The Emperor’s Son
The decision by Spain's national football team to go play a football friendly in its former colony, Equatorial Guinea, has spotlighted how the latter country is run.
SPORTS
The Old Smiling Guy
Eqatorial Guinea in West Africa was a Spanish colony. Few Spanish football fans know where it is or how the rulers continue the violent politics inherited from Spain.
Football and Dictatorships
How much of Equatorial Guinean's tax money did the Obiangs pay to the Spanish FA for a meaningless match between its national teams?
Kwadwo Asamoah makes it 150 appearances in Serie A
Asamoah, who just achieved milestone of 150 Serie A appearances, is not shy about publicly sharing
When marketing men make films about football
I finally got around to watching “Thierry Henry 1:1” on iTunes. The promo material is written
Palestine Scores
European football officials may have missed it, but Palestine already scored several goals in this season’s UEFA Champions League.
White Springbok rugby fans and quotas
The writer, Lloyd Gedye, can handle most things, but the mischaracterization of attempts to deracialize the Springbok rugby team, made his blood boil.
The Love Affair between Nigerians and Arsenal
The love affair between Nigerians and Arsenal is an enduring one. Other English teams are also
People are going to know who Bob Hewitt is
Bob Hewitt migrated from Australia to apartheid South Africa. There he became a champion in white tennis. He is also accused of abusing children whose families trusted him as their tennis coach.
Tuesday morning quarterbacking*
The meaningless football tournaments of the summer–mostly to the benefit of sponsors–are thankfully now over. Club
The Making of Hashim Amla
Hashim Amla’s appearances on the cricket pitch and its meaning, reflects similarly on South Africa’s own, ongoing, liberation struggle.
The only black jockey in the race
S'manga Khumalo is the first black jockey to win South Africa's richest horse race.
After the World Cup is gone
The book, "Africa’s World Cup," is a valuable source for thinking more deeply about the meanings and legacies of the 2010 edition of the competition hosted in South Africa.
Jogo Bonito
Preparations for the 2014 World Cup have served as a trigger for what may become a major political and social movement in Brazil.
The left winger
A meditation on left footed footballers, especially wingers, given the conventional wisdom that lefties are always useful to have in a match.
Football Referee of the Year
My knowledge of European club football doesn’t stretch much further beyond what gets posted here on
The Blood of the Impure
The French national anthem is a pretty nasty song. It dreams, in one of its more memorable verses, that the “blood of the impure” will “irrigate our fields.”
Pope Francis is a football fan
The pope supports Argentina's San Lorenzo Club (nickname: Los Santos). What better way to dissect his ascension to the papacy than by way of football?
The Blue Kenyan
We may not all love Chelsea Football Club (John Terry, their klepto-petro-billionaire owner, John Terry, the
African Footballers in America
The US Major Soccer League is luring foreign players, especially decent African players, and not just those whose careers are on the wane.