Dibussi Tande: Scribbles from the Den

Guinness Mount Cameroon Race: Revisiting the Era of Foreign Domination

By Dibussi Tande

In March 1973, Guinness Cameroon S.A. organized the first ever Mount Cameroon race – a grueling 29 KM endurance race up and down an active volcano which takes athletes through a dense tropical rainforest to a frigid summit sometimes covered with snow, passing through a prairie-like Savannah region and a barren moon-like area covered with molten lava.

1989 - Britain's Jack Maitland crosses the finish line to become the new King of the Mountain

The first three editions of the Guinness Mount Cameroon Race were won by local Bakweri runners. By the time of the 4th edition in 1976, an aura of superstition had already enveloped the race. There was a widely-held belief, even among non-natives, that efas’a moto, the mountain god, would never allow a “stranger” to “conquer” the sacred lair of the Bakweri people who lived at the foot of the mountain. In fact, during the first three races, there were numerous stories of supernatural happenings up the fog-covered mountain which disoriented and frightened non-native runners into submission. This would all change in 1976.

[Obituary] Remembering "Dokta" - The Guardian's Tribute to Theophile Abega

As Cameroon prepares to say goodbye tomorrow to"Doctor" Theophile Abega, the football maestro who died on November 15, 2012, we remember "Dokta" through this poignant tribute  by Jonathan Wilson and originally published in The Guardian newspaper (England).

His touch and vision were those of a master and African football has lost one of its most skilful midfielders.

Some time towards the end of January, Théophile Abega stopped replying to my calls. I was in Equatorial Guinea, heading on to Cameroon, and was keen to meet him, partly to talk about the rivalry between Thomas N'kono and Joseph-Antoine Bell for my book on goalkeeping but mainly because, well, because he was Théophile Abega, one of the most skilful African midfielders of all time, the man who led Cameroon in 1984 to their first Cup of Nations triumph, scoring a brilliant goal in the final.

1982 World Cup Finals, Vigo, Spain, 23rd June 1982, Italy 1 v Cameroon 1, Italy's Antonio Cabrini is left grounded by Cameroon's Theophile Abega during their Group A match (Photo by Bob Thomas-Getty Images)

He Stood Up Against Injustice: Remembering Football Great Joe Ewunkem

Joseph Ewunkem, former Captain of the legendary Prisons Social Club of Buea in the 1960s and 1970s, member of various West Cameroon football selections, and part of the Cameroon national squad that took part in the 1975 Military World Cup in Germany, died in Buea on July 10, 012. 

The young Ewunkem being introduced to President Ahidjo before the 1968 Cup Finals.Mbappe Leppe is seen watching over the President’s left shoulder.

An iconic figure of West Cameroon football, Ewunkem is probably best remembered for his dramatic act of defiance during the 1968 Cameroon National Cup finals when, in the presence of President Ahidjo, he broke protocol to protest, in a most dramatic manner, against injustice to his team - an act which many believe was instrumental in the dissolution of the West Cameroon Football league.

In this commemorative article, Ashuntantang Tanjong tells the story of Prisons Social Club of Buea and the 1968 Cameroon Cup finals.

Hanging onto the Lion’s Mane: 50 Years of Anglophone Frustrations with Cameroon’s National Football Team*

Culled from Foot for Thought: 50 Years of Football in the Southwest Region & Anglophone Cameroon, forthcoming book by Tanjong Ashuntantang.

The day was Sunday October 1, 1961. The venue was the Hippodrome Stadium in Yaoundé. The event was a football match organized to commemorate the Reunification of the British Southern Cameroons and the French-speaking La République du Cameroun to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon.
Humphrey Mosenge, one of the leading West Cameroon players, greeting President Ahidjo during a match between the Southwest province and Littoral in the 1970s

The game pitted a squad tagged “La selection Nationale” (i.e., the national football team of the new nation) against a selection of Cameroonian nationals based in the Diaspora. The guest of honor was Ahmadou Ahidjo, President of the newly formed Federal Republic of Cameroon.

Killing Soccer in Cameroon - An Investigative Report

Chief Bisong Etahoben and Franklin Sone Bayen [ Culled from Killing Soccer in Africa - FAIR Dossier|September 2010 pp. 7-8]

Mobile phone company MTN pumped in $600,000 of an $800,000 project to renovate a number of stadiums. The other $200,000 was to come from Fecafoot, but instead, $146,000 ended up in the pockets of the then sports minister... The work never happened. The $600,000 is unaccounted for.

