Richard Williams:
‘Yessouffou Samiou was known to his friends and fans as "Campos", after his admiration for Jorge Campos, the Mexican goalkeeper famed for his colourful outfits and spectacular saves.
‘At 18 years of age, Samiou had established himself as the best young keeper in Benin, a small West African republic wedged between Nigeria and Togo. Late last Sunday night, however, he was attacked by a gang on the beach in the port city of Cotonou. He was kicked and stabbed and at 11 o'clock the following morning, in the intensive care unit of a local hospital, doctors gave up their efforts to save his life.
‘A few hours earlier, playing in goal for Benin in the African Under-20 championship, Samiou had been on the wrong end of a 3-0 defeat to Nigeria's Flying Eagles. By all accounts he was not particularly at fault with any of the goals. Later that night, however, soon after he had left the hotel of the host nation's team to take a walk by himself down to the sea, he was set upon by a group of local youths apparently upset by the reverse.
‘Football, more than any other sport, can create a bonfire of emotions. Its mass popularity, its evolution as a game based on rivalries and the speed and intensity of its characteristic action make it an unusually combustible spectacle. Throughout the history of the game, fans have died in large-scale riots, in accidents caused by the press of numbers, and in individual attacks, of which Samiou's death provides the latest example, and surely one of the most shocking, not least since he was attacked by supporters of his own team.
‘Many people who enjoy the tit-for-tat verbal exchanges between Wenger and Ferguson will probably take the view that Cdr Norman is a bit of a publicity-conscious prig who gets his kicks from spoiling other people's fun. Others, including those who have been yearning for someone to knock the heads of these two highly successful managers together and tell them to grow up, would be inclined to stand and cheer his exhortation.
‘Ferguson and Wenger are men accustomed to running the world according to their own rules. In their very different ways, they are imperial figures who bow to no superior mandate, as is frequently demonstrated by their active contempt for the Football Association and its disciplinary procedures. It remains to be seen whether they are capable of accepting that a greater authority than their own is vested in the democratic state and those charged with keeping its peace.
‘This is a pretty good test case for both men. Perhaps they really do believe that they are above the laws not only of the FA but of the land. Maybe, however, Cdr Norman's well timed warning will knock some sense into their inflated heads.
‘And if they want to know what can happen when passions run out of control in football, they should contemplate the fate of poor Yessouffou Samiou, who will now never have the chance to emulate his flamboyant hero.’
So verbal jousting in the press equates to a murder in Africa?