Togo’s Request to Return to Angola 2010 Apparently Rejected

January 11th, 2010 | by: Daryl |

15518709 The question of whether Togo will play in the Africa Cup of Nations following the fatal attack on their team bus in Cabinda has taken another turn, with the team’s request to re-enter the tournament after a three day mourning period apparently being rejected by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

“We have ordered a three-day [period of] mourning,” said Togolese Sports Minister Christophe Tchao. “The players are leaving with the bodies of their fallen brothers and we have asked the Confederation of African Football to find an arrangement so we can catch up with the competition later.”

According to reports cited in both The Guardian and The Times, CAF has rejected this request, presumably because it wold require rescheduling a few games.

Togo are/were in Group B with Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Ghana, which is due to kick off today. Togo were scheduled to play Ghana at 19:30 local time, but obviously won’t be competing as the team is home and observing a three day national mourning period. Without Togo, Group B will simply go ahead with three teams.

But if Togo are willing to play, then surely CAF should make the effort, pull out the stops, and find a way to let Togo catch up and play their games. Yes, it would take some rescheduling and yes that would be a pain in the arse. But after the events of the past few days, rescheduling should be the least of everyone’s worries.

Update: Breaking news as I type this post, the Prime Minister of Togo Gilbert Huongbo is now saying that Togo do not want to return to the tournament. He’s also pretty scathing about the way CAF has handled the whole thing.

“We will have hoped that one can have serene discussion with the host country, with the Confederation, to assess what has happened, assess what one has to do. We received no co-operation from the Confederation in terms of any kind of assessment.
“Our analysis is that they want it [the shooting] to be seen as a non-event and the show must go on as planned; there mustn’t be an official change and Togo is causing problems to the festival.”

All of which leaves me feeling very conflicted. In many ways I’d like to try and get past the shooting and just enjoy the tournament. But it feels unfair to Togo to just brush aside what happened, which – if Gilbert Huongbo is right – is what CAF wants us to do.

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http://japan.worldcupblog.org/ Aidan

It’s a real shame if CAF are so inflexible as to try and adjust the schedule to allow Togo to play, or ot at least state that they are looking into doing that.

What is right is that the tournament should carry on regardless, as Euro ‘96 did when the IRA decided to re-design Manchester city centre the day of the England-Scotland match, and the day before Germany played Russia in Manchester.

I feel desperately sorry for the Togo players, who having been attacked and being in mourning for their friends seem to be getting messed around by all and sundry. Their own government seem to be coming out with conflicting ideas, and even when the players wanted to stay they were withdrawn by their government. The atatck was a real tragedy, but the mess of Togo’s participation (or non-participation) doesn’t make CAF look particularly good.
Diane

There’s a difference between going ahead with the tournament and making no attempt to accommodate Togo. From the beginning the Togolese players reported a stunning lack of assistance from both tournament and federation officials.

Now, after denying Togo’s request for rescheduling so that they could in fact return in time to participate, CAF told The Guardian that, “The referee has received the order to blow the starting whistle and if the Togolese players are not there, they will have lost the match and will be disqualified.” The organizers say that Togo did not take the “official” steps necessary to return.

Whatever came out of the conflicting demands of tournament organizers, confederation, Togolese government — and the player’s dual desires to mourn their dead as well as play on in their memory — from the sporting side, this is about the most inhumane scenario I could have imagined.
Ro

I think thats it bad that CAF wont allow the togolese players to play in the nations cup. After all that they have been through the fact that they want to put their nations pride before themselves should have been enough for CAF to try and reschedule something. Im sure that the other teams in the group and in the tournament would have been welcome to a change in schedule in wake of all that happened to togo and its players.
http://ngc-nnpcgroup.com Habial Daniel

I feel strongly that Togo should have been accommodated some how. Other teams will surely understand. What has happened to African Culture of brotherhood and hospitality? CAF should handle this with great care so as not to send the wrong signal that some countries are more important than others. What happened to Togo would have as well happened to any other Team too.
Togo, I mourn with you.