Posted on 06/05/2006 8:32:41 AM PDT by presidio9
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has sung the praises of football in a contribution to a German newspaper, saying the World Cup 2006 would bring nations together in a way no other event could.
"The fact is that the World Cup makes us green with envy," Annan wrote in a guest editorial in Bild am Sonntag newspaper.
"As the only game in the world that is played in every country and by people of every race and religion, football is one of the few institutions that is as exceptional as the United Nations."
Annan pointed out world soccer governing body FIFA has 205 members compared to the United Nations' 191 and that "everybody on the planet will talk about the World Cup".
He said he wished people would discuss development issues as seriously as they will their team's performance in the world's biggest sporting event and that nations would compete with each other in governance the way they will on the field from June 9 to July 9.
"I wish countries would compete with each other on respecting human rights, that they would try to outdo each other on the survival rate of children or to shine in education," he said.
"I wish we had other things that leveled the playing fields the way football does, where only talent and team spirit matter, such as freer and fairer trade."
Annan said it was "a special honour" for Ghana, his home country, to have qualified for the World Cup for the first time and that for each African nation taking part, the tournament will have a special meaning.
"For a country like Angola, which knew years of misery, the World Cup will bring a sense of renewal.
"And for a nation like Ivory Coast, which has been torn apart by conflict, it is a symbol of national unity and the hope for a new start."
Sure is full of himself, and delusional.
That game with the girly men in shorts kicking around a ball like the fairies they are is called "soccer."
Old joke:
Q: What's the worst thing about going out for the soccer team?
A: Having to tell your dad you're gay.
"football is one of the few institutions that is as exceptional as the United Nations." "
Puke alert!
And if you're Italian, almost as corrupt!
OH, I'm sorry, I mistook him for a serious person. How silly of me, let me rephrase:
Koffi, shouldn't you be spending your time riding around in limos and enjoying a lavish lifestyle you would never know in your home country?
Soccer is the sport of the future,and it always will be.
Show me a country whose Soccer team is their only source of national pride and I'll show you abject poverty. The NFL says to the world. This is what a country with an economy does for fun.
Preventing it? He was, in the past, an enabler of genocide. Despite his ground commander in Rwanda requesting to do so, Annan refused to let him sieze the Hutu's weapons that were to be used in the attack that he knew was coming. He then told his commander not to interfere once the slaughter started.
So far there are no stories of rape or forced prostitution by the guards at FIFA camps, so soccer ranks at least one step above the UN in my book.
There's only one football, and it's played on a rugby pitch.
That game with the girly men in body armor and helmets passing the ball fowards like the fairies they are is called "American football."
But what most makes American football a bore for me is the constant stopping, regrouping and strategy sessions (huddle). Rugby just goes, no regular time to stop, regroup, strategize and catch your breath.
Americans call that "smear the queer" and its been played by adolescence for years... We graduate to a thinking man's game called American football.
I'm no sports enthusiast, but isn't this the event that almost always ends with fans stampeding, rioting, and otherwise causing mayhem?
That's the problem -- too much thinking time. You get to plan out each play perfectly in advance. If you want to do that, play chess.
More "wisdom" (not) from Dopi Kofi.
Of course! He is, after all, "Famous Anus"!
I LOVE rugby. Soccer, on the other hand, is for men who squat when they urinate, although they aren't disabled, if you catch my drift. ;-)
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