010 FIFA World Cup was a gold mine for many businesses. Hotels, retailers and manufacturers, transport and car rental companies situated close to the host centers will profit.
According to Sipho Sithole, AFCON’s director of communications, the organizers signed a Local Procurement Accord with Proudly South African—a campaign launched in 2001 to promote homegrown products and services—which will benefit businesses. Several companies which won tenders to provide goods and services include event production companies VWV Productions and Black Star Communications. These providers are working to ensure a seamless and successful event.
Support from the government has been equally strong, with the Treasury availing R461 million ($53 million) for the tournament. Treasury officials and the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) are optimistic that the tourney will be successful and profitable, owing to the experience gained and existing infrastructure built for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Industry experts are, however, rather cautious. David Sidenberg, partner at BMI Sport Info, an independent sport and sponsorship research company, says it’s difficult to estimate the potential revenue at this time.
“Until the data on tickets sales, foreign visitors, TV rights and sponsorship deals are available, we won’t have a good idea of the economic impact of the tournament,” he says.
Although it will take a while to ascertain how much revenue will be made, the excitement from football fans across Africa is certainly increasing as the tournament draws closer.
If the messages on social media platforms are anything to go by, the much anticipated event is going to draw huge crowds. Thousands of fans managed to buy tickets within the first few weeks of ticket sales and comments on the AFCON 2013 Facebook page encapsulate the anticipation.
“And we are at the finals! Gonna make up for the world cup disappointment,” writes Thami Thanjekwayo.
“Got my tickets for match day one&#8230; now for Moses Mabhida and the final&#8230; making it happen,” writes Tshidiso LeChuba.
Twitter messages similarly demonstrate the excitement the event will bring, as fans welcome the LOC’s decision to allow the controversial vuvuzela in the stadiums.
“#ViVaVuvuzela this is our culture in football, can’t attend a soccer match with [out] my vuvuzela. It’s gonna be the same with #AFCON2013,” writes @Less57.
The tournament kicks off on January 19, with the host taking on the tournament’s surprise package: Cape Verde, which qualified at the expense of the much fancied Indomitable Lions of Cameroon at Soccer City Stadium.
Pressure is definitely on South Africa, which will be hosting its second continental soccer showcase, after it staged and won the tournament in 1996, when it beat Tunisia 2-0 in the final. With the passing of assistant coach Thomas Madigage barely three months before the tourney starts, the nation will hope that Bafana Bafana will give them something to smile about.
The tournament comes hardly a year after 2012 champions Zambia beat Côte d’Ivoire in a dramatic penalty shootout. Zambia will only hold the coveted gold-plated cup for one year. As of 2013, the tournament will be held in odd-numbered years so that it doesn’t clash with the FIFA World Cup.
The stakes are high—the winner of the tournament will be crowned the continental champion; receive R13 million ($1.5 million) prize money; earn bragging rights for two years and will qualify for the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil, as the representative from CAF.
South Africa will have to strengthen security, following the stoning of the Zambian team bus by two fans, aged 12 and 13, after a friendly match against Bafana Bafana at Soccer City, on November 14, in which South Africa lost 1-0. Goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene and midfielder Felix Katongo were injured. The South African Football Association (Safa) expressed deep regret over the incident.
Soccer fans will undoubtedly be treated to some mouthwatering action as they watch stars such as Mali’s Seydou Keita, Côte d’Ivoire’s Yaya Touré, Didier Drogba and Nigeria’s Victor Moses. With the record seven-time champions Egypt and four-time winners Cameroon missing out, the cup is up for grabs.
Four-time champions and four-time runners-up Ghana, who last won the cup in 1982, and two-time winners Nigeria, seek to make amends for previous disappointments. Teams such as Chipolopolo of Zambia and the Elephants of Côte d’Ivoire would want to continue to the further stages with their recent fine form. This tournament could be too close to call, as previous winners and unpredictable teams such as the Atlas Lions from Morocco, the Leopards of DRC and Tunisia’s Carthage Eagles could spring a surprise or two.
The continent is certainly poised for an unforgettable tournament and football fans are patiently waiting to “feel the beat at Africa’s feet”. As the tournament progresses, Nkanyane and various other entrepreneurs will be watching as the millions roll into the bank.

