I remember watching this year’s Olympics football finals between Nigeria and Argentina. It was a good tournament, and one of the highlights for me was Nigeria beating Belgium 4-1. However, looking at the makeup of the 16 teams that qualified, it’s pretty straightforward:

2 from South America
2 from North+Central America and the Carribeans
4 from Europe
3 from Africa
3 from Asia
1 from Oceania

(Source)

So, the places are spread out among all the continents, very fair, very evenly distributed.

So how about the World Cup? Well, the South Americans started, and the Europeans pay the most when it comes to TV money. And the number of qualification places is skewed HEAVILY in their favour. Out of the 32 finalists we will have:

Africa – 53 teams/5 places (9.4%) + 1 place for this year’s hosts
Asia – 43 teams/4.5 places (10.4%)
Europe – 53 teams/13 places (24.5%)
North, Central America and Carribean – 35 teams/3.5 places (10%)
Oceania – 10 teams/0.5 places (5%)
South America – 10 teams/4.5 places (45 %)

(Source)

So percentage wise, South America has the best deal, while Oceania has the worst deal, with Africa second from bottom. But both Europe and Africa have 53 teams, but Europe has more than twice the number of places in the tournament.

Some will argue that South America and Europe have produced all of the previous winners of the tournament, and as a result, they have every right to hold on to most of the places available. Africa has had 2 quarterfinalists but that’s it. Asia, one semi-finalist, and so if we don’t do well, we shouldn’t get any more places.

But isn’t this just going to be a vicious circle? As long as the tournament favours the Europeans and South Americans, the teams from that region will keep getting exposure to top level competition, which helps to develop the players, giving them opportunities to shine on the World Stage, and sign with top clubs. So teams like Bulgaria and Slovenia will occasionally make the tournament, while teams like Gabon will remain in the backwaters of world football.

I propose a ‘reset’.

South American, thank you for giving us the World Cup. Europe, thanks for giving us leagues for our players to play in.

But it’s a WORLD cup. If FIFA is serious about developing football in Africa and Asia, then our teams need more exposure at the very top level.

Each region should have a number of places based on the number of participating teams.  The Olympic model looks very good to me, just double the number of spaces to make 32 teams. They’ll be an extra space (only one host), which can be used for co-hosts or even a wildcard place.

It’s only fair.

"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that."

Bill Shankly

The first time I ever saw an English football match was 20th of May 1995. That was the day ABG came to install our ‘cable TV’ (which was really an antenna) in Lagos, just in time for us to catch the FA cup final. Everton was playing Manchester United, and Nigeria’s Daniel Amokachi was playing for Everton, so of course I was rooting for the boys in blue. The antenna was not set up properly, so we watched the whole match with a very grainy, snowy picture. 4 days later, we got to watch Ajax lift the Champions League with a win over AC Milan, with 2 Nigerians in their team (Finidi George and a very young Kanu Nwankwo). Yes, those were the good old days, when Nigerians were ruling the football world, but I digress, let me get back to where I was heading. (I have a post in my head about this, coming soon)

Anyway, the next season, we got to watch the English Premier League live. I didn’t support any team in particular, I just loved watching the football. My uncle lived in Liverpool, so I assumed he was a Liverpool fan, and was very disappointed that he turned out to be an Evertonian (In 2001, when I went to live in Liverpool, I found out that almost EVERYONE who lives in Liverpool is an Evertonian !!) So, my natural affinty to Liverpool began, they had some really good players in their squad, most notably Robbie Fowler and Steve McManaman. And McManaman was the reason I eventually started supporting Liverpool.

Liverpool was a ruthless team, and their passing game reminded me of the clinical. methodical game Ajax played in the 1995 and 1996 Champions Leagues finals. But as we didn’t get the Dutch league on TV, Liverpool became my Ajax. And on the 19th of August 1996, it was sealed. Liverpool beat Arsenal 2-0 at Anfield, and McManaman gave one his best performances ever. The rest of the team were playing a one touch passing game, but once McManaman got the ball, the ball seemed stuck to his feet, he dribbled like a master, went past anyone who dared challenge him. ESPN’s Tommy Smyth said “He’s a good player, but he doesn’t score enough goals”. And Stevie scored 2 goals, and shut him up. Mangerless Arsenal were no match for the men in Red. And that was the day I started to support Liverpool “Full time”. (Bruce Rioch was sacked by Arsenal at the start of that season. In October, a few weeks later, Arsene Wenger became Arsenal manager)

