Frankly Speaking

Rigobert Song is neither too old, unfit, nor technically incapable to continue playing his central role within the ranks of the Indomitable Lions, captain or none. Every recent national team coach I have spoken to on this subject has been categorical on the view that in player performance, age is just some figures. Action speaks. Most of them have said Song remains the piston at the defence.

And it is not like Song is even so old. Officially, he is 33. That seems to be his real age. Beyond the generalized doubts that often dispute players’ ages, I have met disinterested persons who said they knew Song as a college boy here in Yaounde . Without being too categorical, they can admit that he is actually within that age-range.

And if the boisterous defenceman with a lion heart and natural aura of leadership were really 33 as I am convinced he is, it is wholly unkind of us to be jeering him out of the team he has given so much for. We blame all the woes of the national team on him and his click and their “age”.

True, it took a rare lame run by Song for Egypt to score the lone goal that cheated us of the 2008 Cup of Nations title. Rare. And so, he is too old to continue? Interestingly, some of us say Eto’o is old too. Because we often speak in chorus even without mastering the song, since we often follow the bandwagon with knowing which direction it is heading to, we join protestations against their click (984) but mistake it with unrelated questions about age: Song, 33, old; Njitap, 30, old; even Eto’o, just 28, old too!

As if age has ever really been an issue in the fortunes of our national team. Down memory lane, we have seen men about that age or older defend our national colours without raising eyebrows. Tokoto Jean Pierre starred for us at the 1982 World Cup, aged 34. Kunde Emmanuel, also former national team captain and a defence monument like Song played his last World Cup in 1990 aged 34. Even leave out the legendary Roger Milla who did wonders for us in 1990 aged 38!

Now, if you wanted to raise the argument that most of them played at an epoch when the game was not as fast-paced and highly technical as now, take the sluggish Patrick Mboma. He was recalled for service in the 2004 Cup of Nations, aged 34, and didn’t he score great goals for us?

At the awards ceremony for European club top players, UEFA president Michel Platini presented a special award to Paulo Maldini, long-serving Italian defenceman who only retired from the game last year, past 40. OK, agreed that he only continued playing club football long after quitting the national team. But check again: when Maldini, also former captain of the Italian national team, played the World Cup for the last time in 2002, he was aged 34.

Yet another Italian defencemen, the legendary Franco Baresi, played his last World Cup in 1994 aged…34. Something about the age 34 with monumental defencemen? (Kunde, Maldini, Baresi…).

Why not Rigobert Song? He will be 34 next year (2010) when he expects to play his last World Cup for Cameroon in South Africa . The committed fellow has only said he wants to finish the job with his troops. But a certain mob action by some fans is trying to jeer him out prematurely. That is making him sound in several press interviews as even begging to be given a chance.

Captain or not, Song remains team leader. Even new captain, Eto’o knows that. It was Marcel Desailly who aptly drew the line between captain and leader. Ever before he took the captain band for France, when Laurent Blanc was still captain, Desailly saw himself as the leader. Song might have cumulated captain and leader for ten years, but the captain band now gone to Eto’o, he remains the leader.

Elsewhere, reasonable people sing their heroes. Here we frustrate ours and send them to their early graves. If only Song could be allowed to enjoy the pleasure of playing his last World Cup at that magical age - 34.

First published in my sport magazine, "This is SPORT! This is FOOTBALL!" ahead of Cameroon's September 5, first leg game with Gabon in Libreville just after Rigobert Song lost the captain band to Samuel Eto'o and at the time he was considered by many to be on his way out of the national team, having also lost his stopper position to the younger, Sebastien Bassong in Cameroon's friendly with Austria that preceded the Cameroon-Gabon World Cup/AFCON qualifier.

On the bench at the start of the match in Libreville, Song smarted on to the pitch after Bassong suffered an injury and his performance was without reproach. He has not been benched since then, proving to fans at the Yaounde stadium on two occasions - Cameroon-Gabon (September 9) and Cameroon-Togo (October 10) - just what I'd said in this commentary.