272 lines
7.4 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
272 lines
7.4 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
comment
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columnists
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jimwhite
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8195178
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# Premier League: Addis Ababa's chronic case of big match fever
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## There's only one place to watch Man Utd versus Arsenal, says Jim White.
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![Ethiopian athletes work out in Meskel Square][1]
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Ethiopian athletes work out in Meskel Square Photo: Reuters
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[![Jim White][2]][3]
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By [Jim White][4] 7:10PM GMT 10 Dec 2010
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[Comments][5]
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This weekend, the residents of Addis Ababa are gearing up for the biggest
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sporting event of the year. Colours are being washed, plans made to watch,
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rivalries bubbling. A giant screen has been erected in Meskel Square, in the
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middle of the city, and the thousands who will head there for the action are
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hoping that the power keeps going long enough for them to take in the whole
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event. It doesn't always.
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Never mind that, because of the time difference, things won't get going until
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11pm on Monday. Ethiopians of all ages will still be hunkering around any
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television they can find. Schoolteachers will be forgiving when their charges
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arrive bleary-eyed the next morning. After all, they'll be watching, too. Such
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is the passion that it often escalates into violence - last year, two fans
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were stabbed in fighting around the square. Yes, Manchester United against
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Arsenal really does mean that much.
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To those who associate Ethiopia only with athletics, this might seem bizarre.
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But according to Haile Gebrselassie, the greatest distance runner in history
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and a man who is close to a king in his homeland, nothing excites his
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countrymen as much as Premier League football. The Olympics? World Cup?
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Champions League? Yes, they follow them. But it is the big English games that
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are national events.
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Despite the fact that the action is taking place 3,814 miles away,
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Gebrselassie insists that the atmosphere will more than match that inside Old
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Trafford. Tension, rivalry, loud and sustained chanting - all will be in
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evidence. Gangs of Arsenal and United followers will take up hard-won
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positions round the square, goading each other as the match plays out. This
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despite the fact that none of them has ever been within 3,000 miles of either
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club and in a country where the average yearly income is £126, less than a
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third of the price of a season ticket.
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Just like that Polynesian island where the locals worship the Duke of
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Edinburgh, this long-distance devotion is as strange as it is inexplicable.
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Even though the tradition has rapidly become entrenched, it is relatively
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recent, dating back no more than a decade - about the time that big screens
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appeared that could bring the action to those too poor to afford televisions
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of their own. Gebrselassie himself has been a Chelsea fan ever since Jose
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Mourinho took over six years ago.
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## Related Articles
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* [Gebrselassie: born to run][6]
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17 Mar 2011
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For those of us who regularly bemoan the Premier League's ugly excesses,
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witnessing its global reach is a chastening corrective. This is a British
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cultural product that matches anything Hollywood can offer, an export of huge
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social significance, something astonishing that this country has produced.
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Wherever you go in Ethiopia, you see young people with "Rooney", "Torres" or
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"Lampard" emblazoned across their shoulders. Families save what little money
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they have to clothe their children in replicas of shirts worn by men they will
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never see in the flesh.
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When you see a kid in a Rooney shirt, you feel like saying to him, do you
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realise what feet of clay your idol has? But you don't, because to do so would
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be to shatter the magic. Anyway, no one speaks English, so they wouldn't
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understand. Which makes their obsession with the English game all the more
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extraordinary.
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The phenomenon makes you think, too, that if Fifa is really seeking global
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reach, the members of its executive committee ought to pay a visit to Addis
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next time they are deciding where to hold the World Cup. After all, no one in
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the city is half as excited when CSKA Moscow play Zenit St Petersburg.
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[X][7] Share & bookmark
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[What are these?][8]
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* Share: [Share][7] [ ][9] [ ][10]
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[Tweet][11]
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/jimwhite/8195178/Premier-League-
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Addis-Ababas-chronic-case-of-big-match-fever.html
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Telegraph
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## [Jim White][3]
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* ### [World News »][12]
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* ### [Africa and Indian Ocean »][13]
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* ### [Ethiopia »][14]
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* ### [Football »][15]
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* ### [Competitions »][16]
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In comment
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### [Yours, livid and vilely oppressed by all, Harold][17]
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### [No, I won't be growing a moustache this month][18]
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[X][7] Share & bookmark
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Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter
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Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
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[What are these?][8]
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Share:
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* [ ][7]
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* [ ][9]
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* [ ][10]
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* [Tweet][11]
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* Advertisement
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![][19]
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Please enable JavaScript to view the [comments powered by Disqus.][20] [blog
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