Anyway, the next few years saw more and more Nigerians get access to cable TV, satellite TV, and most importantly, Premiership football. Most people started ‘supporting’ the teams who were winning things at the time, namely Arsenal and Manchester United. I stuck with Liverpool. After researching the history of the club, I couldn’t let go. All you need to do is read one Bill Shankly quote, and you’re hooked. The history around the club is inspiring, and their record second to none in England.

Over the years, it’s been an interesting journey, I went to University of Liverpool in 2001, and finally got to watch a few matches at Anfield.

So, why did I give all this ‘history’?

Well, last week, after Arsenal lost to Manchester United, a Kenyan Arsenal fan hung himself. He was still wearing his Arsenal shirt.

This has shocked people in Kenya, as to why he took this so far. But coming from a similar background, I can understand where the passion came from. But I would obviously not go that far (following Liverpool, I would have killed myself a million times in the last 14 years!!).

When I went back to Nigeria in 2003, I was surprised to see how well the Sky/Premier League marketing machine was working. Everyone was a fan of a club in England. Arsenal, Man. United mainly. We watched so much Premier League, it felt like we were English. In 2006, sports shows were inviting listeners to dial in and debate who would be a better England captain, John Terry or Steven Gerrard. I remember listening to the show online, and amazed at how people called in to argue their points, even more effectively, than the people I listened to on English radio !!

In the last few years, fights have broken out when the big teams have played each other, and people have been killed. Africans are very passionate people, and sometimes, all we need is a cause to fight for, and we’ll fight it to the end.

Sadly for Suleiman Omondi, it’s too late. What a tragic waste of life. Reading this blog post, apparently, there have been Premier League related brawls in Kenya as well, so it’s not a uniquely Nigerian problem. Sadly, you can still see the Africna passion of the writer :

PS: This is a wake up call to Arsenal. This is how much it hurts all the fans when you play hopelessly. It might just be financials for the Arsenal stakeholders, might just be business for the Arsenal Board of Directors, might be just another job for Arsene Wenger, might just be a career for the players … but this club is the LIFE for all the supporters…! May Suleiman Omondi R.I.P.

Taken from here.

I’m sorry, but I don’t agree.

Arsene Wenger and any one of the Arsenal players probably make more in a week what this guy makes in a years, and that’s assuming he’s either abroad, or has a very, very good job. And the people who can claim to have a real connection to Arsenal, the North Londoners, when the team loses, they drown their sorrows with alcohol, and are back at work with a hangover the next day.

Please. It’s a beautiful game, but it’s just a game.

We’re taking over, one company at a time…..

This man left Ivory Coast as a refuge 10 years ago, and he is now a CEO at 46 !!

(Although he was a government minister at the time, which is impressive, government minister at 36!)

The sad part of the interview:

“……..in a previous interview with the Guardian Thiam revealed he had refused to attend any more job interviews unless headhunters told potential employers that he was black before they met him: “I was tired of the usual answer, which was, ‘We like you, you are a great guy but this is a division with 10,000 employees and we just don’t think they would understand having someone like you at the helm.’”

It’s sad that there are still people who think like this. I had a ’similar’ incident a couple of weeks ago, someone called me and left a voicemail saying he was exicited by my CV, and that he thought I was a very good match for a job role he had going. I looked at the role, and it was spot on, very good role for me. I called him back, and left a voicemail. This was 5 minutes after he called me. He calls 5 minutes later to say, or sorry, technically, you just haven’t got it. I was bemused. What could have changed in 5 minutes? Then it hit me. My voicemail. He heard my accent.

Xbox row killer jailed for life

Teenager Gets Life For Playstation Murder

Xbox, Playstation, they’re all the same aren’t they?

Don’t get me wrong though, this is a tragic story.

Says who?

Apparently, in Japan it’s so popular, they have a name for it – karoshi.

Politics. It’s always been said to be a dangerous game. A group of human beings who claim to work for the people, but most of the time, have nothing but their own self interests at heart. Give them power, and then it’s a recipe for chaos. And most of the time, it’s the innocent followers/citizens that end up paying for their mishaps.

