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Weah there’s a Will There’s A Way (African Pride)

Crispin Thomas

Friday, November 26th, 2004

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 who would believe
from such a stricken country
from grubby broken back-yards
from endless days and nights
kicking pounding
home made balls of rags
to African Pride

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 from Monrova’s streets
to the heady portals of
Monaco PSG Milan Chelsea
and later Man City
and then to one day
whisper it softly now
who knows .. leadership of his country?

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 for here – like the prodigal son retuning
George Weah
African footballing legend
Fifa World Player & European Player of the Year 1995
UNICEF goodwill ambassador
Liberia national coach
longtime United Nations spokesman
and key figure in fighting the spread of HIV/Aids
and much much more..
today rides by as thousands stand
and scream his name again and again
on battered roads
of this his one time home
and impoverished capital city

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 this time – with a different goal in mind
“My president is waiting!” shouts one woman
and why you ask?

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 because today – George Weah
has his heart in the right place
and a place in all hearts eyes and ears of his beloved people
simply by accepting their request
to stand for president

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 crazy – maybe
and many may say politics
should have no place in football
but who can truly say now
with people dying – people starving
with children soldiers fighting
that football has no place in politics

© CT04

Notes

WEAH LAUNCHES PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
Thursday 25 Nov, 2004
(Taken from Kick It Out – News Section: www.kickitout.org )

George Weah has returned to Liberia to launch a bid for president.
Thousands lined the route of his motorcade from the airport, cheering and beating drums – welcoming him as much as a hoped-for national saviour as an African football great, in what looked like a victory parade on the main street of the battered capital.

“The politicians in this country have failed us, lied to us, killed our brothers and sisters; our youths are suffering; they have no food to eat, no work to do; so Weah can deliver the goods,” she added.

Honoured as Fifa best player of the year in 1995, Weah became a UNICEF goodwill ambassador two years later.

He has worked with the United Nations agency to help fight the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa through education and to promote vocational training initiatives to rehabilitate child soldiers from African countries, specifically Liberia.

Weah left Monrovia at 20 to pursue a professional football career. But he has not stayed away, and his efforts prompted former South African president Nelson Mandela to call him the “African Pride.”

“I ask Liberians to pray so that God will bring peace, and stability and bring about unification to ourselves,” Weah, dressed in a dark suit, said after attending a brief church service immediately upon his arrival.

Addressing his supporters later, he accepted their petition asking him to run for the presidency.

Besides his anti-war efforts and trying to help child soldiers, Weah has served as the Liberia national coach, star player and sponsor, providing charter flights for the team’s matches, and player payments.

Elections are set for 2005, with a post-war government led by a popular businessman, Gyude Bryant, governing until then.

Source: https://footballpoets.org/poems/weah-theres-a-will-theres-a-way-african-pride/