ESPN Outside the Lines video on youth soccer in shadow of World Cup

Screen shot from ESPN.com

ESPN recently published a short video titled “Tough Goals Ahead.”  You can see the video at this link (couldn’t embed into post): http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4973258

The most poignant part of the video, in my opinion, is at the end, around the 5:50 mark.  Lahademi Monhedi, a former player now coach/father figure for youth teams in the Meadowlands area of Soweto, indignantly stated,

“People are angry.  Around here there is no World Cup…we just hear from the news there is a World Cup…for these boys there is no World Cup…there is no connection at all.”

These statements are a reflection of the inequities that are still alive and well in South Africa, now less than a 100 days to kick-off.  The video is largely about youth soccer and the challenges of life in the Meadowlands area of Soweto, only 6 miles from the gleaming new stadium Soccer City in Johannesburg, the result of a remarkable amount of investment.  The challenge of kids getting to and from school or soccer practice without succumbing to the pressures of drugs and alcohol; the challenge of staying committed to education when only 2 of 10 teachers show up to teach their classes.  All of these challenges are still commonplace in the shadow of the new stadium and I imagine they are shared all around the country.

Mr. Monhedi’s statements lie at the heart of this blog.  Will the legacy of the World Cup be a bright light but with a long shadow? Will it have “no connection” as he states, with the majority of the population?  Will it be a symbol of profligacy in the face of real economic and social needs?  Or will it be a spark for the country and region?  Time will tell, but the content of this video illustrates that there’s a lot more work to do.

About these ads