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Kicking Around in Liberia. from Rehabilitation of Child Soldiers to Community Development: the Story of the Millennium Stars

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Kicking Around in Liberia. from Rehabilitation of Child Soldiers to Community Development: the Story of the Millennium Stars Kicking around in Liberia. From rehabilitation of child soldiers to community development: the story of the Millennium Stars. Author Gerard Naughton Advisor Dr Roman David Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in International Politics (Globalization, Poverty and Development) School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, University of Newcastle upon Tyne Submitted September 2011 1 Abstract Football is increasingly put forward as a solution to Africa’s problems. The recent growth of the Sport, Development and Peace (SDP) sector in the last 20 to 30 years has begun to make use of the possibilities presented by football to deal with Africa’s social problems, notably in regard to peace- building and reconciliation. However, the sector has not matched its enthusiasm for football-based SDP projects with action to analyse impact of such projects. It has become accepted that football is good for peace- building, with little empirical evidence offered to prove it. Millennium Stars FC is a grassroots football team from Liberia, West Africa, who have been together for 15 years. They were promoted as an example of how to solve the problems for child combatants during the Liberian civil war up to 1996, and taken to the UK for a once-in-a-lifetime three-week tour. Now the team is training young payers using their own lives as an example. While football can be seen as a solution to conflict, Millennium Stars are aiming to use it as a way to tackle endemic extreme poverty. This stage of their career has been more difficult as they have been largely without outside support. The case study I present of Millennium Stars adds depth to the studies of football as a peace- building tool, but also asks questions about football as a tool for tackling poverty. In the conclusion, I suggest that SDP projects like the Millennium Stars need to be supported because they address the real long-term grassroots issues. 2 Acknowledgements I would like to offer my sincere thanks to the following people for their assistance in preparing this dissertation: Moses Barcon, Abraham Clarke, Nusee Cooper, Prince Momo, and especially Christian Neh, of the Millennium Stars, for their interviews, for time spent answering questions, and for their continued inspiration over the last 15 years. Aaron Weah of ICTJ, Monrovia, Liberia, for information, useful suggestions and the use of Skype. Jim Naughton and Gerry Loughran for proofreading. CAFOD for use of photographs and access to archive material. 3 Contents Section Page Number Title Page 1 Abstract 2 Acknowledgements 3 Contents 4 Abbreviations 5 1.1 Introduction 7 1.2 Theoretical Framework 11 1.3 Interview Methodology 14 2.1 Sport, Development and Peace (SDP) 16 2.2 Sport and Peace-Building – The Rise of a Sector 16 2.3 SDP in Practice 20 2.4 SDP and Community Development 24 2.5 Sport in Development Education 26 3.1 History of Liberia, and the Civil War 1989 to 2003 29 3.2 Millennium Stars History 30 3.3 Millennium Stars 1999 Tour Squad 37 3.4 Millennium Stars Rebirth 40 4.1 Analysing Millennium Stars Legacy 43 4.2 Millennium Stars and Child Soldiers 46 4.3Millennium Stars Academy 53 5.1 Conclusion 59 Bibliography 61 4 Abbreviations BUSA Bosco United Sports Association CAFOD Catholic Agency for Overseas Development DBH Don Bosco Homes DDR Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration FIFA Federation Internationale de Football Association (International Federation of Association Football) INPFL Independent National Patriotic Front for Liberia LFA Liberian Football Association MYSA Mathare Youth Sports Association NPFL National Patriotic Front for Liberia NGO non-governmental organisation OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development S&D Sport and Development SDP Sport, Development and Peace ULIMO United Liberation Movement for Liberia ULIMO-J United Liberation Movement for Liberia, Roosevelt Johnson faction ULIMO-K United Liberation Movement for Liberia, Alhaji Kromah faction 5 Figure 1: Millennium Stars in 2010. (Left to right) Moses Barcon, Nusee Cooper, Prince Momo, Abraham Clarke, Teku Nahn, Kunta Varney, Christian Neh 6 Chapter One 1.1: Introduction: “When everyone unites, anything is possible.” In the 2010 film Africa United, football and the teamwork it engenders become the symbol of a world where everything goes right.1 The avowedly feelgood film2, especially when compared with other recent films about Africa such as Lord of War and Blood Diamond, portrayed an Africa where football is the solution to all the continent’s problems. Ethnic conflict, child soldiers, poverty, AIDS, child sex workers and lack of education are all dealt with by five