The Ball 2010

As carriers of The Ball, we realize that we have a huge responsibility to ensure that this one ball makes it all the way to South Africa. Imagine, The Ball is lost or stolen, what are we going to do? The Ball has 6000 unique signatures on it and about one hundred stamps from the 18 countries visited so far. We MUST get this one ball safely to the World Cup.

Regular police officers keeping an eye on The Ball

Starting in Togo, securing The Ball and its carriers became a priority for our partners and even a matter of national pride. “God forbid if anything happens to The Ball in our country”, might aptly describe what our hosts were thinking. This was especially understandable in Togo, where the nation had recently suffered the national tragedy of a terrorist attack on the Togolese national football team in Angola. Benin seems to have gone one step further.

Crossing into Benin we find out that two national guard policemen have been assigned to protect The Ball and that The Ball requires a police escort at all times.

Andrew and The Ball’s protectors

The Ball requires a police escort at all times in Benin

Andrew’s dad used to give him a great piece of advice regarding being in possession of a ball in a dangerous situation — “If in doubt, kick it out”, he used to say. There isn’t much chance of that happening in Benin.

Togo is safe, almost too safe. There is a police escort, ready to take me and The Ball to every event and there is a minder, sitting outside of my hotel room ready to protect The Ball from would-be thieves.

Safe Ball

The Togolese government has got heavily involved in the Ball’s journey; we have met top dignitaries including the Prime Minister, and everyone is very concerned to make sure that The Ball doesn’t go missing in Togo. I imagine that the concern stems from the African championships in Angola in February and the machine-gunning of the buses carrying the Togolese football team. That issue is still a hot one in Togo and very politicized.

Losing The Ball in Togo on Togolese watch is not in their interests. Our philosophy is that The Ball must be played with as often as possible and by as many people as possible. The spirit of The Ball is about trust. Sure, the playing of The Ball to a stranger contains an element of risk. Yes, someone could try and steal The Ball but that is very unlikely. It is more likely that the person receiving The Ball will smile and play. The interactions we are having are overwhelmingly positive. These random encounters are what The Ball is all about.

Against the best intended advice I take The Ball to the Coca Cola sponsored event at the beach. A man on horseback rides The Ball up and down the beach.

Horse-back Ball

Acrobats on stilts perform with The Ball

High Ball

A woman carries The Ball in a basket on her head

Head Ball

The Ball is juggled in a Coca-Cola sponsored competition on a stage with a crowd in excess of 2000 people watching on.

Juggle Ball

During the juggling competition The Ball ends up in the crowd. Where is it? Panic sets in. Ohhhh, there it is…

Lost Ball

And as the sun goes down young men and women dance freestyle with The Ball.

Dance Ball

Put your hands up for The Ball

Hand Ball

I like to play in the Unified Football events but there is no space for me this time. I try to convince the organizers that I’d be a good addition to one of the two starting line ups but the teams are picked, warmed up and ready to play.

Special Olympics’ banner welcomes The Ball to Togo

Before kick off players on both teams give The Ball a guard of honour to welcome it onto the pitch.

The Ball receives a guard of honour

I take my place in the small crowd assembled for the UNICEF sponsored match. The game unfolds and it is impossible to tell the Special Olympics athletes apart from the rest. All players on both teams are talented footballers and the quality of football is very good. Special Olympics athletes can play football as well as anyone.

The game ends at 1-1 and a penalty shoot-out is needed to separate the teams. The yellow team wins but both teams come together to celebrate as one and to sing and dance together. How often do you get to see that in football?

The winning team wore yellow

Many thanks to our partner the Goethe-Institut for donating some footballs.

What would Goethe have said about this game?

This game was about having fun and about participating and about friendship. Sure, both teams try to win but losing is insignificant. Isn’t this the spirit of football?

Andrew and The Ball are taken to Hotel de Ville (City Hall) where Andrew tells the Mayor of Lomé that he, like anyone else, may sign The Ball but that there is a condition: he must head it or kick it first. The Mayor replies: “I have a head and I have a foot” and proceeds to head and kick The Ball before signing it.

