Andre Bikey Medic Will Still Be Involved in Africa Cup of Nations Final

Here’s the reason Cameroon’s Andre Bikey will miss the Africa Cup of Nations Final on Sunday. Still can’t quite figure out what he was thinking. Can you? While medics were treating Rigobert Song, Bikey came charging in and shoved one of them to the ground, and got himself a red card.

Ironically the man he pushed – named Samuel Ashia – will still be doing his job and working as a medic at the final. The Guardian recently got an interview with him.

It was very forceful, and I landed badly. It didn’t hurt at the time but the next day my head ached and the area around my waist did, too. Lots of people, friends and strangers, have told me I should have retaliated, but I was there to do a job. I didn’t talk to him at all. I stood up and as he started talking away I just looked at him. He’s bigger than I am – and I’m there to do my job and not to fight. If he wants to talk to me now, before the final, then I will listen. But I don’t want to meet him again because he attacked me for no reason. I will just carry on doing my job and I don’t expect it to happen again. Players should respect us – we are there to save lives.

Would be great to see Bikey and Ashia make up before the game, preferably with a handshake and a Bikey apology. But would be even better to know just what Bikey was thinking. The defender’s manager at Reading, Steve Coppell says it was out of character and is convinced that there’s more to it than meets the eye.

I can only assume something happened that we couldn’t see. They (Cameroon) were in a great position in the game, the clock was ticking away, there was an almost dormant instant in the game, and then he’s run over there. He’s no fool. Something must have happened to spark him off that wasn’t visible on the TV. As soon as he comes back we will speak to him. It looked crazy on TV but he got really incensed about something, it wasn’t a spontaneous act.

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