Feet of the chameleon
Ian Hawkey
"Feet of the Chameleon is a comprehensive study of African football, tracing the development of the world's favourite sport through the tangled history and complex social and political life of this fascinating continent. Drawing on a range of sources, including interviews conducted with individuals involved in all levels of the African game, his own extensive experience and years of research, Ian Hawkey, international football correspondent for the Sunday Times, has crafted a unique and remarkable book to satisfy the surge of interest in African football as South Africa prepares to host the FIFA World Cup in 2010. The book explains the rise to prominence of today's African players; a real force in world football --^ strong, athletic midfielders like Chelsea's Michael Essien and Barcelona's Yaya Toure; and skillful, deadly strikers like Arsenal's Emmanuel Adebayor, Chelsea's Didier Drogba and Barcelona's Samuel Eto'o. They have supplied some of the most memorable and audacious moments in modern football, whether playing in domestic leagues like the Premier League and La Liga or in international competition. Their talents excite millions of fans, but Eto'o, Essien, Adebayor and others of their class are just the most recent crop of African players to capture the imagination of the public. Feet of the Chameleon shows that the scramble for African talent is not a new phenomenon, placing the search for the next football prodigy in historical context and presenting as evidence the careers of Larbi Ben Barek, Salif Keita and Eusebio, who were all great footballing successes in twentieth-century Europe.^ Analysing these cases, the author reveals such sporting 'exports' to be rooted in Africa's colonial past, when African players first had isolated success in Europe --^ notably Arthur Wharton, the first black professional footballer in the 1890s, Hassan Hegazi, Fulham's 'Egyptian wizard' and Matateu, Eusebio's predecessor and the first great Mozambican-born Portuguese footballer. Although these breakthroughs would seem to be positive, the negative side of this tradition is also highlighted. In the modern age, hundreds of football 'academies' have sprung up throughout Africa, some of which are genuine portals to European stardom, while others prey on the dreams of young footballers. In 2006, for example, 34 teenage footballers were found crammed into a house in the Malian city of Sissako, having been enrolled into an 'academy' that had promised trials with dozens of top European clubs. The boys' families had paid thousands to the academy, lured by false promises of fame and football stardom." Publisher description.
