France world cup victory and the misfortune of blacks

Sir: If there is any evidence of what a black man nay Africans in general can achieve under a conducive environment, the French team which won the World Cup in the July 15, 2018 World Cup final is a clean one.

From their first match against Australia to the last match against Croatia, French team was dominated by Africans, especially blacks.

There is no doubt that blacks won the cup for France.

For example, at the final match which was won by France by 4-2, a Croatian Madzuakic scored own goal, Antonie Griezman, a French man also scored for France, while the other two winning goals were scored by blacks, that is Kylian Mbape and Paul Pogba.

Beside this, out of the starting eleven for France, blacks were six, while whites were five including the goal keeper.

The implication is that black may have won the cup for France if five players were sourced from about seven African players who were unused substitute for France.

The breakdown of players with African roots in French team is Samuel Umitti (Cameroun), N’Golo Kante (Mali), Blaise Matudi (Angola), Paul Pogba (Guinea), Kylian Mbape (Cameroun), Lorentin Toliso (Togo) and Stephen N’Zonsi, (DR Congo).

Accommodation of blacks in French team has a root in history.

French defeat by Germans in Franco – Prussian war of 1870, where France lost her rich territories of Alsace and Loraine to German and its humiliation that followed the loss forced France to seek territories abroad for exploitation and on a force or prestige.

This among other factors precipitated scramble for and partition of Africans by European powers in 1880s.

France pursued administrative system known as Assimilation to rule her colonies as British pursued indirect rule system.

When the policy of Assimilation, where France wanted to make French men out of Africans failed, she changed her policy to Association.

By this, she wanted to have a single Government for France and her colonies.

As a result Africans were elected into the French parliament in Paris.

Example was Leopold S. Senghor, who later became the president of Independent Senegal.

Not only that, Africans in French Colonies were allowed to enjoy all rights as French citizens.

Even after the flag independence, former French colonies were still tied to France apron-string in fiscal and military matters.

The above is to show why blacks dominated the French team.

Major difference between black footballers as well as all blacks in France and those in Africa is exposure.

The former were exposed to the best facilities that can be found anywhere in the civilised world, including good government, which ensured that citizens enjoyed their liberty as human beings to the fullest.

Adewuyi Adegbite.