The Game and The Politics

It is interesting to watch the interplay between politics and soccer.
Politics and governance seems to produce to effects in its citizens.
There is always a group that choses to leave. It may have experienced a little oppression or may feel little or limited hope in a system that is skewed against its particular clan or language group.
Then there is another select portion that is just adventurous and that has a pioneering spirit. All that and a some extra cash. Moving to a foreign country can be a costly measure. Sometimes this same group often has to pay for this trip with scarce resources and then invests all its hopes in one member. The price of this venture is often land (scare, valuable and treasured). 

Then there are those who stay because leadership often flows in relationships and benefits those with the right name.
Along this group though is another that stays because it has not choice. You must watch this group because it has its stake on the land and its resources and contributes directly using its sweat and tears. Scriptural reference to plows and pruning hooks is written for this group not those who govern and lead using other methods.

At the heart of this struggle is the idea that some still celebrate independence while others are a little too smart to believe the hype. Interestingly, the Amazon has produced very few tribes that have lasted this long using compromise.   

Post independence struggles have instead created a patronage system that progresses by compromise.

Soccer has created similar results. What you have are a few who brave the seas and endure that abuse to find a spot in a good football club. After the struggle many often return to take center stage but facing the difficulty of creating a united front. The challenge for this group is uniting with the group that stays and that feels like it has right to the stage too.

The teams which these guys play for too, have something that they can teach us. Firstly, they are often are not easily led because of a preference for foreign coaches. The feeling is that they are often 'better', but i suspect that the skills they offer have nothing to do with this. Our populations are better led by foreigners with little or no knowledge of our practices because they can judge us entirely on performance. Local coaches on the other hand can be seen to be partial even if they are just as capable.  

It is interesting to watch the current scene of players as it splits between colonial master and colonized.
Well funded and not so well funded.
Maybe at this point it is most important to realize that one is competent enough to find their way onto the Center stage and to have an impact.