George Weah has come
a long way: from Monrovia, where he and his 13 brothers and sisters were brought
up by their grandmother, to the World Player of the Year award and the big European
leagues of France, Italy and England, where he has scored 150 goals in more than
300 matches. It has been a spectacular journey. As a boy, he dreamed of becoming
another Pele. Now, 15 years after he left his country, thousands of Liberian youngsters
dream of becoming another George Weah.
But it was tough at first. “Every day we’d play from morning ’til night,” he says.
“We didn’t have a coach, so we made it up as we went along, warming up and running
around together. We all chipped in what we could to buy kit and footballs.”
These days, George has a gold watch and drives a Mercedes. He’s also very generous.
More than once, he has dipped in his pocket to bail out the indebted Liberian football
federation or pay for equipment. As well as playing, he is also the national team’s
coach and sponsor. He knows he is an icon in Africa, but that does not bother him.
“It’s normal for kids to have heroes,” he says.
Liberia’s passion for football returned only recently. Until four years ago, the
country was engulfed in a murderous civil war—one of Africa’s bloodiest conflicts—that
between 1990 and 1997 killed 150,000 people and forced nearly half the population
either to flee or become refugees in their own country (see box).
During those years, young Liberians had other battles to wage, not with footballs
but with guns, avenging their parents or siblings and fighting as child-soldiers.
Today, erstwhile factional rivals wear the same team shirts, are equal before the
ball and equally fervent about the game. Thanks to television, they follow every
detail of championships in Europe and Latin America. Everybody knows who Brazilian
striker Ronaldo is and how many goals “Mister George” has scored for Olympique de
Marseilles this season.
Every game involving the national team is a big event. Sometimes there are 20,000
more people watching the match than the Monrovia stadium officially has room for.
“Women and children come too,” says Weah. “They make up about half the crowd.” Sometimes
the police have to intervene. But when Liberia wins—and they have, recently, notched
up surprising victories against Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone—people take to the
streets to celebrate and children wait hours at the players’ entrance in search of
autographs.
But Liberians’ love affair with football is not just fan worship. Everyone plays
the game. Far from the bright lights of the stadium and the world of million-dollar
contracts, people kick balls around on waste ground, in village squares and on beaches
where rusting warships are relics of a not so distant past. Few of these amateurs
have runners or money to buy a decent ball. They just want to play.
In a poor country without jobs or basic facilities, football may not be the best
or only cure but it’s one way forward. Weah firmly believes it can make a difference:
“I’m no politician,” he says, “but when people have problems, even in countries at
war, their quarrels can be solved on the playing field. We’ve seen that a lot.”
One of football’s countless legends is that years ago, warring Nigeria and Biafra
called a truce one day just so they could see Pele play. And someone as unconventional
as the French writer Albert Camus, who was once goalkeeper for the Algiers University
team, wrote that “everything I know about morality I owe to football.”
Weah, Africa’s all-time greatest footballer, puts it this way: “To achieve something,
you’ve got to want it. You mustn’t take drugs and you’ve got to work hard and concentrate.”
Perhaps some of these children, fans of teams with names like Invincible Eleven and
Young Survivors, have what it takes. But with their youthful energy and sturdy legs,
what they certainly have is a thirst for a better life, just like the boy from Monrovia
who dreamt of being Pele.
Liberia factfile:
Population:
3 million
Surface area: 111,400 sq. km
Life expectancy: 47 years
Adult illiteracy rate: 49%
GNP per capita: $150-200
Sources: World Bank and The Economist
Intelligence Unit
Key dates:
1847:
Foundation of the Free and Independent Republic of Liberia.
1980: President William Tolbert assassinated in a military coup headed by Samuel
Doe, who becomes the country’s president and military chief.
1990: Rebel forces from Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia
and the Independent Patriotic Front headed by Prince Johnson begin an armed revolt
in the north of the country and advance towards the south, where they engage in battle
in Monrovia against the forces of President Doe. Doe is killed in September.
In November, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) secures a ceasefire
between the two rebel factions and the government, dispatches a peacekeeping force
to the country and appoints a provisional government headed by Amos Sawyer. Charles
Taylor declares himself president, as does Harry Moniba, second in command in Doe’s
defunct government.
1991: Taylor, Johnson and the commander in chief of Liberia’s armed forces sign
the terms of a second ceasefire. In October, Taylor agrees to a deal that would enable
ECOWAS forces to disarm his troops and call a general election. In spite of this,
new armed groups emerge and conflict continues.
1992: The UN Security Council decrees an arms embargo and pledges its support
for ECOWAS.
July 1993: Peace talks begin in Geneva. Despite the signature of a fresh peace
accord, the war continues.
August 1995: The eleventh peace accord is signed, to no avail.
1996: All factions agree to an unconditional ceasefire, which is followed by
a peace treaty.
1997: The war finishes. A total of 150,000 people have been killed and a million
displaced since the start of the conflict. Disarmament begins and refugees return.
ECOWAS peacekeepers in the ECOMOG force remain in the country. Charles Taylor is
elected president by a landslide.
2001: As yet unscheduled presidential elections due to take place. |
|
|
Weah:
the golden touch
Born in Monrovia,
Liberia, on October 1, 1966
Height: 1m 85cm
Weight: 83kg
Footballing
career
Liberia: Young Survivors (1983-84), Bongrange Bongmine (1984-85), Mighty Barole (1985-86),
Invincible Eleven (1986-87)
Cameroon: Tonnerre de Yaoundé (1987-88)
France: AS Monaco (1988-92), Paris Saint-Germain (1992-95)
Italy: AC Milan (1995-January 2000)
England: Chelsea (January-June 200), Manchester City (July-October 2000)
France: Olympique de Marseilles (October 2000- )
Honours
Cameroon league title (1988), French league title (1994), three French Cups (1991,
1993, 1995), French League Cup (1995), two Italian league titles (1996 and 1999),
English FA Cup (2000), FIFA World Player of the Year Award (1995), two African Golden
Balls (1989 and 1994)
Scored 150 goals in official European matches.
|
|