The Ticket to Profit

It was just like the old days in South Africa. Marching, police and protest. This was not a protest against an oppressive regime; this was a free people unwilling to pay for new roads.
Investment, economy, Protests, employment, South Africa, National Union of Mineworkers, April 2012
It was a dull, cloudy day over Lagos. On the ground it was dazzling speed and skill as the Lagos Polo Tournament—the sporting event of the year in Nigeria—thundered to its climax. For two weeks, the finest players in this polo-mad country have vied for the glittering prizes of this rich tournament that costs a million dollars merely to sponsor.
They’ve been playing at the Lagos Polo Club, in the exclusive Ikoyi district, where British Army cavalry officers laid down the turf in 1904. As the years go by, it is getting more and more expensive to assemble a winning team. It will cost you around $40,000 for a good polo pony and many thousands more to import top professionals from polo playing nations like Argentina. This is a game that carries status and most of Nigeria’s tycoons have a polo club or team.
<div id="attachment_589" style="width: 484px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-589" class="size-large wp-image-589" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/IMG_6261a-1024x770.jpg" alt="" width="474" height="356" />Better luck next time: Prince Albert Esiri, the Captain of Ashbert Raiders collects the runner up trophy</div>
The final, on March 4, was between teams led by two of the richest men in Nigeria. Entrepreneur, Prince Albert Esiri, who was ranked  one of the top 10 polo patrons in the world by the Financial Times, led his Ashbert Raiders against the Lagos Ironclad Mandarin team—led by Obafemi Otudeko, the chairman of Bharti Airtel in Nigeria. Both teams are veterans of the big occasion and have also played at the British Open and the Royal Windsor Cup.
The Ashbert Raiders were the favorites as they had a two-goal start, through the handicap system, plus Argentinian professionals, Bruno Cipponeri and Hugo Caesar. The favorites raced into a 4-0 lead with power and panache, by the end of the first Chukka, as Cipponeri scored two penalties. It should have sealed the game, but it didn’t.
<div id="attachment_591" style="width: 484px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-591" class="size-large wp-image-591" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/IMG_5708a-735x1024.jpg" alt="" width="474" height="660" />Ashbert Raiders (in blue-and-white) tussle with Ironclad Mandarin in the final</div>
The feisty Ironclad team fought back to level at 5-5 before scoring the decisive goal, late in the fourth Chukka, to secure a memorable 6-5 victory. A packed grandstand cheered as organizers handed trophies and medals to the victors Kwame Musa and Bashir Dantata of Ironclad.
The elite of Nigeria then retreated to marquees pegged out on the polo grounds and the party began. Behind the scenes, players took off their helmets and knee guards before slipping into more comfortable clothes.
The softly spoken oil and gas tycoon, Prince Albert Esiri, said proudly: “For me really it is to have had a chance to play with my son, because he has been wanting us to play together. He wasn’t very keen about polo and he only took up polo two three years ago which is quite late…” Someone in the background said that the game is certainly growing in Nigeria, but conversation was lost when the music went up and the party started. Celebrations went on into the night. In 108 years, Lagos Polo Club has seen f
<div id="attachment_588" style="width: 484px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-588" class="size-large wp-image-588" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/IMG_5883a-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="474" height="316" />Champagne on the sidelines at the Lagos Polo Club</div>

Tag: Tournament

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The Poor Boy Who Became The Black Knight

‘They’ve Got Guns, What The Hell Are You Doing?’

Not This Time For Africa

Teeing Off At Home

Owning the backHAND

Sisters Speak Volumes In New Chapter For The Beautiful Game

The Ticket to Profit

Polo, Power And Panache