CAPITULO DESCRIPCIÓN Y ANÁLISIS DE RESULTADOS 43

There is something wrong again. I have entered Molyko Stadium for the after- noon training session of Olympique de Buea and most of the players are engaged in a heated debate with each another. One of the Francophone players explains what is going on. ‘You see,’ he says, ‘the majority of the players are Franco- phones but it’s mostly the local guys who are playing the matches.’

I have noticed that a typical line-up of Olympique de Buea consists of at least six Anglophone players, including the team captain, the attacker from Buea Town, and Essomba. The Francophones are complaining that this is not a fair representation of the entire squad. After all, we know that there are only seven or eight Anglophone players in a squad of at least 40 players.

Most of all, however, they do not like to see an Anglophone player as their team captain. A team captain is supposed to fulfil an intermediary role between the players and the club executives but the Francophones think that an Anglo- phone player will not take their needs and problems into consideration. The team captain starts laughing when I confront him with the complaints of the Franco- phones. ‘A Francophone captain? No way! The team is based in the Anglophone zone.’

The discussion stops when the coach announces the start of the training session. We are divided into four groups. Two teams will play on one side of the field, the other two teams will play on the other side. In this game, each team is supposed to defend two goals. The coach urges everybody to play really fast. At one point, we are only allowed to touch the ball once (one touch), then we are allowed to touch the ball twice (two touches).

The training session is over. Tomorrow’s training begins at three o’clock, the coach says.

Essomba and I are walking down the road. ‘How do you see the problem between the Anglophones and the Francophones?’ I ask him. ‘The Francophones are always complaining,’ Essomba replies, ‘but at the same time they enjoy all kinds of privileges.’ Essomba says that the Francophones have already received their signing fees, while most Anglophones are still waiting for their money. ‘We’re playing most of the matches,’ he says, ‘and we’re scoring most of the goals. But we don’t get our money.’

It appears that the Anglophone players are having a meeting this evening to discuss their financial problems. Essomba does not want me to be present at the meeting but a little while later he tells me that they have agreed to send the team

captain to the club president. The captain will negotiate on behalf of the Anglo- phone players.

Later on, the Francophone Rasta player denies Essomba’s statement that only the Francophones have received their signature premiums. ‘No no,’ he says, while exhibiting some irritation towards his Anglophone colleagues, ‘all the players received their money at the beginning of this season. But the Anglo- phones think that they have the right to play the matches only because they are from around here. I don’t think that’s fair.’

It appears that the problems between the Anglophones and the Francophones are also present within Buea Boys. I have just come across Ashu, the Anglo- phone team captain, while walking down the main road. ‘You have noticed the problem, haven’t you?’ he says. ‘There are two groups in our team, the local guys and the Francophones. I, as the captain, have to endure a lot of criticism from my Francophone team mates. Last year we had another Anglophone cap- tain. There was some trouble between him and a Francophone player who wanted to take over his position. The Francophone players said that there should be a Francophone captain because the majority of the players were Francophones. This year there are more Anglophones than Francophones in the team so they have no right to complain. Still there’s a Francophone player who doesn’t want me to be captain.’

Ashu says that one of the main problems between the two groups is the simple fact that they speak a different language. I know that most of the Francophones in Buea Boys and Olympique de Buea do not speak English and that some of the Anglophones do not speak French. This means that they cannot communicate if there is a problem in the team. ‘This is where I usually help out,’ Ashu says. ‘I’m bilingual, so I speak both French and English. It’s also my job to make sure that things are running smoothly in the team and that everybody is happy with each other.’

Essomba also speaks French very well but it is generally known that the team captain of Olympique de Buea is only able to say a couple of sentences in French. Ashu adds that the Francophone players in Buea Boys are causing trouble at the moment because of the lack of money. ‘There’s a match coming up on Sunday but they don’t want to play. They are planning a strike.’

It appears that the situation within Buea Boys is exactly the opposite of the one in Olympique de Buea, where the Anglophones are anxious to get their money.