Déjà Vu after Nine Years: How My Devotion to a Foreign Sports Franchise Affects Me Daily

On 21 May 2008, Manchester United Football Club of England won the European Champions League trophy by beating fellow premiership rival Chelsea in a breathtaking penalty shoot-out after regular time ended in a 1-1 draw. That victory secured for United her third Champions League cup, having won her second in 1999. When United’s Dutch goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar saved a penalty from Nicolas Anelka, a French striker playing for Chelsea, I could not have been at a better place to celebrate than in a crowded video club steaming with body heat and sweat around the ELWA Junction area, in Paynesville, Liberia. This is a place where everyone is religiously devoted to one sport: FOOTBALL!

Admittedly, I thought United was going to lose when Cristiano Renaldo penalty was saved. And as John Terry, Chelsea’s captain, approached to kick his team fifth penalty, I stopped watching and called Andria, my wife, who was at home listening to live commentary on BBC. Andria and I agreed that it would be best if we watch the game apart. I often overreact in my United hysteria or despair. And then I wonder how I would face up to my friend Gray, a loquacious, United-hating-trash-talking Chelsea fanatic. Finally, I thought of the miracle of 1999, when United snatched victory from the jaws of defeat by scoring two quick goals in the space of two minutes against Bayern Munich, a German team. And then the miracle came—Terry missed!

What happened on May 21 will remain with me for a long time, in the same fashion the victory of 1999 is etched in my memory. At that time, I lived in Congo Town, a suburb of Monrovia, where former president Charles Taylor had his official residence. Mobility in that area was restricted—especially at night. Despite this and against the wishes of my mother, I traveled more than 25 miles away from home to watch United play one of the greatest football matches I’ve ever seen.

Aside from my professional and social obligations--work, school, church, and family--my entire life has revolved around watching, arguing, reading, and dreaming about Manchester United and how it would perform in the next game. In college, when exams loomed and coincided on a day United was playing (which happened frequently during the Champions League fixture), I’d often skipped the exam and later persuaded a friendly doctor for an excuse. As an employee in Washington D.C., I’d rather fake an illness than miss a United Champions League game on ESPN.

Fortunately, here in Liberia, watching United has caused me no major inconvenience because all the big games come on in the evening (except for one Sunday when I had to leave church early to watch a United game).

Throughout my experience of following United, I sometimes feel my devotion to United has either caused as many people to love or hate them. I’ve had the good fortune of living with a few devoted United fans--like Fodei, a Sierra Leonean, and a former roommate, who sent me this text on 29 March 2008: “No team can stand United if they play like.” On the contrary, between 2003-2006, I had to put with perpetual bullying from Bim and Demije—both Nigerians, and Edward, a Kenyan, another set of roommates, as United’s bid to win the Champions League often ended in disaster. Yet between these two extremes, I have also met a few who thought my passion for United was a fault. For example, ex-girlfriends who refused to accept were obliged to quit—for it was not so uncommon for me to cancel dates in anticipation of a United game.

No sooner had the game over on that night then my phone starting going off. The first came from Edward in Indiana, a text: “I am depressed…Just think of Euro now the thought of Man U double is making me sick.” Demije called from Delaware to congratulate and then Betty, another good friend who just loves to hate United, sent a begrudging text from Lansing, Michigan, “U made sure drogba was out.”

My devotion to United can be traced back to 1992. As a teenager bored out of my mind because the civil war ravaged many things in Monrovia, I turned to listening to BBC. One day there was a commentary, a European Cup Winner’s final between United and Barcelona, a team from Spain, which United won 1-nil. There were no satellite televisions then, yet the commentary on BBC sounded as if I were in the stand. From a distance, beginning in 1993, I listened and watched United win seven premiership titles. I watched Eric Cantona, David Beckham, and Roy Keane, as well was the wonderful partnership between Dwight York and Andy Cole come alive, which culminated in the treble triumph of 1999.

Yes, as a boy, I grew up loving Invincible Eleven I.E. and hating Mighty Barrole, which is understandable because these two football teams belong to Liberia. I’ve always pondered how I am so devoted to a team, thousands of miles away in a place I’ve never lived or visited?

It is what Michael Elliott called Fandom—the obsessional identification with a sports team—in an article describing his hopeless devotion to Liverpool, after that team defeated A.C. Milan in another breathtaking penalty shout-out.