Let’s take a look at some stories from the last few days:

1. Pakistan: Sadly, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated yesterday, and has been laid to rest in the last few hours. Her killing has left her country, Pakistan in political turmoil, and as I type this, the country is erupting in violence. The military dictator, Pervez Musharraf is now in a difficult situation. Some accuse him of having her killed, as she was set to become prime minister after next month’s elections. The obvious suspects are the Muslim extremists, who disliked her liberal stance. However, what happens now? Who will clamp down on the extremists?  Pakistan is crucial in the West’s ‘war on terror’, and the stability of that country is essential. The next few days will be interesting. What will the West do, sit back and hope things work out, or interfere? Sadly, the Bhutto’s have seen this before, her father was executed after a military coup, and both her brothers died violently.

2. Nigeria: The EFCC has been doing a stellar job in tackling corruption. While some might say that they have been a tool in the hand of the government, oppressing the opposition, what cannot be denied is that Nigerians believe that you can no longer steal money when you are in power, and get away with in. At the moment, seven ex-governors whose terms ended this year are being prosecuted, and three of them are in jail, including the ‘all-powerful’ James Ibori. So what does the government do? Sideline the head of the organization by sending him on study leave. Nuhu Ribadu has done a wonderful job heading the EFCC, but has stepped on several toes. Now, it seems that politicians have had their way, and this will be a major blow to Nigerian president, Umaru Yar’adua’s credibility. Again, what happens over the next few days will be very interesting…….

3. UK: The government has been talking about immigration for a while now, as British citizens believed that it is out of control. Sadly, immigrants like myself are those that suffer the backlash, as the government squeezes out out of existence. I currently have the right to apply for British citizenship, but let me add up how much it has cost for me to get there:

• £500 – Priority application for 2 years resident’s permit in 2005
• £35 – Life in the UK test (Does not include cost of study materials and a day off work to take the test)
• £950 – Priority application for indefinite leave to remain November 2007
• £710 – Citizenship application + Nationality checking service

Total : £2160 in the last 2 years. That’s a lot of money, and that’s only because I’m the only person in my household applying. I met a man at the Home Office applying for indefinite leave to remain for his family of five.

If it costs so much to be a legal migrant, no wonder people are going down the illegal immigrant route.

The government has been talking about ‘the biggest shake up of the immigration system ever’ which is about to happen, and at the heart of this is a points based system for non-EU migrants. But this my friends, is just politics. The UK has had a points based system for migrants since 2002 called the Highly Skilled Migrants Programme. And for all the government’s huffing and puffing, the ‘new’ points based system is identical to the Highly Skilled Migrants Programme. So nothing new there, just a massive announcement about nothing. They are also talking about banning non-skilled non-EU people from coming to the UK. Again, nothing new there. There is currently no visa or scheme for a non-skilled migrant to settle in the UK. What programme are they canceling? Which visa have they announced they will get rid of? None. Because again, it’s just a massive announcement about….nothing. A new clampdown on forced/sham marriages? These measures have been in place for a few years, a foreigner cannot get married without applying for permission to marry from the home office, despite the high court saying this was illegal and a breach of human rights. Another announcement without substance.

The only new things in all the proposals? Shortening standard visitor visas to 3 months from 6, which to be honest is not a bad idea, but for family visas, the government is ‘considering’ making UK based people pay a cash bond of up to £1000 when they invite people to visit the UK, and this will be forfeited if the visitor does not return home. What? this year alone, my wife and I have invited almost 10 people to visit, all of whom have returned home, but this measure would mean that we might have to think twice about it. And a lot of people agree that this is just a bad idea and that innocent people would be the victims.

So what do the conservatives come up with. Well, for them, a £1000 bond is not even good enough. No sir. Under a conservative government, if you invite someone to the UK, and they don’t go back home, you could go to jail. So the government lies through it’s teeth, and the opposition gives us a completely senseless alternative. Nothing new there then.

This is what happens when you put politicians in charge. You get a whole lot of hot air, no real decisions made, and a bunch of men in suits, just looking after themselves, ready to do anything to prolong their tenure. Or in the case of Benazior Bhutto, senseless, unnecessary death.

