Home 2012 – Puma
The Country
Straddling the equator just to the south of Cameroon, Gabon is one of Sub-Saharan Africa’s wealthiest nations thanks to some generous offshore oil reserves in the Atlantic. Sadly, precious little of these revenues have historically seeped down to the general populace, with matters getting particularly lopsided under the stewardship of former President Omar Bongo, whose reign (1967-2009) was characterised by allegations of lavish overspending on palaces, limousines and gaudy gifts to himself, accusations he was always quick to laugh off, however.
Though not especially deranged by the standards of many other African heads of state, Bongo’s 42 years in power still managed to yield some cartoonishly villainous antics. These ranged from outright shenanigans, such as the alleged 2004 luring of a Miss Peru contestant to Gabon – and subsequently to a secret presidential bedchamber* – to milder outbursts of ego-driven eccentricity, which included rechristening his hometown of Lewai as “Bongoville” and lobbying (unsuccessfully) to have his name inserted into the national anthem. I’m not entirely sure how this would have gone, but I’d like to think it would have been something along the lines of “B-O-N-G-O, and Bongo was his name-oh.”
*The young lady in question – Miss Ivette Santa Maria – had, as the story goes, been coerced to Gabon under the pretence of judging a beauty pageant. Upon discovering that the President had quite the after party planned, she fled, but with no funds for a hotel she wound up stranded in the country for 12 days.
Full story here – http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3461969.stm
Ethnically, most modern Gabonese are descended from Bantu tribes who migrated to the area in the fourteenth century, ousting the diminutive Pygmy natives via the ingenious combat technique of being twice their size. From 1885 up until independence in 1960 Gabon became absorbed into French Equatorial Africa, a mishmash of dark, foreboding heavily forested territories that France’s famously squeamish soldiers took several years to fully conquer due to the tough terrain, lack of adequate mapping and the size of the centipedes. Today, Gabon remains almost entirely blanketed in tropical rainforest – up to 85% coverage in fact – and harbours an impressive array of endangered species, including 80% of the entire world’s population of wild gorillas. Such is the demand to get up close and personal with these majestic creatures that tourists frequently part with sizeable bundles of cash for guided ‘Gorilla Tracking’ tours, usually run by shady individuals whose capacity to showcase a primate will directly correspond with their access to a Partyrama store and whether or not the surly work experience boy has actually bothered to turn up that day.
The National Team
Disappointingly, Gabon’s national side are not actually nicknamed the “Gorillas”, instead going under the somewhat more pedestrian moniker of “Panthers”, which sounds suitably menacing until you realise this is not in fact an actual species* but rather a corruption of the Latin term ‘Panthera’, meaning ‘cat.’ Call me crazy, but I doubt very many opposition teams are going to be intimidated by a creature that can be placated with a saucer of milk, or by being stuffed into a Biffa Bin.
*The large black feline that springs to many people’s minds when they think of a ‘panther’ isn’t actually a distinct species, but rather a leopard or jaguar harbouring a genetic mutation whereby the black pigment in their fur dominates the orange. Now you know.
Anyhow, despite the country winning its independence way back in 1960 and FIFA membership following six years later, Gabon initially took a rather languid approach to the World Cup and didn’t even bother dipping their toes in the qualifying rounds until Italia 90, though they have entered every tournament since. Their best effort to date came in the 2010 competition, where the team made a blistering start to their group with victories over Morocco and Togo, neatly setting up back to back fixtures against neighbours and group favourites Cameroon, who by this juncture were looking badly out of sorts having collected just one point from two matches. Then, on the 9th of June 2009, just two weeks before the teams’ first scheduled clash, President Bongo, presumably perturbed at not having been the centre of attention for a whole ten minutes, became ill and with engaging swiftness expired, plunging Gabon into a period of national mourning and forcing the game to be postponed until September. The delay proved crucial. With their momentum stunted and Cameroon given time to collect themselves, Gabon suffered a pair of deflating defeats (2-0 at home and 2-1 away), essentially sending any hopes of making the finals in South Africa up in smoke.
Fortunately, the African Cup of Nations has proved a happier stomping ground for the Gabonese. As of November 2018, the “Panthers” have put in seven appearances at the finals and served as hosts twice, first in 2012 when they shared the event with Equatorial Guinea, and then stepping in to stage the 2017 tournament solo after original hosts Libya’s civil war rendered the country rather more ablaze than is strictly speaking ideal. The team even reached the quarter finals playing at home in 2012 – bowing out on penalties to Mali – and have on occasion been ranked inside FIFA’s top 30. So, who knows? Should the World Cup expansion to 48 teams – at least nine of whom would be from Africa – be brought forward to 2022 as was recently implied, then perhaps Gabon can still dare to dream big, particularly if star man and record goal scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang fancies sticking around in the national fold for a little while longer.
The Shirt
Jesus, that’s disturbing. I realise that when you’re an African national team with a nickname like “Panthers” you’re practically obligated to paste said beast on your garments somewhere, but I’d suggest this shirt’s designer may need re-educating in the arts of subtlety. Also, why does it look as though it were drawn by a police sketch artist? “That’s him, officer. That’s the scoundrel who ate my canary.” Good job they didn’t go with the gorilla in the end. I shudder to think how a sketch of a dumb, lumpy, shit-flinging ape would have turned out. Ahem.
Moving on. This design was released for Gabon’s co-hosting of the 2012 AFCON and is, to the best of my knowledge, the first Gabonese shirt ever made widely available, hence why I was so keen to nab one as soon as Subside Sports began flogging them six years ago. The template is a standard Puma model of the time, felonious feline notwithstanding, and works pretty well with the Gabonese yellow/blue/green colour combo. I also really like the old fashioned feel of the badge replete with classic heavy, concussion initiating leather ball, which gives it a classy feel and as such has predictably been replaced on more recent kits by a butt-ugly panther version that looks like Bagheera from the Jungle Book utilising the’laugh out loud’ emoji on Facebook.