At ELWA Junction, as in most places in Liberia, everyone is passionate about a big European football team. We call each other symbol names associated with our beloved team. I’ll be walking home from work and some guy would yell—“United”—and I’ll reply—“AIG,” which stands for American Insurance Group, the company that sponsors United.

In many ways, United winning this year’s Champions League is a déjà vu experience for me. The last time United won the Champions League, nine years ago, in 1999, I lived in Liberia. Between 2000 and 2007, I lived in the United States and watched, many times alone in my apartment, United stumbled in this competition. Each year, I had the belief that the triumph of 1999 would be repeated but only to see United eliminated. It pains me when people refer to United as one of Europe’s biggest underachievers.

Yet I never stopped believing, and when I moved back to Liberia in June of 2007, I knew I was going to watch the Champions League final in Monrovia, as if watching in Monrovia guarantee a United win. Yes that’s what fans do, believe and never give up. So, when I sat in my tight space on the night of May 21 to watch United play Chelsea in a video club in Monrovia, the city in which I last watched United win, I knew it was going to be a déjà vu experience for me. And that’s what I’ve long waited for nine years. I am a fan of Manchester United!

ON BUSH VISIT TO LIBERIA

President George W. Bush of the United States is today visiting Liberia to conclude a five-nation tour of the continent of Africa, which began with a first stop in Benin. Liberia has the distinction of being the last stop for Mr. Bush, where he is expected to deliver a speech that could guide the course of US foreign policy toward Africa for the rest of his term and maybe beyond, as well as hold a roundtable at the University of Liberia, among other activities.

President Bush is the first American President to visit Africa while in the first term. In 2003, the year he visited the continent for the first time (Mr. Bush visited Africa before becoming president), Liberia was the epicenter of a violent conflict. And Mr. Bush was pressured to deploy US troops to stop the bloodshed. At the same time, thousands of American troops were stretched too thin in Iraq and Afghanistan, where Mr. Bush had deployed them to fight the war on terror. The huge concentration of US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan reduced the possibility of an imminent US intervention into Liberia.

The call for an American intervention in Liberia was the latest in a series of calls that began as far back as 1990, when the civil war in Liberia reached a turning point. During that time, it was Mr. Bush's father, George H.W. Bush, who was president. Even though the US did not send troops to Liberia, its financial and military support to the Economic Community of West African Peace Monitoring Group (Ecomog) provided the critical linchpin that led to the success of that mission. Nonetheless, many Liberians felt betrayed that their country's long historical and traditional relationship with the US indeed warranted an actual American intervention.

Thus, there was a great deal of uncertainty that Mr. Bush would dare dispatch US troops to intervene in another civil conflict on a continent where a previous US intervention in Somalia ended in failure, leading to the deaths of 18 US soldiers.

Yet, against what seemed a compelling and obvious reason not to dabble in the Liberian civil war, Mr. Bush ordered US troops to be positioned off the coast of Liberia. And in a speech to the US-Africa trade conference, in 2003, just before he visited Africa for the first time, Mr. Bush called for the immediate resignation of former president Charles Taylor, saying, "President Taylor needs to stop down so that this country can be spared further bloodshed."

This was the first time the Americans had gotten directly involved in the Liberian conflict. The US troops proceeded to create the buffer zone that paved the way for the successful deployment of a contingent of the United Nations peacekeeping force to Liberia, as well as removed major road blocks throughout the city of Monrovia.

By responding to the call to get involved in Liberia, Mr. Bush was not only attempting to counter the conventional wisdom that the US only reacts when its strategic and geopolitical interest is at stake. Mr. Bush's decision to commit troops to Liberia and the substantial support his administration has demonstrated over the pass few years, must also be viewed in the context of his belief and leadership. Evidence of this was reflected during his campaign for the presidency in 2000. Mr. Bush built his campaign rhetoric around two words, "compassionate conservative." And throughout his administration, Mr. Bush has turned this compassionate conservative rhetoric into a principle that continues to inform the core of virtually all his policies.

In his second Inaugural address, a speech widely accepted has the best summation of his ideology of "compassionate Conservative," Mr. Bush said, "All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know that the United States will not ignore your oppression or excuse your oppressor. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you."

