George Orwell thought that sports like football
Were just the continuation of war by other means,
And how can we forget, on Holocaust Day,
The Nazi idealisation of the cult of the body,
The militarisation of the masculine frame,
The fetishisation of the nation-state and race:
There is a direct link between the 1936 Berlin Olympics
And Auschwitz, Birkenau, Belsen et al.
But even though it sounds initially bathetic,
Let us now remember the words of FIFA President Blatter:
“The philosophy of football is to offer hope”;
And let us remember how, two years ago,
He laid a wreath at the Kigali Genocide Memorial,
And how in the accompanying minute’s silence,
Hutu felt guilt and remorse and Tutsi felt just numbing pain,
As a million ghosts stood in silent sorrow;
But now, on the 24th of January, 2004,
Rwanda will play in the African Cup of Nations,
With a side made up from players of both communities,
And let us pray that Hope will not only be offered,
But will be taken up, embraced and realised,
So that a nation can be remade,
And just as a multicultural French football team
Has shown that sport can be mightier than Le Pen,
So, once more, football can marginalize the racists,
And a new Rwanda will be re-forged and reborn;
This is the hope we offer to you.

© Stuart Butler - 2004