AfricaIs aCountry

The Ugly American

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

The Ugly American

By
Sonja Sugira

US writers about soccer beginning to display the same kinds of sports-commenter crypto racism that has been pretty standard issue in Europe for quite a while.

US soccer fans (Steve Evans, via Flickr CC).

After the US drew 2-2 with Slovenia in a World Cup group game, Sports Illustrated columnist Peter King tweeted this about the referee, the Malian Koman Coulibaly:  “Putting a ref from a small African country in charge of a vital WC game is like a Mid-American Conference ref doing the Super Bowl.”  Coulibaly is perhaps now the most hated man in the United States, a country that hardly cared that much for the World Cup or soccer until recently. Peter King’s also got a column to go with this tweet.

I have no words. But thankfully, others do.

Like Zunguzungu:

Peter King’s SI column, for example, is really just run of the mill chauvinism; his dark mutterings about how Coulibaly — “from the landlocked West African country of Mali” — must be unprepared for his job since he only previously refereed in the African Cup of Nations is the sort of sports-commenter crypto racism that the US has been producing more and more of lately, but which has been pretty standard issue in Europe for quite a while. We’ll need more of that in the days to come, but don’t fool yourself: every newspaper in England has at least half a dozen writers capable of turning out that kind of performance at the drop of a hat. And his wailing indignation just demonstrates what an amateur hour dog and pony show he’s running. You get the idea that he really does think he’s the first soccer commentator to demand accountability from FIFA, which I bet he even knows how to pronounce. I hope someday he has the chance to cry and moan after a ref takes away his victory in the semifinals or the quarterfinals, or even the finals themselves. And maybe, just maybe, someday God himself will reach down onto the pitch and hand victory to his opponents.

Read the rest of Zunguzungu’s post here. It’s an excellent takedown. For more reactions from bllogs around the world, I suggest this nice round-up from Global Voices. Also weighing in is Our Man in America. Even the New York Times comes to Coulibaly’s defense, sort of.

I stand with Coulibaly. Let’s hope FIFA doesn’t drop him for the rest of the Cup.

Further Reading

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