Are we too poor for the World Cup? Who isn’t?

To say that I’m excited about the Thursday start of the Fifa World Cup would be an understatement. I’ve followed England’s qualification process with trepidation, praying that the Three Lions wouldn’t fall at the hurdle and thank goodness they didn’t. They play the Italian national team, the Azzuri, on Sunday. But I have to be honest, England will not win the Cup; they will reach the knockout phase and then get beaten on penalties (as always happens). England’s eventual defeat will leave me blue for a few hours but there are always other teams to support. At the end of the month-long competition, my appetite for international football will have been sated for a few months. Sadly however, instead of talking about the football, the fans and the Brazilian experience, the biggest actors in the international media are highlighting the issues that put the Brazilian world cup in a negative light. Their coverage is all about the rowdy anti-government protests and barely about people who are excited about the World Cup on their doorsteps. In fact, just the other day the BBC breathlessly warned travelers to ‘watch out’ for the deadly dengue fever, spending a good twenty minutes talking about the effects of dengue fever, only using about a minute at the end of the broadcast to tell the audience that all they need to stay safe is to apply mosquito repellant on their skin. I am the first to admit that the Brazilians haven’t done a great job in the run up to the competition. The stadiums should have been ready months ago and perhaps the government should have worked closely with civil society groups to ensure that the whole country was paddling in the same direction. However, the hysteria in the English press is suspicious because it seems like a ‘copy and paste’ campaign. Does anyone remember how the 2010 South African World Cup was reported? We were inundated with stories about pickpockets, rapes and murders. Reporters wondered whether South Africa could do it. They questioned the transportation system, the accommodation and wondered about whether local fans would fill the stadium when the Bafana Bafana invariably lost. And they moaned and moaned about the drone of the local vuvuzela, asking it to be banned. And when the World Cup went off without a hitch, nary a word for you see, they never eat humble pie. They just moved on to the next victim. And today, Brazil is the target. In a few years, it will be Qatar in their cross hairs (they’ve already started). What is the one thing that links all these nations? They are either developing nations (like Brazil and South Africa) or used to be (like Qatar). In my opinion, if some of these people had their way, international sporting events (or any global events actually) would take place in Western Europe and the North American countries of Canada and the US. Even China and Russia are suspect. In their eyes, only traditional zones of influence and affluence can be trusted to do things ‘right’. They probably ask themselves, ‘shouldn’t they be feeding their poor instead of spending money on such extravagance’? I think that question actually deserves an answer, especially because Rwanda is hosting the 2016 African Nations Championship (Chan). Should we be hosting and spending money that we don’t have on such an event? I say ‘yes’. Jesus once said that the ‘poor will always be with us’. If we were to say that only countries without financial challenges could host events because the money could be better spent on poverty alleviation, the only countries that could possibly host anything would probably be the Principality of Monaco, Luxembourg and perhaps Lichtenstein. The US? No (especially with its budget deficits, urban poverty and poorly funded schools). The UK? No (they have similar issues, except they are poorer than the US). France? I won’t even bother highlighting the issues in their banlieues. Poverty, income inequality and other social challenges are not the preserve of developing nations. And neither are infrastructural challenges. On the flip side, what are the benefits of spending money on these events? International recognition, increased tourism, a cash infusion into the local economy and civic pride. While I will not say that we shouldn’t be counting our pennies; the pennies shouldn’t be the only thing to motivate us. To paraphrase Jesus once again, ‘Man will not live on bread alone but fun times as well’. Sunny Ntayombya is a New Times journalist and post-graduate student Twitter: @sannykigali

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Are we too poor for the World Cup? Who isn’t?