And with no further prompting, save Andrew’s proud smiles, The Mayor continued:

“It is a pleasure and an honour to welcome you and your organisation Spirit of Football to Lomé and to receive The Ball of the World Cup in Lomé. I am honoured that you have chosen the city of Lomé and Togo on your route. The day you have arrived in Togo coincides with a day after the election and just before Easter, it is very good timing as we are also celebrating the 50th anniversary of Togolese independence. I am wishing you well and I hope that you feel at home in Africa. This ball that has been made in Africa, by Africa and for Africa is an honour for Africa and I wish that an African team will be world champion. But as they say — let the best team win. I wish you a welcome to Togo and as the Mayor of Lomé I am symbolically giving you the key to the city of Lomé so that you can open all doors here.”
— Mayor of Lomé

Their slogan is “United for the Development and Protection of the Rights of Children.” Our visit to rehabilitation centre of the NGO Ange (Angel) friends brings The Ball into contact with a new generation of children.

The rehabilitation centre of the NGO Ange

Andrew talks to Gabriel Muzzo, the director of Ange and finds out that Ange is supported by UNICEF and supports 300 street children in Lomé. Ange provides a stepping stone for the children, taking them off the streets and away from crime, drugs and other problems and helps them get their lives back on track and aims at reconnecting them to their families.

Kids from the NGO Ange perform a dance to welcome The Ball

These children were delighted to meet, kick and sign The Ball.

Andrew asks the Togolese Minister of Sport about the history of football in Togo. He calls Eloian Salo Kodjo Koffi, the National Director of Sport in Togo, who provides him with this answer:

“The history of football in Togo has had many ups and downs. A great deal of its early progress is due to the involvement of the army and of the Catholic community. But football in Togo didn’t really develop in any meaningful way until the 1940s and didn’t really take off until Togo participated in the African Championships in Brazzavillle, Congo in 1964, shortly after joining the African Football Federation, CAF.”

Comparing Togo with its neighbour Ghana brings up an interesting question. Namely, why did football begin in Ghana 40 years earlier than in Togo when the two countries neighbour each other and when their capitals are only a few hundred kilometres apart? To answer this question one needs to understand the differences in colonial influence. Ghana (formerly known as Gold Coast) was a British colony and entertained a form of government that gradually encouraged the playing of ball sports and with them interaction between the colonizers and the colonized. Some sports were kept for whites only — like cricket and golf — but football, the working class sport of Great Britain, was encouraged and played by all. The French administration throughout West Africa employed a different attitude altogether. They curtailed the playing of football and other sports with the locals. It didn’t last long, thankfully.

The next stop for The Ball is a private reception with the Prime Minister at his residence.

Togo’s Prime Minister signs The Ball

“Let me make it clear. This meeting was not planned but I had to make myself available for this because our government gives high importance to sports. It is not only the government but all of the Togolese people. And the government of Togo has an obligation to the well being of intellectually disabled people and to providing social welfare of those people. In 2008 the government set up a fund to support the welfare of mentally challenged people. I would like to thank Spirit of Football, Special Olympics and all partners of The Ball for coming to Togo. We are delighted that you chose Togo as a point of destination on your noble journey to South Africa. The government will try and do everything in its powers to make sure that sport is supported in Togo. I would like to encourage you in what you are doing. It is a noble cause. Thank you for coming to Togo and I wish you well in your continued journey.”
— Prime Minister of Togo, Gilbert Houngbo

“The spirit of football to me is very simple. It is to bring all of the world together in serving as a base for peace but also for development in reducing inequalities in our world.”
— Dovi Amewome, Director of Special Olympics Togo

“Let The Ball roll free through the streets of Lomé, let it bounce freely along Lomé’s beautiful beaches and be allowed to be kicked and signed by all citizens of Lomé.”
— Mr. Issa Amenuyan, Chairperson of Special Olympics Togo

Chester from DHL Ghana is at the wheel, driving The Ball, Amazing, the DHL team and Andrew to the Togolese border. Unusually, we are permitted to film at the immigration station and all the way across the border. When you have government support in Africa, anything is possible. The Ball is stamped out of Ghana and then in gets its Togo visa.

Ghanaian customs officer heads and stamps The Ball

The Ball breathes a massive sigh of relief through its air-hole and seems proud of its newest stamps. On the Togolese side a party is going on; they have been waiting for The Ball for over an hour. DHL Staff, Special Olympics volunteers, many dignitaries and an expectant crowd are awaiting us.

Hey Ball, welcome to Togo

We are caught up in the pandemonium; no one seems to know where to go. Traditional drummers and dancers, some on enormous stilts, accompany our delegation as we unveil The Ball in the DHL box to the crowd that has gathered.

Dignitaries welcome The Ball

The Ball’s police escort seems to know what to do. He recommends using white gloves to handle The Ball.

