By FRANCIS MAYIK, AND TRANSLATED BY AJAK MAKOR
A healthy heated debate has ensued among the football commentators and other sportsmen after the admission of South Sudan to the Confederation of the African Football (CAF) as well as the Federation of the International Football Association (FIFA) immediately after its independence from Sudan on July 9th 2011.
The contentious speculation was about the expected sobriquet or nickname for the newly established national team which by enlarge will be the overall alternative endearment name for all the national sport teams of the nascent nation especially after the first ever international match which took place on July 10th 2012 against the Cranes of Uganda. Although that first ever international friendly match ended with a 2-2 draw, but that tie was received by the fans with a taste of victory given the fact that the cranes have their up and down charges in our black continent and beyond and that match saw the entry of South Sudan into the FIFA ranking table with an entry start at 199th place internationally.
These heated discussions in different fora; especially on Facebook and other social media platforms, reflected the growing attachment of the general populace to their national team which is a positive sentiment that may nurture patriotism and saw seeds of national pride in the general population because sports and particularly football can be a unifying tool in nation building that may surpass all sorts of myopic fanatism and tribal, religious or ethnic affiliations.
Nicknames of national football teams are derived either from the colors of their playing jerseys or from the country’s flag or from an animal associated with the country as a national treasure and they have been known to be substitute for their proper name and they are different from stage names or pseudonym in which they are commonly used to express affection, amusement or a character trait which are reflective of national belonging and endearment of emblems and other related natural treasures and national symbols and insignia, therefore nicknames given by countries to their national teams are a source of pride and inspiration for the spectacular fans and the players on the pitch.
Most of these sobriquets are intellectual, political or cultural symbols that reflect particular heritage of each country, for instance, the Ghanaian national team is nicknamed as (The Black Stars) which is the national insignia found in the middle of their national flag of red, yellow and green strips which are the basic colors of the Pan – African movement rooted in the Negritude ideology that call for pride in black and combat inferiority complexes which belittle the black color against
White subjugation and restore the image and civilization of the Black folks.
These early Negritude ideas evolved later and were transformed into the Pan – African Movement which was put into action as the Organization of the African Unity (OAU) which is currently known as the African Union (AU).
This black renaissance movement was founded by some African students who were based in London and Paris in late 1930s and early 1940s, who decided to express their ideas through an intellectual and cultural publication known as “The Black Star” of which Kwame Nkrumah was one of its editors, and he later became Ghana’s first president after
Independence from Britain in 1957, and later on, he contributed to the founding of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). The nickname given by Argentina to its national football team is (the Tango), which is a famous Argentinian dance and Brazil is known for (the Samba), another folk dance similar to ripple of the great Amazon River. Countries sometimes give animal names to their national football teams, which are of cultural connotations or popular myths, for example, in Africa, we find Ivory Coast gave its national football team the nickname (The Elephants) because the elephant is their national symbol where the elephant tusk has its cultural roots there and it is used as accessories and decoration for men and women alike, in
Addition to that the elephant is a strong animal and it symbolizes the strength and resilience of the Ivorian team.
On the other hand; Cameroon nicknamed its national football team as (the Indomitable Lions) and Nigeria is known for (the Super Green Eagles or simply the Super Eagles) because the eagle is their national symbol and the Nigerian flag has white and green colors.
Senegal team is known as (the Lions of Teranga), Mali (the Eagles ), Burkina Faso (the Stallions), Tunisia (the Eagles of Carthage), Algeria (the Desert Foxes or the Desert Warriors ), Morocco ( the Lions of the Atlas mountain), Egypt (the Pharaohs), Botswana (the Zebras), Libya (the Mediterranean Knights), Sudan(the Secretary bird or Saqr El-Jedian in Arabic), South Africa (the Bafana Bafana) which means the boys in the Zulu language, Zambia (the Chipolopolo – or Copper bullets). These nicknames were not given haphazardly or arbitrarily, they were given because they have intellectual, political and cultural connotations that reflect the cultural heritage of these countries. It is a common knowledge that sport is an area through which countries strive to achieve a better reputation and fame in the world and is considered part of popular diplomacy, because it works to bridge the social and cultural gaps between peoples.
