Sportswashing, Rwanda and the “Salima Effect” — who’s washing what?
A woman role model in sports — and no, it is not Serena — even though the name sounds similar.
Pop Quiz
Who was one of three women referees selected to officiate at the FIFA World Cup to be hosted in Qatar?
Which “African woman” has officiated at the Olympics, FIFA Women’s World Cup, Africa Women Cup of Nations and CAF Women’s Champions League?
Who was the fourth official when France, the defending champions, defeated Australia 4–1?
Who was recognized as one of the BBC 100 Women in December 2022?
Come in Salima Radia Mukansanga— the pride of Rwanda
Born July 25, 1988 (age 34 years), Rwandese Salima Mukansanga is an international football referee from Rwanda who is a listed international referee for FIFA since 2012.
She was an official at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France. According to a November 2022 Voice of Africa article, “Rwandan Ref Makes World Cup History”
Football experts say Africans will fondly remember the 2022 FIFA World Cup for several reasons, among them being the inclusion of Salima Radia Mukansanga, a female Rwandan referee who is set to make history in Qatar by being the first African female to officiate a World Cup fixture.
The article reads further:
In 2022, Mukansanga became the first woman to referee at the African Cup of Nations, edging out an all-woman officiating team of Fatiha Jermoumi (Morocco), Carine Atemzabong (Cameroon), and Bouchra Karboubi (Morocco) as the VAR.
Mukansanga became the first female African to officiate at the men’s top football event on 22 November 2022.
Following my paper presentation at the recently concluded CBIAC conference on the “Sportswashing” allegations levelled against Rwanda, I posed a parting question — Who’s Washing What? I would like these to be remembered as the “3Ws of Sportswasing.”
I also made mention of the 29th Genocide Memorial Week — Kwibuka29 — And the tribute paid by players of the English Premier League leaders, Arsenal Football Club, following the club’s sponsorship deal with Rwanda under the VisitRwanda brand.
In my exuberance in my January 2023 article, I had suggested the newly refurbished Huye Stadium as a candidate for Rwanda’s Pele Stadium using his name “Santos”. However, the ever-innovative Rwanda had other plans that went far beyond my imagination — it took a different path at the recently concluded FIFA Congress, to rename the Nyamirambo stadium (which I had the privilege of visiting at the end of 2022) as the country’s “King Pele Stadium”.
I had no choice to add a clause to my originally submitted paper — postmortem, considering that my proposal had not been actualised. Besides, Huye stadium was “ruled out from hosting the return leg” of the AFCON 2023 qualifier with Benin, for reasons far from the stadium’s clean bill of health for hosting such an event. Rather, it was penalised for “lack of high class accommodation in the district” by the away team, thus prompting an alternative in what I deem the number 3 stadium in Rwanda.
Evidently, no country, in Africa or beyond, would dedicate it’s national stadium to non-indigenous exploits for both sponsorship and other sentimental reasons, hence the Amahoro stadium was out of the question.
As innovative as Rwanda is, it wasn’t hard to shift the goalposts from Huye to Nyamiranbo now renamed the Kigali Pele Stadium, and the second to be accorded the title in Africa. It also afforded the opportunity of ensuring Amavubi (the national team) did not play both legs of the AFCON qualifiers away.
This obviously goes beyond the views of naysayers on sportswashing as the country takes its place on the world (or African) podium if you like, hosting FIFA accredited events.
