I am at the stage of my life where I believe in my own immortality. A large part of that is because my body has taken good care of me despite my not returning the favour, especially my liver which has taken some beating.
I have an “okay” relationship with the gym and exercising. We know each other but not on a first-name basis. I ran a half-marathon (21km) last month with just a week of decent training. I did it under two hours. The high I got from that milestone made me believe I may be immortal.
I have a feeling players of Brazilian side Chapecoense had a similar feeling after they qualified for the final of the Copa Sudamericana, South America’s version of the CAF Confederation Cup. In the space of six years this club went from playing in the fourth tier of Brazilian football to being 180 minutes away from being continental champions. That dream was rudely dashed by the crash of their chartered plane in Medellin on their way to face Colombian side Atletico Nacional.
That shook me because it happened on the day I left Yaounde via Nairobi for Joburg.
It wasn’t a smooth flight, though. It was delayed for over three hours as the airspace was shut down in anticipation of the landing of Senegal President Macky Sall. In Nairobi we waited more than two hours because our flight was delayed.
I arrived at OR Tambo on Tuesday morning to the terrible news of Chapecoense’s plane crash. Somehow my chaotic flight felt like a breeze. That’s the thing with death, it puts things into perspective and makes you more grateful for being in the land of the living.
Even though death is a certainty, when it hits home it feels new. I consider football to be more than just a job. So when the real world enters football, it shows why this is the beautiful game.
There have been many touching gestures after this tragedy. It started off with Nacional asking that the Brazilian club be handed the trophy. Fellow Brazilian clubs offered to loan out players to them without a fee and the club were promised to be exempted from relegation for three years. Brazilian star Ronaldinho and one of Argentina’s finest, Riquelme, have both reportedly pledged to come out of retirement and play for the side for free.
This crash showed how much of a community football is. I don’t know how the world responded to the plane crash that killed Zambia’s Golden Generation in 1993 in Gabon en route to Senegal for a World Cup qualifier because I was too young. I have only read about the 1958 Munich air disaster that involved Manchester United and the 1948 crash in Turin that involved Torino.
I am sure those incidents were met with similar compassion.
This reminded me of Polokwane City’s bus accident in 2012 when they were still campaigning in the First Division. Rise and Shine were returning from a match against FC AK and four of their players perished - Koketso Takalo, Robert Mphuti, Moeketsi Nthete and Silvester Mpaketsane. Twelve players were injured. One of them is Kopano Sekgobela, who is now wheelchair-bound. The club, family of the deceased and those injured received a lot of compassion.
The families were paid insurance money due to them. But as a country we didn’t do enough for them. After Sekgobela lost his livelihood, we should have rallied behind him so he could be trained to get another form of income. There are some people and footballers who have united to try to help by raising funds but it wasn’t enough.
That accident has been forgotten just like the Orkney disaster in 1991 during a stampede in a match involving Soweto giants Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates where 42 deaths were recorded.
If we aren’t careful, the Ellis Park disaster, where 42 people also died, could also be forgotten. This year was the 15th anniversary of that tragic day on April 11, 2001. It wasn’t properly commemorated. A few of the families who lost loved ones went to the stadium to lay wreaths. The Lions gave some of them VIP tickets to watch their match where a moment of silence was observed.
Let's admit when we are at fault and addressing such mistakes shows leadership.
We should learn from such incidents and, more importantly, treat victims and bereaved families better.
Saturday Star