AfriPOP! was at the Score4Africa Awards in London last week and it was pretty inspiring to see the African footballing fraternity getting props for the good stuff they do off the pitch instead of the fandanglement they do on it. Set up in 2008 to celebrate those who use football to create positive change on the continent, this year’s awards were hosted by playwright and actor Kwame Kwei-Armah. In attendance were the likes of property lawyer/philanthropist/socialite Nancy Dell’Olio, singer Mpho Skeef, Senegal international and Fulham strker Diomansy Kamara, his teammate South African international Kagiso Dikgacoi and Chelsea/Cote D’Ivoire star Salomon Kalou.
Awards were won by Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien who was given the People’s Choice Award, Cameroonian football legend Roger Milla who was the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Cote D’Ivoire national team who won a Peace Award for their reconciliation efforts following the 2002 Civil War.
Kalou, who told reporters that he thought the Ivorian team had a good chance of progressing at the 2010 FIFA World Cup (Of course this was before Ivory Coast’s fate was revealed at the live FIFA draw in Cape Town on Friday 4 December).
Meanwhile his Chelsea teammate Didier Drogba who was also scheduled to attend the glitzy Sheraton Park Lane ceremony was mysteriously absent. Only because Drogba, who is the new face of Pepsi, recently donated his entire £3million sponsorship fee to build a hospital and orphanage in his native Abidjan, do we forgive him.
But quote of the evening goes to Dell’olio (who was looking fabulous in a black Donna Karan suit). When asked by AfriPOP! why she thought these awards were important, she declared: ‘We know all the footballer players in Africa but we never hear enough about all the good work they do. And I think this is a fantastic initiative. Africa is the future’.
Africa is the future, people. See, even the “first lady of football” knows that time it is.
Photo credits: Nancy Dell’Olio, Salomon Kalou, Kagiso Dikgacoi (top to bottom) are all photographed by Brian Appiah Obeng. Contact him on RRRRRoCK@hotmail.com
