In this article I am reflecting as an affluent Westerner on the realities faced by poor rural African communities regarding sport, specifically football (soccer). My main argument is that poor communities deserve money to be invested in their sport activities. And so immediately our affluent friends are quick to skeptically ask "Why waste money on sport, while people are dying of hunger or while people are illiterate?" Off course all these things are important; yet poor countries need education, health, roads, entrepreneurship, etc. and all the various aspects of a healthy society needs to be addressed simultaneously.

We can never say: "let's fix all the roads then we'll start with the clinics" or "first let us sort out health then we'll start with education"! Recreation in the form of Sport is not a luxury guarded for a certain time or level of civilization. Even historically it has proven to be a part of most societies, much like culture and religion. No matter how one tries to justify or discredit the phenomena, one can never argue against the prevailing popularity of sport in normative societal life.

Culture and Sport is an integral part of the very fabric of a society. That is why we all during our schooling years had to (and liked to) participate in cultural or sport activities, as part of our education. Schools put a lot of time, energy and money into sport. Partly because kids and people in general love playing sport and partly because great sports teams create unity and pride. Yet this idea of sport as important enough to justify fiscal allocations is not limited to kids at school: our governments have ministers and departments of Sport- spending millions of Dollars. Why? Is it not irrational for Third World countries to ‘waste' money on sport? Should all African countries not stop playing soccer and use their time and money for literacy and health? Should the national soccer teams not stop playing and rather help with building roads or teaching children economics and accounting?

Sounds absurd and is. Sport can never and should never be measured in monetary terms. Winning the World Cup or African Cup of Nations has a larger impact than that reflected in the budgets of the various sports bodies and player salaries. Mohamed Ali or the Brazilian Soccer team entails a lot more than the salary of an athlete or team. They are examples of sport that gives units of humanity to millions of people. That is why Manchester is not known for its natural beauty or effective municipality. That is why the skills of Zidane and Beckam are watched by millions. Likewise a football clash between Pirates and Chiefs or Angola and Portugal are never only between the players on the pitch!

Admittedly professional sport and especially football is made possible by corporate sponsors, but that is not the drive of the game. The logo on the chest of a player is a companies attempt at transforming an emotional currency into a financial one. Our love for Sport and heroes are so great that companies will pay millions to associate their product with the overpaid metro-sexual men running after a ball on a piece of grass. And there is nothing wrong with that. What I would like to advocate or ask is whether it is only affluent societies that have the right to having heroes?

In a community that is impoverished and where 95% of the population does not have televisions, the local soccer games perform an integral function in the construction of a community. In a poor community time is also money and many great players can't play soccer because they have a family to try and support, thus, no money for food and no time for training. The hero is trapped in a cycle of desperation and need. Who would go and kick a ball when his sister or child has nothing to eat?

In affluent societies playing is easy. Everyone has shoes, shorts, socks and even transport to get to the games. In rural African villages there are literally situations where the best player in the District cannot play due to not having soccer boots. We easily overlook and take for granted our own excitement and hero-making as we sit at huge stadiums or sit glued to our flat screen television sets... yet for countless suffering people, people that might need it more than we do, there is neither time nor opportunity to be simply human and enjoy life as we like to do.

A man or a woman is so much more than their salary or ‘market worth' and in democratic societies we simply cannot allow the market to be the only judge of what is fair, we cannot allow the market to decide who is deserving an we cannot allow the market to determine who gets to play. We are human agents with the potential and responsibility to act, not like machines, not like primates, but as humans. Realizing that there are those that are not as lucky as we are and that we can actually reach out and support them is an instance of such humanity.

The whole idea and spirit of sport necessitates an outward look and inclusive stance. If that means giving money so our hidden brothers and sisters can join in the fun, so be it. Especially if we consider that for the price of one ticket at one of the big games we can pay the monthly salary of a player somewhere in the bush so he can play and feed his family and become a star- even for just a few years in his remote district- somewhere in the bush...