Football in Ethiopia

Football was among the newly acquired "pastimes" in twentieth century Ethiopia. Unlike the rest of Africa where football was imposed with colonial rule, the history of football in Ethiopia is different. It was the victory of Emperor Menelik II (r. 1889-1913) against the Italian invaders at Adwa in 1896 that brought football into Ethiopia. The defeat of the Italians convinced the rest of Europe to acknowledge Ethiopia’s independence and send emissaries to seek favors from the Emperor. It was these European diplomats and their dependents who introduced football into Ethiopia. The first football game was held between these foreigners in Addis Ababa in 1924.

Though there were indications that football clubs existed at the Teferi Mekonnen School as early as 1927, the participants remained foreigners such as Armenians and Greeks, who had been granted refugee status by Ethiopia.* In one of the "international" football games held in Addis Ababa in 1935, the Ethiopian team, primarily comprised of European refugees and asylum seekers, beat the French team (members of the French Navy from Djibouti) 3-1. Yervant Abraham, an Armenian, scored all three goals. In that same year an Ethiopian football club, St. George was established with Ydneqatchew Tessema, as one of the founding members, who is regarded as the father of Ethiopian football.

During the Italian occupation of Ethiopia (1936-1941), in accordance with the Fascist racial policy, Ethiopians were barred from playing football with Europeans. A separate sport office for the natives, "Sport Office for the Indigenous," was set up and the already established Ethiopian football clubs were renamed: St. George became Littorio Wube, Qebana team became Villa Italia, Sidist Killo renamed Piazza Roma and Gulele named Consolata. The irony was that on the immediate aftermath of the Italian defeat, a football match was held between an all-Ethiopian team, expatriate teams and an Italian football team, Fortitudo, in Addis Ababa in 1942. The Ethiopian team St. George faced the Italians.The latter was defeated at the football field as well.

Soon after, Ethiopia established the Ethiopian Football Federation in 1943. The budget for the Federation was a mere $127.00. Since then, the Federation hosted the "Ethiopian Cup," which was contested between football clubs of the Ethiopian armed forces, known as Army, the British Military Mission (BMME), football clubs of Italian stragglers who stayed in Ethiopia after the war, Polisportiva, St. George and the Imperial Body Guard football club, Body Guard. The BMME and Polisportiva won the 1945 and 1947 Ethiopian Cup finals respectively, while Army dominated the reminder of the 1940s and 1950s.9 Given British racist attitude towards Ethiopians and the not so long colonial aspirations of the Italians, these matches must have been arenas where Ethiopian patriotism and nationalism was expressed vis-à-vis colonialism and racism.

With the establishment of the African Nations Cup in 1957, which included Ethiopia, Egypt and the newly independent Sudan, Ethiopian football attained additional momentum. In the 1962 African Nations Cup that was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia won beating Egypt 4-2. Since then, though Ethiopia had never won an African Nations Cup, football evolved into one of the most popular pastimes in Ethiopia. Wherever there is an educational establishment such as a university, college or even a high school, there were football clubs were formed; even at Ethiopian military bases, there were football clubs that represented the military. In this regard, the Imperial Ethiopian Armed Forces and Ministry of Education and Fine Arts played a dominant and pioneering role in the development of football in Ethiopia. Parallel with this, one has to note that these were also "modern" institutions through which Western ideas seeped through into much of Africa. Even today, the African armed forces and educational establishments remain relatively modern and well-organized institutions; and in this regard, Ethiopia is not an exception.

In a country where freedom of speech and association is curtailed or does not even exist, football matches provided venues for expressions of discontent. This was particularly true during the era of the Derg. The latter, despite its claim of popular support and Marxist rhetoric, the populace, besides other things, regarded the Derg as a soldiers' party or government. Hence, the public associated many of the football clubs that were drawn from and represented the army and police such as oeSÅI (Omedla), OJ (Mechal), and ›`TÍ‚ (Ermejachen) as affiliates of the Derg. Thus, almost all football matches between one of the civilian clubs and the army/police in the Addis Ababa stadium became symbols of struggle between the civilians and the military, opponents and supporters of the Derg. There were times when the defeat of one of the aforementioned football clubs by the civilians such as Buna (v#) or St. George would result in army-police violence against the civilian spectators. If one of the army-police teams won the game, then taxi drivers would exhibit their dissatisfaction and protest by refusing their service to the soldiers/police officers while serving only civilians. Civilian-military confrontation at the football stadium was not uncommon in Addis Ababa in particular and in Ethiopia in general during the imperial era. For instance, in 1965 there were several disturbances and fistfights that involved civilians and the military-police teams (Mekuria, Mechal, Omedla). They were readmitted to the football match in 1975, a year after the seizure of power by the Derg. What makes the civil-military confrontations of the 1970s and 1980s unique was its politicization.

Though in most cases, the annual football matches between teams of the provinces and from within the provinces became venues for loyalties that transcended ethnic and religious differences, it also began mirroring ethno-nationalist aspirations. This was so, especially after the rise of secessionist movements in Eritrea in the 1960s. A football match between one of the Eritrean clubs such as the Red Sea (m¾wF`) or Eritrea Shoe (™+`|^ ÞR) and one of the non-Eritrean clubs, most often Ethiopian Navy or one of the clubs of the Second Division Army stationed in Eritrea, became highly political. In such occasions, the audience in the Asmara stadium was roughly divided between supporters of Eritrean secessionism and Ethiopian nationalism, while the football field became the battlefield for competing nationalisms. If the Eritrean clubs scored a goal, the stadium was electrified with Tigregna beats which is always accompanied with a drum and a claps. Supporters of the army or navy, who were mainly drawn from civilian government employees, members of the armed forces and some Eritreans, would chant, ™R_X (Amaressa), a well-known battle cry of the Ethiopian army.

Despite this, any football match between the Ethiopian national team and another country, whether the national team wins or not, the public supports the team. The Addis Ababa stadium (sometimes the federation also uses the Diredawa stadium) was usually transformed into an arena where one celebrates and observes the depth and bounds of Ethiopian nationalism. Singing patriotic songs, waving the Ethiopian tri-colors, or wearing a bonnet with the tri-colors and coming to the stadium adorned with Ethiopian cultural dresses were and are some of the symbols of expressions of nationalism.

By-Solomon Addis Getahun