Mr. Bush has come a long way as a compassionate conservative. He says that he believes in the strength of humanity and in their ability to accomplish great things. When Mr. Bush announced his run for the White House, in 1999, that belief was underscored in a speech explaining the essence of the American Dream. Mr. Bush said: "The success of America has never been proven by cities of gold, but by citizens of characters. Men and Women who work hard, dream big, love their families, serve their neighbors. Values that turn a peace of earth into a neighborhood, a community, a chosen nation."And when he visited Africa in 2003, Mr. Bush spoke these words:

"The spirit of Africans in America did not break. Yet the spirit of their captors was corrupted. Small men took on the powers and heirs of tyrants and masters. Years of unpunished brutality and bullying and rape produced the dullness and hardness of conscious...A republic founded on equality became prison for millions. And yet, in the words of the proverbs, 'no fist is big enough to hide the sky.' All the generations of oppression under the law of men could not crush the hope of freedom and defeat the purposes of God."

It appears that even those who do not agree with some of Mr. Bush's policies however do respect his leadership underpinned by his fervent belief that "To whom much is given, much is expected." Mr. Bush often says that the United States has a moral obligation to help the world, especially people under oppression and hopelessness. Perhaps, it is to fulfill this moral responsibility as well as his compassionate belief that has inspired him toward noble and ambitious goals such as fighting the spread of HIV and AIDS in Africa and elsewhere, eradicating global poverty, and preventing malaria by providing thousands of bed nets, among many.

In January 2003, Mr. Bush proposed the Emergency Plan for Aids Relief and urged the US Congress to commit $15bn over a five-year period to turn the tide against AIDS around the world. Under this plan, according to the White House, about 7 million new infections will be prevented, more than 2 million people living with HIV and AIDS will be provided with advanced antiretroviral treatment on a large scale, and ten million HIV infected individuals and AIDS orphans would be cared for.

Recently, in his last State of the Union of Address, Mr. Bush again asked Congress to double this amount to $30bn. in the next five years. By the time he leaves office, it is said that the Bush administration would have spent far more money on AIDS in Africa than the Clinton administration. In March of 2002, under the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), President Bush called for "a new compact for global development, defined by new accountability for both rich and poor nations alike. Greater contributions from developed nations must be linked to greater responsibility from developing nations." Mr. Bush pledged that the US would lead by example and increase its core development assistance by 50 percent over the three years, an amount that resulted in an annual increase of $5bn. by FY 2006, according to the White House.

President Bush has shown a particular interest toward aiding Liberia in its quest toward democratic consolidation. It can be safely said that his influence in Liberia's debt forgiveness was pivotal. The Bush administration through the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has undertake several developmental and infrastructural project, including a grant that renovated Liberia's Capitol Building, the seat of the Liberian parliament, and another grant financing the Security Sector Reform (SSR). And in September 2007, as anxiety increased among Liberians on the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in the US in anticipation of the program's October 1st 2007 expiration date, President Bush authorized the Home Land Security Secretary, Michael Chertoff, to extend the TPS by an additional 18 months in response to an appeal made by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Therefore, when Air Force One touches down at the Roberts International Airport today, thousands of Liberians are expected to line the streets of Monrovia to catch a glimpse and pay homage to President and First Lady Laura Bush. This is a historic visit for Liberia as President Bush is the first American President to visit Liberia since 1978. Among the turnout expected today will be many who would expect that President Bush announce a huge aid package for Liberia similar to the $770 million he signed for Tanzania.

While there is a great deal of expectation of what Mr. Bush will give or not give, however, it is worth noting that part of the reason Tanzania received the $770 million deal is because that country is eligible under round five of the MCA. In fact, with the exception of Benin and Liberia, the other three countries Mr. Bush visited--Tanzania, Rwanda, and Ghana--all passed the FY 2008 indicators test and could receive grant under the MCA. Liberia is not a candidate yet and Benin, who was a candidate in FY 2007, was eliminated for FY 2008 for failing one of the key indicators.

Beyond all this, the visit of President Bush means well for the government and people of Liberia. It also means well for Liberia's international image, and a testimony of the leadership Liberia is currently enjoying under President Sirleaf. It is therefore imperative that Liberians of all persuasions embrace this visit in the spirit of national triumphalism and accomplishment over the legacy of violence and destruction of the last two decades.