May her soul rest in peace.

Fans’ community website MyFootballClub has agreed a deal to take over Blue Square Premier outfit Ebbsfleet United.

It looks like the deal of a lifetime, pay £35 plus a £7.50 administration fee, and you are now a joint owner of a football club. The website was created to take power away from Russian and American billionaires buying up all the big clubs, and give power back to the fans. ‘Owners’ will get a vote in all major affairs, including transfers and team selection.

When the news about this website first broke, I thought about joining. However, I decided not to, due to the following reasons :

1. The £35 is not an investment, but a membership fee. It’s payable annually. And if the club is sold in the future, you don’t get anything out of it, proceeds would be given to a charity with similar objects. All profits are reinvested in the club, and dividends are not paid out. If I wanted to manage a football club, I’d head over to play.com and buy a computer game, and save myself 10 quid. 

2. At the time, they were dreaming about buying Leeds or Halifax, or some other ‘big’ club. I thought this was unrealistic.

However, now they’ve gone ahead and agreed in principle to buy a club, it’s no longer a dream. Ebbsfleet is getting a lot of publicity as a result, and it’s being hailed as a fan’s revolution.

However, I seriously do not think it will work in practice. And here are the reasons why :

• The manager has effectively been demoted to head coach. He will give his thoughts on players, their form and fitness, as well as possible selections and tactics. Members will then submit their preferred 11, formation and tactics. A database will calculate the most popular choice. This will be handed to The Head Coach to instigate. So 50,000 people will pick the team? How is this going to work? Every man and his dog feels they can manage a football club, listen to the radio show 606 on BBC Radio Five Live every week, and all you hear is how some bloke who plays Sunday League football thinks he can run Liverpool FC better than Mr. Benitez. Now imagine 50,000 people with a chance to prove their ‘footballing prowness’. And what happens when it’s 60 minutes, the team is losing one nil and the manager needs to make a change to try and win the game? Does he need to wait for a vote to do that? Ian Holloway, Plymouth manager thinks the whole thing is a joke.

• And what happens in the transfer window? All members are to vote on potential transfers. Will all members be given all the confidential information about a transfer? (The transfer fee, the agent’s fee, and wages) But most importantly, as David Sullivan, the co-owner of Birmingham city points out here, transfers are done at light speed.

"If a player is in demand you need an instant decision, you can’t go on the internet for six or 12 hours and let people vote,Virtually every transfer deal has to be done at tremendous speed because other clubs are going to be interested.
"We have jumped in at transfer deadlines, buying players that were going elsewhere. We have got hold of players that were en route to one club and brought them to Birmingham.
"Middlesbrough beat us to signing a player in Turkey this summer. "
"A few years ago Craig Bellamy was coming to us and Celtic jumped in and got him and derailed the transfer."

Enough said. Voting on transfers will never work in real life.

• We have leaders for a reason. You can’t have everyone taking decisions at the same time. It will be a recipe for pure chaos.

Having said all that, I guess with the right men in the right places it can all fall in place, it will be a massive success, and soon fans will be buying clubs all over the country. Only time will tell.

I got this from here, it’s an AWESOME read, very touching and inspiring.

Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon University computer-science professor, was about to give a lecture Tuesday afternoon, but before he said a word, he received a standing ovation from 400 students and colleagues.

He motioned to them to sit down. “Make me earn it,” he said.

They had come to see him give what was billed as his “last lecture.” This is a common title for talks on college campuses today. Schools such as Stanford and the University of Alabama have mounted “Last Lecture Series,” in which top professors are asked to think deeply about what matters to them and to give hypothetical final talks. For the audience, the question to be mulled is this: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance?

It can be an intriguing hour, watching healthy professors consider their demise and ruminate over subjects dear to them. At the University of Northern Iowa, instructor Penny O’Connor recently titled her lecture “Get Over Yourself.” At Cornell, Ellis Hanson, who teaches a course titled “Desire,” spoke about sex and technology.

At Carnegie Mellon, however, Dr. Pausch’s speech was more than just an academic exercise. The 46-year-old father of three has pancreatic cancer and expects to live for just a few months. His lecture, using images on a giant screen, turned out to be a rollicking and riveting journey through the lessons of his life.