kids who bond during a 3,000-mile trek from Rwanda to South Africa so that one – a talented footballer – can take part in and showcase his balls kills at the opening ceremony of the World Cup. In 2010, the world’s soccer governing body FIFA made a strong link between football and development in Africa through its flagship event, the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. The tournament would not only help the development of the game in Africa, but would also benefit the people of Africa through associated charity activities and campaigns: “When South Africa became the first African country to win the rights to host the competition in 2005, FIFA made a commitment that the tournament would not only benefit football but would leave a lasting legacy for the hosts as well as fellow African countries. Amongst those [benefits] have been the ‘Win in Africa with Africa’ project, FIFA’s Football for Hope campaign aiming to build 20 Centres of Hope across the African continent and the Goal project *which campaigns for education+.”3 The aim of this investigation is to look at the possibilities of football for reconciliation, but also as a means of individual and community development in Africa. One shortcoming of studies of sport 1 Cinematic trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2728200473/ 2 Official website: http://www.africaunitedmovie.com/ 3 Blatter: Spirit of the World Cup will live on FIFA website Dec 13, 2010 http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/southafrica2010/news/newsid=1350809/index.html 7 and development projects has been a lack of deep analysis. I hope to add depth with a case study over 15 years of Millennium Stars FC, a grassroots football club set up in Liberia in 1997, and still running in the present day. Millennium Stars began in Gbangaye Town, a slum in Monrovia, as little more than a regular kick-about for young teenagers living locally with nothing to do after the end of the war. In 1999, however, they toured the UK, in a project devised by local non-governmental organisation (NGO) Don Bosco Homes and UK NGO CAFOD (Catholic Agency for Overseas Development) to draw attention to the plight of child soldiers in Liberia and highlight the potential for unification that football brought. From 2000 to 2003, Millennium Stars struggled to build on the attention and investment they received and hoped to receive as a result of the tour, until war erupted again and drove them apart. They re-started the club in late 2004, not just to play in the national Liberia leagues, but also with an aim to pass on their learning to younger players. In 2008-09, they were involved in plans for a second trip to the UK, with original members bringing their own youth team, but the project was scrapped because of the global recession. Their continuing efforts to run a grassroots soccer academy were highlighted by visits from Adrian Chiles and a BBC crew filming for Sport Relief in 2008, and by Paul Robson, son of Sir Bobby Robson4, in 2010, when Millennium Stars were one of the teams to benefit from huge donations of football shirts to mark the passing of Sir Bobby. I will ask two questions in this study, based on the two distinct eras in Millennium Stars FC history: The first is: What was football’s role in peace-building in an immediate post-war context? 4 Sir Robert William “Bobby” Robson was a well-known English football player and manager. He played nearly 600 matches and scored more than 100 goals, and later managed Ipswich Town, Barcelona, Newcastle United and England, among others. He died on July 31, 2009, aged 76. 8 Although with hindsight, it can be seen that there were several false starts in the peace process during this period rather than actual peace, at the time it was believed that war was finished in 1997. Secondly: What is football’s role in promoting peace and development in a long-term context? The second question is more about the relationship between extreme poverty and conflict – if one leads to the other, is it enough just to reconcile the soldiers? What, if anything, can be done to promote change through sport? What are the opportunities for education – and social education – as well as building long-term social capital, and providing opportunities for livelihoods? The structure I intend to use will cover two main areas. The first will be an examination of the background and context to the history of Millennium Stars. This will consist of a review of the emerging Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) sector, and the role of sport in general and football in particular, in Africa and in Liberia; a look at existing some examples particularly in peace-building and a contrast with MYSA (Mathare Youth Sports Association) – a grassroots football and community development project in Kenya – and a description of the role of SDP projects in development education. Secondly, I will present a case study of the Millennium Stars FC and their context.
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