Without football as Brazil’s former president Lula da Silva said; “the world may would have not known Brazil”.
The same observation was noted by the Cuban leader Fidel Castro who was proud of the achievements of the Cuban sprinters in the Olympic games competitions despite the economic sanctions and the blockade to his country which was imposed by western countries on Cuba, but never the less, Cuban athletes prove to the world that they have something to be proud of.
On the same note; who among us does not know the Liberian football legend and super star George Weah who is the first and the only African player to win the award for the Best World Player in the year 1995? despite the fact that his country was suffering from civil war but Weah managed to spread an endless joy and pride allover Liberia during the time of the announcement of his award.
Weah had generously supported the Federation of the Liberian Football Federation and he payed the expenses of their national team from his own money which was an act of utter patriotism, belonging and love to his homeland and that is why the Liberian government and people erected a statue in Monrovia; the capital city of Liberia to honor patriotism in him. To remind us about the iconic role of football players, I would recall the incident when Alassane Ouattara was elected as president of Ivory Coast after a long rivalry dispute with his his predecessor Laurent Gbagbo who refused to hand over power. In his endeavour to bring a durable peace, Ouattara formed a national reconciliation committees, to mend the ethnic
division of the country between Muslims in the north and Christians in the south; Ouattara; a Muslim from the north, appointed the Ivorian super star and captain of the team Didier Drogba as a leading member of the reconciliation committee in recognition of his position in the hearts of Ivorians regardless of their religions and geographical differences who see him as a national icon for all the Ivorians. African football players have gained prestigious status and fame far better than some of their presidents, for instance; who among us does not know Nwankwo Kanu, Samuel Eto’o, Abedi Pele, Jay Jay Okocha, Patrick Aomboma, Rogber Sung, Mohammed Aboutrika and Roger Milla of Cameroon, who was known for his particular dancing style in the stadia after scoring goals?. Indeed; there are many players who deserve to be role models in the black continent and the world.
Undoubtedly, our country South Sudan is rich with intellectual, political and cultural symbols that reflect the cultural heritage of our country compared to what I have mentioned earlier about the other countries. Despite all what have been said about the existence of national symbols and treasured animals and resources, I personally do propose that the “the Bright Stars” which is the title of this article should be the best option for the nickname of our national football team in the country. In my point of view, the Bright Star in our national flag is represents the vision and guiding principles that constitute hope: and the star’s yellow color represents the nucleus formation of South Sudan and its renaissance, has a long historical background that goes back to the liberation struggle staged by the SPLA against the successive regimes in Khartoum.
One of the most famous military operations of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army SPLA is the “Bright Star Campaign”(BSC) which was staged in three phases and stretched from 1988 and 1990 to 1992 in which most of the Southern Sudanese territories were liberated by then, and this star decorates our national flag which we stand-up for with all the pride when we sing our national anthem and it is known in the national anthem as “the Guiding Star”; others call it “the Golden Star” for its yellow color. This nickname elevates the position of our star in our hearts and we have already brightened our star since the dawn of the revolution on 16 May 1983, in the liberated areas and finally our star brightened in the sky of Africa and the world after independence and this star will be bright forever. Our dream is that we will be reading some headlines in the mainsheets about our national team such as the followings;
– “The Bright Stars shining in the sky of Africa”.
– Or another headline about our professional goalkeeper with the headline that may read; the Bright Star Juma Jennaro plays in Europe”.
– Or we read a headline about the captain of our national team; “the Bright Star – Richard Justin wins stardom over the Zebras team (Botswana)”
Therefore; let us talk about the team’s nickname because it represents our country and its name should motivate and elevate our feelings as people and inspire our players on the pitch.
The author, Francis Mayik, is a South Sudanese journalist based in Juba. He can be reached at francismayik@gmail.com. This article was first published in Almasier Arabic daily newspaper on Friday, July 27, 2012.
The views expressed in ‘opinion’ articles published by Radio Tamazuj are solely those of the writer. The veracity of any claims made is the responsibility of the author, not Radio Tamazuj.