He began by showing his CT scans, revealing 10 tumors on his liver. But after that, he talked about living. If anyone expected him to be morose, he said, “I’m sorry to disappoint you.” He then dropped to the floor and did one-handed pushups.

Clicking through photos of himself as a boy, he talked about his childhood dreams: to win giant stuffed animals at carnivals, to walk in zero gravity, to design Disney rides, to write a World Book entry. By adulthood, he had achieved each goal. As proof, he had students carry out all the huge stuffed animals he’d won in his life, which he gave to audience members. After all, he doesn’t need them anymore.

He paid tribute to his techie background. “I’ve experienced a deathbed conversion,” he said, smiling. “I just bought a Macintosh.” Flashing his rejection letters on the screen, he talked about setbacks in his career, repeating: “Brick walls are there for a reason. They let us prove how badly we want things.” He encouraged us to be patient with others. “Wait long enough, and people will surprise and impress you.” After showing photos of his childhood bedroom, decorated with mathematical notations he’d drawn on the walls, he said: “If your kids want to paint their bedrooms, as a favor to me, let ‘em do it.”

While displaying photos of his bosses and students over the years, he said that helping others fulfill their dreams is even more fun than achieving your own. He talked of requiring his students to create videogames without sex and violence. “You’d be surprised how many 19-year-old boys run out of ideas when you take those possibilities away,” he said, but they all rose to the challenge.

He also saluted his parents, who let him make his childhood bedroom his domain, even if his wall etchings hurt the home’s resale value. He knew his mom was proud of him when he got his Ph.D, he said, despite how she’d introduce him: “This is my son. He’s a doctor, but not the kind who helps people.”

He then spoke about his legacy. Considered one of the nation’s foremost teachers of videogame and virtual-reality technology, he helped develop “Alice,” a Carnegie Mellon software project that allows people to easily create 3-D animations. It had one million downloads in the past year, and usage is expected to soar.

“Like Moses, I get to see the Promised Land, but I don’t get to step foot in it,” Dr. Pausch said. “That’s OK. I will live on in Alice.”

Many people have given last speeches without realizing it. The day before he was killed, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke prophetically: “Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place.” He talked of how he had seen the Promised Land, even though “I may not get there with you.”

Dr. Pausch’s lecture, in the same way, became a call to his colleagues and students to go on without him and do great things. But he was also addressing those closer to his heart.

Near the end of his talk, he had a cake brought out for his wife, whose birthday was the day before. As she cried and they embraced on stage, the audience sang “Happy Birthday,” many wiping away their own tears.

Dr. Pausch’s speech was taped so his children, ages 5, 2 and 1, can watch it when they’re older. His last words in his last lecture were simple: “This was for my kids.” Then those of us in the audience rose for one last standing ovation.

Following the murder of Rhys Jones in Liverpool, politicians have gone into ’soul searching’ mode, and everyone has come up with their own solutions to the perceived epidemic of gun and knife crime in the UK. And as usual, one of the usual suspects is in everyone’s firing line, video games.

Last week, opposition leader, David Cameron decided that it was time to clamp down on video games. Some excerpts from his speech are below:

“We are never going to deal with crime unless we look at the broader context and say, ‘Yes, tough laws, strong action on the police, but also action to strengthen our society’.

“And that includes, I think, video games and things like that where we do need to think of the context in which people are growing up.”

 Then today, the Prime Minister himself has decided to jump on the bandwagon. Speaking to the Daily Mirror, Brown said he was “aware of growing concern about the effect of screen violence on youngsters”, adding that he wants to draw up new legislation for the promotion and sale of video games.

“Parents are concerned about whether children are exposed to harmful violence and sexual imagery in games and on the internet.”

Ok, whenever I hear these arguments, it really ticks me off. And one thing is blindingly obvious. Neither David Cameron or Gordon Brown have played a video game in their lives. I don’t blame them. My generation grew up playing games, and most of us are now in our thirties now at most. Our so called leaders are of a generation that grew up thinking that video games are for children.

Well, one thing needs to be said. While we grew up, video games grew up with us. I remember a long time ago playing ‘Midnight Resistance‘ on the Commodore 64 all those years ago. You ran around shooting people with a gun. It was a classic shoot-em-up, like many others at the time like Super Contra. This was the age of innocence, when you shot people in the game, they just turned to dust.