 
Cameroon took part in the World Cup for the sixth time this year making it the only African country to have attained such a feat. It participated in the first tournament in 1982, missed the 1986 games but has qualified for every tournament since then, except the 2006 games. Cameroon is also one of the only three African countries to reach the quarter finals of the World Cup.

Photo Essay: Why Cameroon Shared the Last Place at the 2010 World Cup With North Korea

Dibussi Tande

A million reasons have been given to explain why Cameroon, supposedly one of the greatest football nations in the world, ended up sharing the last spot at the 2010 World Cup with - Oh! The humiliation! - North Korea. While conflicts within the national team and poor coaching may explain  Cameroon's South African debacle, the problem with the country's football is systemic and structural. Take a hard look at the following pictures; these are some of the stadiums where games for the MTN Elite One league (Cameroon's premier football championship) are played each week.

Cotonsport, Cameroon's Elite One Champions, playing at the Bamendzin "Stadium" in Bafoussam, homeground of Racing Bafoussam FC

Exactly what kind of talent do we expect to emerge from these potato fields? Isn't it time for Cameroon to go back to the basics - developing a coherent national football policy, establishing a credible youth prospection and development program, professionalizing the elite league, training local coaches in modern techniques and tactics, building stadiums that meet minimum FIFA standards, etc. - before aspiring to conquer the the African and world stage? There can be no cutting corners on this one!

World Cup 2010: Where Cameroon Will Play

Cameroon's games will take place in the following stadiums:

Free State Stadium - Mangaung/Bloemfontein (Cameroon-Japan)

Ngando Pickett vs. Puma: The Battle Moves on to South Africa

Ngando Pickett's controversial Puma advert on display in a shop in South Africa (c) anjalinayar

"On one hand, the global exposure has made Ngando really happy. His image has united Cameroonians for years and will now unite the world. But at the same time, he felt duped. "Those images belong to me," he explains, in an almost apologetic tone. "And it should be up to me to decide whether my image can be used for a film or advertisement"... Did Puma really put Ngando's half-naked image on posters around Paris without consent, or did Cameroon's Ministry of Sports OK the picture as part of the sponsorship deal for the Indomitable Lions? Finally, now that the publicity is out, what can a poor man like Ngando do to stand up for his rights against the government and a multinational corporation?"

Ngando, who always seems to have the right attitude, doesn't seem that fazed. With or without help - he says he'll always be there to support the Lions. His life path is born from passion rather than greed.

But it still bothers me that everyone but he and his family seems to eat from his love for the game, including his managers, his neighbourhood, his government, and now even Puma.

Anjali Nayer, Canadian journalist

 

Remembering the "Miracle of Milan": How Cameroon Beat Argentina and Changed the Face of World Football

By Dibussi Tande

This was supposed to be a vultures' banquet for world champion Argentina, feasting on the prime rack of Cameroon, but the curtain-raiser to Italia `90 World Cup produced arguably the greatest upset in soccer history with Cameroon absolutely deserving winners. Sun Sentinel - Fort Lauderdale June 10, 1990

Omam Biyik Scores his historic goal against world champions Argentina

Exactly 20 years ago on June 8, 1990 at the Giuseppe Maezza Stadium in Milan, Italy, the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, “a humble team with an insignificant past” to quote the Miami Herald, defeated Argentina, the star-studded defending World Champions led by Diego Armando Maradona, in a thrilling Italia ’90 World Cup opening game that came to be known as the “Miracle of Milan.”

World Cup 2010: 50 More Days!!!!!

Official video FIFA World Cup 2010 K'naan & David Bisbal

 

World Cup 2010: Port Elizabeth is Ready!

On Sunday Sept. 6, I was among the privileged Highway Africa participants who were given a tour of the newly-constructed Nelson Mandela Bay stadium, in the beautiful seaside city of Port Elizabeth, during a reception organized in the stadium's VIP foyer by MTN and the South African World Cup Organizing Committee.

 
Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth

The reception was an opportunity for World Cup 2010 officials to showcase SA's level of preparation for next year's world cup to media practitioners from all over Africa.

Chicago 2016 Olympics Bid: Going Up Against Pele in Abuja, Nigeria

By Makuna Tande

A confrontation of epic proportions took place recently during the annual meeting of the Presidents of the Associations National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) which held in Abuja, Nigeria, from July 5 to July 8, 2009. 54 of the most powerful men and women in sports were meeting to chart the course of sports on the continent. 


Makuna Tande, Pele and 1968 US Olympic Gold Medalist Ron Freeman.

This year’s meeting was extra significant because it was an election year and there was a rare challenge to the incumbent president.  More significant was the fact that 2009 is the 2016 Olympic Games host city selection year, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had designated the Abuja meeting as an official Candidate City presentation event.