Police escort with The Ball

We are piled into a waiting car and led by the police escort, riding a huge, expensive BMW motorbike, to meet the Minister of Sport who is the first to sign The Ball in Togo after a bullet header — he was surely a footballer!

“Pomp and pageantry will welcome you in Lome tomorrow and we need to create some magic around The Ball”, says DHL’s PR guru Sammy Duodu. The Ball is going to meet the Togolese Minister of Sport in an official ceremony at the border. Sammy sources a polystyrene box and decorates it with DHL tape, a DHL sticker and lines it with comfortable yellow silk material to provide extra comfort.

The Ball in The Box

Amazing, (yes, his real name!), is a freelance media expert hired by DHL to help out in Ghana. He assists with filming, logistics and setting up lots of TV appearances. The Ball is all over the press in Ghana and we find out that Ghanaians are mad about football and very interested in The Ball.

The Ball was injured and rushed to hospital in the Ivory Coast. In the intensive care station it received a bandage and a telling off and it was told in no uncertain terms to rest. But rest is one thing that this ball cannot do. The Ball MUST be played in countless games of football all the way to South Africa. It cannot stay in bed. The referees will be waving play on until we get to Nairobi, where The Ball will be re-stitched in the same place it was hand stitched in January by Bernard at Alive and Kicking’s stitching centre.

Amazing prepares to carry Amazing Ball across the border

Let The Ball roll.

Cape Coast, the former capital of Ghana, is a relaxed fishing town and tourist spot about two hours drive along the coast from Accra. We arrive in the middle of the day as the sun blazes and the sweat pours. We’ve heard that somewhere around here the first ever game in Africa was played, some 39 years after the very first game to FA rules was played in Battersea Park — the place where our ball, The Ball, started this epic journey on January 24th 2010.

Morgan Mason, football historian, at Cape Coast Castle

Cape Coast has a fearsome history. Millions of Africans, who had been rounded up and enslaved, were held in dungeons at Cape Coast Castle before being marched through the “Gate of No Return.” Beyond this gate, they were packed like sardines into waiting ships and sent, many dying en route, to Europe, America and Brazil. Those Africans were never to return. But today people come to this castle from all over the world, including Barack and Michelle Obama. They come here to pay tribute to what happened here and to ensure that it will never happen again.

Morgan and The Ball at the Gate of No Return

But we are here for another reason. We have heard that the first ever game of football in Sub-Saharan Africa took place here. “Football took off in Cape Coast, formerly Gold Coast, Ghana, around 1903,” Morgan Mason, a Cape Coast historian, tells us. “The first team founded was Essesoir and they played at Victoria Park. The team was founded by a Jamaican headmaster,” he continues.

In The Ball is Round, the Global History of Football, author David Goldblatt writes that “a group of 22 keen pupils of the Cape Coast Government Boys School embarked upon a secret training course in football. They trained mostly at night, when the full moon was over Victoria Park, then a well-kept place for official ceremonies.”

Why was it a secret? “Blacks were not allowed to play the beautiful game in those times, but those days are over” says Morgan. “Football has now grown up to be this game that we all enjoy, globally. Now we are one body, one people”.

Morgan takes us to Victoria Park and we find the field where that very first game was played. Nowadays, it is a concrete square used for official ceremonies — but back in those days it was a rocky, dry patch of land. We locate the half-way line and kick off. Morgan and Andrew exchange several one-twos, cutting the opposition defence open, before Morgan cracks The Ball into the top corner of the goal. Oops, he hits the top corner of a pavilion and The Ball just about hits an old woman selling bananas. Onward.

Andrew and Morgan in Victoria Park

Can historians also predict the future? We ask Morgan who would win the World Cup. “Ghana will beat Spain in the final”, he says. Unsurprisingly, we have yet to meet anyone in Ghana who doesn’t believe that Ghana will win the World Cup. In fact, Andrew’s friend Kweku told him that Ghana will win the next three World Cups. Good luck to the Black Stars. It is high time for Africa to win a World Cup.

As we part company, Morgan gets emotional and tells us this:

“The mission, the reason, and the aim of which you came to this castle is recommendable. We pray that the good lord keeps you well and wherever you want to visit you should be warmly received so that you accomplish your mission and that when the whole world comes together on the 11th of June to the 11th of July converged in South Africa that there will be happiness, oneness, love, unity and above all respect for each and everyone on this earth.”