Then in 1992, along came Mortal Kombat. Unlike it’s rival at the time, Streetfighter 2, Mortal Kombat brought something to video games that changed the entire industry. Blood and wanton violence. When you beat people up, blood splashed everywhere, and after winning you could execute a ‘finishing move’ like tearing their heart out of their chest, or chopping of their heads. I might be wrong, but for me, that was when video games grew up.

So today, violence, foul language and sometimes, sex are commonplace in video games. And politicians, who remember the age of innocence have decided that enough is enough, and it’s time to clean things up.

My argument is that what is needed is not new legislation, or censorship, but EDUCATION. Let’s look at one of the games that comes up whenever anyone wants to talk about how video games are poisoning the minds of the youth, Grand Theft Auto. In the most recent release of this game, you can among other things, kill policemen, have sex with prostitutes and then kill them afterwards to get your money back. You steal cars to get around. It’s violent, and I agree, kids should never play such things. But let’s look at the game cases.

I’ve included the covers of both the UK and US versions of the games. Now, look at the bottom left hand corners.

UK – (18) The game is rated 18

US – (M) Mature 17+

Just like movies, video games have been self regulating for years. In theory, you cannot buy this game in the UK if you’re under 18. And to be honest, most of the time that works, most retailers won’t sell a game to you if you’re under the limit. However, there is one problem that is often overlooked. Parents.

I cannot count the number of times I’ve seen parents buy games for their kids that are completely inappropriate. And they have the same problem both David Cameron and Gordon Brown have, they have never played video games before, and as far as they are concerned, it’s ‘kids stuff’ and there can’t possibly be anything in the video game that can corrupt the minds of their young ones.

So once again, I put it to you that the solution to this problem is EDUCATION, not of the kids, but of the parents. Just like the Internet, parents need to take an interest in what their children are doing, and make sure that their children do not view or use material that is inappropriate.

There is most definitely no need for new legislation, all that is needed is to enforce what we already have in place. Make sure parents know that just like they wouldn’t knowingly let their children watch a porn flick, they have to knowingly keep their children away from inappropriate video games for their age.

The government can do nothing about it. It is in the hands of parents.

My MP3 player gave up the ghost a few weeks ago. The battery just went dead, and it refused to come back on. Fortunately, I got an extended warranty with it, so I arranged for Currys to get it, and while I was over in the US, it was returned. Not only had they fixed the battery, but they had replaced the screen, which was smashed up, and had been held together with several layers of sellotape.

So now, the MP3 looks almost as good as it was when it was new, and I have to admit, that it’s a lot more useable with the new screen.

However, that broken screen stood for something. Everytime people saw it, and asked how it happened, I would never tire of repeating the story. And whenever my luck was down, looking at that screen gave me hope that things could turn around for the better at any time, all you need is a bit of hope, and you must never give up.

So how can a broken screen on an MP3 player relay such a message.

Well, the screen broke on May 25th 2005.

Bring back any memories?

It was Liverpool vs. AC Milan in the Champions League final. AC Milan had just scored their third goal. I was so upset, I threw my mobile phone to the bed, and heard it hit something. It had hit the MP3 player, and smashed the screen. I got even more angry, as the player was only a few months old. I put the player aside, I was not in the mood to try and fix it.

The rest of the night is almost a blur. Liverpool came back from the dead, and in seven minutes of madness equalised in the second half, and went on to win on penalties. I was jumping for joy, I had people on the phone from Nigeria, Liverpool and London, I was on cloud nine. At the end of the night, I took a look at my MP3 player. Well, if Liverpool could salvage that match from the dead, I could salvage that screen. So I got a roll of sellotape, put all the pieces I could find together, and put on enough tape to hold them in place. It wasn’t pretty, but it was useable. That screen became a symbol of pride for me.

Anyway, thanks to Curry’s aftercare people (who I have to say did I remarkable job!), I’ve lost that relic to that night in May 2005.

But things might happen that way all over again, we’re playing Chlesea in the semi final just like in 2005, and AC Milan have a chance to get to the final, just like in 2005. Mmmmm, I wonder what I’ll break this time……..