Francoise Mbango – The Ultimate Revenge of Cameroon’s “Capricious” and “Unpatriotic” Star Athlete

By Dibussi Tande

“Francoise Mbango does not respect Cameroon. She has dragged Cameroon through the mud on numerous occasions” Ange Sama, President of the Cameroon Athletic Federation (2005)

“I don't know if I had to obtain the permission of the athletics federation or that of Ange Sama before having a baby... This is insulting!” F. Mbango (2008)

Yesterday, Cameroonian triple jump champion, Francoise Mbango Etone, won the Olympic gold medal in her discipline with the second-longest jump in history – 15.39 meters – just 11 centimeters off the world record. This was Mbango’s second consecutive Olympic gold medal.
 

Four years ago in Athens, she produced one of the finest championship series in history, recording five jumps over 15 meters, twice hitting the winning distance of 15.30 to reclaim her African triple jump record along with the gold.

Mount Cameroon Race: "Volcanic Sprint" Now Available on DVD

“The epic story of Africa’s most grueling mountain race, and the local athletes who risk all for glory.”

Dorst Mediaworks Presents Volcanic Sprint. A Film by Steve Dorst and Dan Evans. 2007. Filmed on location in Buea, Cameroon. 52 mins. $19.99

After about a year of online teasers on Youtube and elsewhere, Volcanic Sprint, the long-awaited film on the Mount Cameroon race by Steve Dorst and Dan Evans is now available on DVD. Extreme sports enthusiasts and fans of the Mount Cameroon race will not regret the long wait. The final product is a beautifully produced, visually stunning and compelling hour-long film built around the trials and tribulations of a handful of athletes trying to conquer “The Chariot of the Gods” or Mount Fako, as the locals call it.

One of the individuals that the film  profiles is John Ekema, winner of the inaugural race in 1971, who is trying to recapture some of the past glory through his 17-year old son. We discover Bart VanDoorne, a Belgian military officer who met his Cameroonian wife during the 2002 edition of the race and has returned with a one-year old son in tow, for another shot at the mountain.

African Nations Cup - Let the Games Begin!

In Africa, "with its density, variety, vivacity, open wounds, illusions, beliefs and battles," once wrote Heidi Hamel of African football magazine, "football is the only opium with which one can keep the withdrawal symptoms at bay. This painful dependency reflects an unavoidable need. Africans love their football to the point of desperation. To the point of madness."

African regimes have understood and appropriated this madness so well, which is why football is a potent tool that these unpopular regimes use not only to get a veneer of legitimacy which they would otherwise not have, but also to stifle opposition. I guess it is a two-way street  after all; the people get their “opium” and the politicians get another day to plunder….

Call cheap use from any phone @ MobileCaller.com.

NCAA Final Four: And They Meet Again!!!!

Richard Mba A'Moute, Alfred Aboya and Joachim Noah

They met during the 2006 NCAA basketball title game that pitted the Florida Gators against the UCLA Bruins. This year both teams are in the final four and the "Cameroon Crazies" will be facing each other in tomorrow's semi final game, in a year when a record 25 Cameroonians participated in the March Madness.

Images of the Mount Cameroon Race of Hope

Go to The Entrepreneur website for a minute-by-minute coverage of the Mount Cameroon race, along with pictures of athletes trying to conqueur the "Chariot of the Gods".

Mount Cameroon: All is Set for One of the Most Grueling Races in the World

This Sunday, February 18, 2007, over 600 athletes from about 12 countries will gather in the town of Buea at the foot of Mount Cameroon, West Africa's tallest mountain. for one of the most grueling but least known extreme sports events in the world; the Mount Cameroon Race of Hope.

Mt. Fako Towering over the Town of Buea (c) Bobby10 - flickr

The race kicks off in the Molyko stadium in scorching tropical temperatures. As athletes scale the mountain slopes, they go through a dizzying array of climatic and geographical zones;

Coming Soon to a Network Near You: The Mount Cameroon Volcanic Sprint

Culled from the Pilot Propopsal

Africa: The Volcanic Sprint - a primetime hour-long television event. Presented by DorstMediaWorks and Autumn Productions (Click below to watch trailer)

At the Base of the tallest mountain in West Africa, 500 ultimate runners assemble in a dense lush rainforest to summit a live volcano. A sprinter's pace. Here, in one of the most extreme competitions on earth, Mt. Cameroon rises abruptly more than 13,000 feet from the African rainforest to ashen con. It last erupted in 2000, and features absurd 50 degree grades.

Forza Italia after All...