“Macmillan’s ‘wind of change’ address has gone down…as one of the great visionary speeches in post-war history…As well as signalling a major policy change in respect of African decolonisation, it declared that South Africa was now so far out of step with the trajectory of world events that Britain could no longer be counted upon to lend support to apartheid in the international arena.”
Dubow, Saul: Macmillan, Verwoerd, and the 1960 ‘Wind of Change’ Speech; The Historical Journal, 54:4, (Cambridge, 2011)
Whilst British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan’s ‘Wind of Change’ speech on February 3rd 1960 cannot be said to have actually started the decolonisation process in Africa it provided momentum to the different independence movements across the continent. Within five years the vast majority of British African colonies had been granted independence with a similar pattern repeated amongst former French and Belgian colonies and, after nearly a hundred years of European colonial rule, much of the African continent was back in the hands of its native peoples.
The process of establishing these newly independent nations was not straightforward by any means and, for many, the struggle to establish representative democracies still continues. By the start of the qualification process for the 1966 FIFA World Cup only fifteen African countries were in a position to enter the tournament but this was still the greatest number of entrants from the continent in the history of the competition so far. These included Ghana, Morocco and the United Arab Republic (Egypt) who had all competed in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Japan. Morocco, who had come close to qualifying for the 1962 World Cup, were soundly beaten by both Hungary and Yugoslavia but Ghana and the United Arab Republic both advanced from the group stages earning impressive draws, against Argentina and Brazil, respectively along the way. They faced each other in the quarter-finals with the United Arab Republic winning 5-1. The United Arab Republic were beaten 6-0 in the semi-finals by Hungary, the eventual winners, and finished fourth in the tournament after losing 3-1 to a united German team in the bronze medal match.
The 1964 Summer Olympics had proved that these teams could compete with the European and South American elite in a major tournament. Unfortunately in the qualification process for the 1962 World Cup FIFA’s executive members had been unconvinced of the African sides’ ability and shown little interest in facilitating their path to the finals. The scheduled first round tie between the neighbouring United Arab Republic and Sudan ended with both teams withdrawing from the tournament due to FIFA’s refusal to rearrange their fixtures around the monsoon season. After beating Nigeria and Tunisia respectively Ghana and Morocco faced each other in a play-off with the latter emerging victorious. However, Morocco were still required to face Spain in a further play-off match to earn a place at the finals which they lost 4-2 across two legs. In comparison, Spain had seen Denmark and Austria withdraw from their qualifying group leaving them a two-legged play-off against Wales which they duly won 3-2 on aggregate.
The formative years of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) had not proved to be easy. It faced opposition to its representation in the FIFA Congress from both European and South American federations who argued that the standard of African (and Asian) football was not worthy of such an elevated position on the international stage. And, within the African continent, it faced the challenge of apartheid in South Africa which led to the nation’s exclusion from CAF tournaments and World Cup qualification groups. However, the beginning of rapid decolonisation in the 1960s strengthened both the federation’s numbers and its bargaining power with FIFA. Ahead of the 1966 World Cup there was a real aspiration for a guaranteed place in the tournament finals as an incentive for the fifteen teams entering the qualification process.
Although Macmillan’s “wind of change” may have been blowing through the African continent in the 1960s, unfortunately, it was yet to reach FIFA in Zurich. The CAF qualification rounds would once again lead to an inter-conference play-off round this time against the winners of the Asia/Oceania group. All fifteen of the teams in CAF’s groups understandably withdrew from the tournament in protest. The South African team, who had initially been drawn in the Asia/Oceania group, had been suspended from FIFA in 1964 because of their policy of apartheid and so the World Cup finals would once again fail to include an African side. North Korea won the Asia/Oceania group and went on to secure a famous group stage victory against Italy in the 1966 World Cup finals in England before losing 5-3 to Portugal in the quarter-finals. North Korea had raced into a 3-0 lead before half-time only for the Portuguese striker Eusébio to score four times in a remarkable comeback for the European side. Eusébio was the tournament’s top scorer with nine goals from six games. He was also born and raised in the Portuguese African colony of Mozambique.
Ahead of the 1970 FIFA World Cup it was clear that the qualification process needed to change to better reflect the postcolonial world and eleven African nations entered the CAF qualification stage this time with a guaranteed spot in the final tournament in Mexico available to the winners. In the final round Morocco finished ahead of Nigeria and Sudan to become the first African nation to compete in a World Cup finals tournament since Egypt in 1934. Although the 1966 edition of the FIFA World Cup continues to be the standard by which every subsequent England team and manager is judged by it also signalled the beginning of the end of European and South American hegemony over what has been billed as a global tournament. While the qualification process for the FIFA World Cup finals still remains unfairly balanced towards these sides the growing strength of African and Asian sides serves as a reminder of the game’s worldwide appeal and significance.
The Real Quiz: This week heralds the start of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia which could very easily create a whole host of potential articles for this blog. With that in mind what better way to start than with the tournament opener Russia v Saudi Arabia on Thursday 14th June? The tournament’s two lowest ranked teams will go head to head in Moscow united by their love of attractive football and civil liberties. I’m going with 1-0 Russia because I’m nervous to say otherwise in an Internet publication.
Moving forward: If you're enjoying this blog (or just enduring it) and want to get involved please feel free. I'm more than happy to look into any suggestions you may have for topics or, better still, share your work if you fancy writing a post about a particular team, tournament or match with a political backdrop. Drop me a note below if you're keen or contact me on Twitter @mannyhawks.
No comments:
Post a Comment