Sports arenas and why governments in Africa need them more than ever before

On Tuesday this week, bus-loads of Senegalese, still basking in the glory of winning their first Afcon, made it to their glossy new 50,000-seat Abdoulaye Wade stadium. Joining them at this inauguration and to watch an exhibition match of past football magicians, were the Turkish, Liberian, and Rwandan presidents. Their host, President Macky Sall said the facility is a dedication to Senegalese youth and an invitation for them to continue their paths towards excellence.   

Often, such projects quickly become the carcasses we see decaying across the continent. Back home, all we have to show in this regard are a dilapidated Namboole which is now a makeshift hospital, a hurriedly done Kitende, and Nakivubo Stadium and its vague presence somewhere between shopping mall and construction site. All other stadiums in the country are glorified grazing grounds.

But perhaps if we conceived these projects not as ornaments but as investments in the future of a country’s youth, then we might build more and maintain them better.
Yet it is common for our sports teams to be invited for send-off dinners before leaving to compete in other lands mainly because we simply don’t have appropriate facilities. Here they are dined, given the flag, and sent off with instructions to carry it with pride. Upon their return and if it is with some medals, they will be dined again, this time with promises of houses and special remuneration.

Many of us pay scant attention to this ritual. Yet overlooking it will not enable us to see it for what it is -a shameless attempt to own the success of our sportsmen without ever really contributing to it in the first place.
Everyone loves a winner. But it is lazy of us to partner after the fact, especially because we know that it takes good coaching, hours of preparation, an understanding and application of sports science to produce winners. Above all we know that none of the above is possible without top quality facilities.

But still, we are happy to sit back and wait for those amongst us with the natural gifts or attitude to succeed. Then we bask in their glory as if it was the most natural thing to do.
I am not in any way against rewarding those who win, and by all means let us celebrate our victories whenever. But if we agree that champions shall be created by more than just the promise of houses then all that these dinners serve up is an opportunity for officials to gloat. And I don’t see how this is motivating to our sportsmen, if at all that is what was intended.

Why then don’t we instead take a long-term view to sports development. Joshua Chepetgai, and Denis Onyango already make enough to buy their own meals, build houses, and buy cars. And so will their upcoming contemporaries if we built them international standard facilities.
But maybe officials don’t trust that this approach would illustrate their political ambitions. But it could. Purposeful investment in sport facilities would certainly turn us away from being a nation of isolated successes into one of collective growth. This success could then be used by all the glory hunters as the rallying point around which to organize and pander to nationalist sentiment.

So, it is about time we compliment the dinners, not with promises and slogans, but with deliberate efforts to invest in sports facilities. 
That alone creates enough champions to more than feed our gloating instincts and sanitise our soiled image. It is a long-time solution to our short-term glory hunt when you think about it.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @MBanturaki