I am as interested in football as I am in the personality traits of garden snails. Still, I can confidently postulate that Uganda’s national football team, the Cranes, will win their Africa Cup qualifying match against Benin this weekend. The Cranes must win the match, if for nothing else than to save face.
In a match between Cranes and Squirrels, surely the Cranes have to be the better team.
However, it may be time for Uganda to consider renaming the national football team. Cranes are graceful beautiful birds, but they are also an endangered species. Perhaps it is time for us to adopt a new menacing name. Surely with the range of wildlife in Africa, we can find something that will strike terror in the hearts of all.
Something like:
The Striking Cobras!
The Tarantulas!
The Falcons!
The Bazooka!
Other African countries seem to understand the psychology of naming their teams. Rwanda has the Amavubi (wasps), Seychelles are the Pirates, Zimbabwe are the Warriors and as if to upstage their SADC compatriots, Namibia are the Brave Warriors. There are the Scorpions (Gambia), the Crocodiles (Lesotho), the Red Devils (Congo Brazzaville), Mambas (Mozambique) and the Flames (Malawi). Surely with a name like the Bullets, Chipolopolo of Zambia your team has the upper hand.
Then there is the host of lions and other felines:
Lion of the Atlas – Morocco
Lions of Teranga – Senegal
Indomitable Lions – Cameroon
Leopards – Democratic Republic of Congo
Jungle Cats – Gabon
What chance do the Zebras of Botswana stand in the face of teams like these?
Uganda is not alone in naming its team after a bird. But at least the Crane is a beatiful, elegant bird. How many eagles, hawks and sparrows can a continent have?
There are the Eagles of Mali, the Super Eagles of Nigeria and the Eagles of Carthage from Tunisia. Sudan has the Desert Hawks, Burundi has the Sparrows and Togo is home to the Sparrow Hawks.
The lack of creativity continues with the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire and the National Elephants of Guinea. The Angolan team are the Black Antelopes and in Ethiopia are the Walya Antelopes.
Some African football teams are too high in the sky to be of use here on earth. Take for instance Kenya’s beleaguered Harambe Stars, the Taifa Stars of Tanzania and Somalia’s Ocean Stars. At least Ghana’s Black Stars attempt to shine.
Some African countries have used their surroundings as inspiration for naming their national teams, albeit with little success. The Red Sea Boys of Eritrea; the Shoremen of the Red Sea of Djibouti; the Desert Foxes of Algeria.
Then there are those teams whose names defy logic:
Swaziland – King’s Shield
Libya – Greens
Mauritius – Club M
South Africa – Boys Boys (Bafana Bafana)
Burkina Faso – Stallions
You don’t need to be a brain surgeon to figure out why Egypt’s national team are the Pharaohs, but why is Chad’s team called Sao, Niger Mena, Madagascar Barea or Mauritania Les Mourabitounes?
Maybe The Cranes isn’t such a bad name after all. But still, in a match against Squirrels, The Buzzards of the Nile would be guaranteed a win …
I’ll steal the quote.
Now having been there for a while, I can tell you that people strongly believe that it can make the whole difference between a squirrel and, say, a jungle cat.
