Many a sport field across the country has been the scene of a tearful teenager rolling on the turf in the anguished realisation that he just can’t cut it.
If this sounds familiar, don’t despair: the chances are you could become the country’s next president.
When Barack Obama was a teenager his greatest ambition was to be a professional basketball player. It was Tony Peterson, his childhood friend, who wanted to be a lawyer.
”Go on and get that law degree and I’m going to be a famous basketball player and when I need to sue my team I’ll call you,” Obama, who later trained to be lawyer, wrote in Peterson’s yearbook.
Now that he has been confirmed as the next occupant of the White House, Obama joins a long list of politicians and leaders – both friends and foes of the United States, who were once more focused on keeping their eye on the ball.
Cuba, an old thorn in the US empire’s side, was famously led by Fidel Castro who, in his youth, was an exceptional baseball player. Castro’s friend and fan, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, was a champion baseball pitcher in the army and later took up a position as a sports instructor at a military school.
Closer to home, most would be surprised to learn how Shikota leader and former defence minister Mosiuoa Lekota got his militant nickname ”Terror”.
It was not in the apartheid struggle but on the football field, where he boasted a sophisticated boot, that apparently struck terror into his opponents.
Lekota’s former comrade and South Africa’s new President Kgalema Motlanthe, repeatedly warded off suspicions of harbouring top office ambitions by pointing out that he could be better utilised as a talent scout for our dismal national football team. Known as the ”Wizard” by his mates, he captained most of the teams for which he played.
Conversely, perhaps Liberia’s George Weah couldn’t make it to the presidency because he was such a good player. Easily the greatest footballer of his generation, Weah is a former world footballer player of the year and an AC Milan legend. He almost became president in 2006 after years of war in Liberia, but was pipped to the job by Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson, the first woman president on the continent.
For years Liberia was the archetypal country that had lost its way, a dubious status that is Iraq’s to keep for a little bit longer. Yet, it’s not all war – the Hamid Karzai-led Kurdish province of Iraq is peaceful. Recently, his ”country” participated in the football World Cup of Unrecognised Nations, a tournament won by Padania, in the northern province of Italy. Karzai used to play football, a point he is accustomed to raise now and then.
”Being a footballer myself and having played football in the past, I strongly support the Kurdish attempts to join Fifa,” he said in a recent interview.
Zimbabwe’s vice president, Joseph Msika, is the patron of Zimbabwe’s Football Association.
It is not an empty honour as the politician regularly goes to football matches. In his youth he was a tough tackling player, known as Bruno, skills he’s used effectively in crisis- ravaged Zimbabwe.
Perhaps the most remarkable of all sporting politicians is Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. With his black belt in judo he could pummel sense into any president – past or present. He’s even written a book on judo. On his 56th birthday, he presented an educational judo DVD to budding students of the sport titled Let’s Learn Judo with Vladimir Putin.
As Putin managed admirably to restrain himself from thumping George W Bush, there’s a good chance the next US president will be safe from the chop.