Oi, You! Your Tournament is Inconvenient. Change It.

By: Martha | December 14th, 2007

Ghana 2008 Giving new meaning to the word “hubris,” Pompey assistant manager Joe Jordan would like the Confederation of African Football to know that the timing of the African Cup of Nations is really inconvenient for him, and should be changed. Said Jordan, “From our point of view a switch to a summer date would suit us.” Got that, CAF? Forget the fact that the start of the year is the only time the weather is stable enough to hold the tournament, and that it’s been held at that time for almost 40 years. It’s bad timing for Jordan and his EPL friends, dammit! Aren’t they the important ones here?

To hear Jordan tell it, you’d think the existence of the African Cup is a complete shock to Pompey, who seeming had no idea that five of their players will be leaving to play in it come January. Where have they been, exactly? Avram Grant, too, is getting in on the act, pushing for a switch to summer because, without Didier Drogba, Chelsea are obviously up a creek. Also arguing for a change of schedule is Pompey’s Sulley Muntari, who things a summer tournament would “benefit everyone,” though he doesn’t say exactly why.

Thankfully, not everyone associated with English football thinks the CAF should schedule things based on what the EPL want. Gavin Peacock immediately dismissed the complaints, pointing out that any club that signs top African players knows they could be leaving every two years for several weeks. If you don’t want that to happen, don’t sign African players — simple as that, though by taking that sort of approach, clubs would obviously be denying themselves access to a massive pool of talent. In addition, Peacock has some wise word for everyone in the EPL who wants the timing changed so they can have their players when they want them:

The tournament needs to benefit African football, not European football and if that means it’s played in January and February then it needs to be played then.

Thank you, Gavin, for being the voice of reason.

The thing is, I can actually see this changing in the next couple of years, because it’s true that a huge number of those participating in the Cup now play in Europe, and are leaving their teams for long stretches to play for their country. But the moment that happens, I guarantee that club coaches will be bitching and moaning about their players coming into camp exhausted because, thanks to the foolish summer scheduling of that pesky African Cup of Nations, they’ve gotten hardly any rest since the previous season ended. No matter what the CAF do, people will complain.