SFG Guide to AFCON 2015 | Page 26

John Bennett

Journalist with the BBC World Service, we had a chat with John about his experiences covering AFCON, and thoughts on the upcoming edition.

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John, thanks for taking the time to speak with SFG. The striking thing about you is you’re a rare breed: an Englishman who is deeply into African football. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that but it deviates from the norm, so it does beg the question: why African football?

I have always been interested in African football but I guess the first time that I really had a connection to it is when I went on holiday to visit one of my friends, who was a BBC reporter in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and he took me to a couple of local games, one involving ASEC, the team which brought through Salomon Kalou and the Toure brothers, and I just got really interested from there.

And then I joined the BBC World Service in 2009 and my interest really took off. I started to take an interest for work but then it became a passion as well. I was lucky enough to go to go to the 2012 Cup of Nations, which was fantastic. I spent a month in Libreville, Gabon, following the tournament which was an unforgettable experience.

Since then I have done loads of reporting on African football. The moment where it really became a major passion for me is when I went to Dakar to cover the Senegal versus Ivory Coast match [Africa Cup of Nations 2013 qualifier 2nd leg, November 2012] which was an incredible couple of days covering football there.

November 2012] which was an incredible couple of days covering football there.

The Cup of Nations is almost a sanitised view of African football. It is still a great atmosphere but you don’t get the home support that you get at the qualifiers. To go to a qualifier was the moment where I thought, “This is something special, African football.”

Basically, it was the day before the match between CIV and Senegal there were thousands of fans waiting for the teams outside the training. Just there to watch the training, not to watch the game. All of a sudden, the gates couldn’t hold them anymore so they had to let them in. Thousands of fans streamed into the stadium just to watch Senegal and Ivory Coast train. It was unbelievable. I don’t think you would get that in many other places in other parts of the world.

Do you think you get the holistic African international football experience at qualifiers rather than at Cup of Nations tournaments?

I’m relatively new to African football. 2009 was when I started to take a really major interest in it, before that my job involved