Home 2017/18 – Errea
The Country
For those of us who grew up in the 1980s, Ethiopia will always be synonymous with the devastating famine that gripped the nation between 1983-85, as well as the subsequent Live Aid benefit concerts, which exposed millions of Ethiopians to unacceptable levels of suffering and the rest of the world to unacceptable levels of Bono. That such harrowing imagery has become burned into our consciousness as the go-to national stereotype is, admittedly, a tad unfair. Ethiopia’s cultural legacy has more of a global reach than many people realise, most notably as the birthplace of Rastafarianism, a religion that advocates the resettlement of all black people in Africa and sounds vaguely like it might have been cooked up by a London taxi driver in full on “I’m not being racist, but ” mode.
In addition, the country has a few other historical claims to fame of varying credibility. The idea of Ethiopia as the cradle of humanity, for example, at least holds some water thanks to the discoveries of “Lucy” (1974) and “Ardi” (1994), two pre-hominid specimens whose bony remains date back 3.2 and 4.4 million years respectively, and are currently the most primitive humanoids known to have existed outside of a Weatherspoons taxi rank on darts night. Conversely, with an assertion that should be taken with a rather hefty dose of salt, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church contends that it holds, under heavily armed guard, the original Ark of the Covenant. For those unfamiliar with its significance, the ark supposedly contains the ten commandments as handed down from God to Moses, including pearls of wisdom like “Thou shalt not steal” and “Thou shalt not kill”, which the Ethiopians clearly didn’t feel like sharing so they’ve pinched it and threatened to murder anybody who tries to take a peak.
Ethiopians are also unabashedly proud of the fact that their’s was the only African country never brought fully to heel by a European power during the colonial era. The Italians (bless them) did take a characteristically shaky stab at occupying the region between 1936 and 1941, even going so far as to bestow fancy British Empire style titles upon their most decorated generals such as Rodolfo Graziani, who was named “Viceroy of East Africa” meaning he presumably got to be in charge whenever “Roy of East Africa” went off on his hols. Ultimately, Mussolini’s blustering rhetoric that “Italy will have Ethiopia, with or without the Ethiopians” proved mere folly and, faced with equipment shortages and an openly rebellious population, the Italian forces were soon toast. Except that you can usually make decent soldiers out of toast.
Sports wise, Ethiopian success has usually arrived via the Athletics track, most famously through the revered and highly decorated distance runner Haile Gebrselssie, a chap whose sprint finishes were so expertly timed that beleaguered opponents could do little more than offer a meaty slap on the back by way of congratulations. See below.
https://youtu.be/F6NMLOsp_ME
“Well played old chap.”
Football, meanwhile, remains the most popular team game. The national side even had themselves a charming little “golden period” way back in the late 50s/early 60s, finishing runners up to Egypt at the inaugural Africa Cup of Nations in 1957, and then winning the competition on home soil in 1962. The phrase “Ethiopia, Champions of Africa” needs to be taken in context, however*. At this point in history the CAF (Confederation of African Football) was still in its infancy, commanded precisely zero World Cup slots and had a membership of less than ten countries, making early additions of the AFCON about as cut-throat and competitive as the selection process for who gets to be a sheep in the school nativity play.
*This isn’t me being mean-spirited either. Ethiopia took home the silver medals in 1957 having literally only played in the final itself (a 4-0 defeat by Egypt), after their scheduled semi-final opponents South Africa were disqualified due to apartheid. Even when lifting the trophy as hosts in 1962, the Ethiopians merely had to win two matches, i.e. a semi-final against Tunisia and the final, where they were able to gain a measure of revenge against the Egyptians.
By the time the rest of Africa had begun to get its act together, Ethiopia was on the wane both on and off the pitch. In October 1992, the national side reached its nadir when losing 5-0 away to Morocco in a World Cup 94 qualifier, with the match abandoned on 51 minutes when the visitors were reduced to seven men through a combination of injuries and exhaustion brought about by their fielding of a reserve goalkeeper in midfield, as well as the middle-aged physio and kit man in defence. All this after several squad members had already absconded and claimed asylum the previous day. What a fecking mess. Happily, there are stirrings of a revival. In 2013 Ethiopia made a surprise appearance at the Cup of Nations finals, their first qualification for the competition in 31 years. Later that same year the team also came within a whisker of a maiden trip to the World Cup, brushing aside the challenge of favourites South Africa to top their preliminary group only to lose 4-1 on aggregate to the more savvy and ruthless Nigerians in the play offs. Whether they’ll ever get a better chance than this is debatable, although with Africa’s allocation rising to at least nine spots in line with the tournament expansion to 48 teams as of 2026, all it might take is another well-timed spike in form to push them over the finishing line in the future.
The shirt
This shirt is ok, just ok. Nothing wrong with it as such, in fact it ticks most of the right boxes – tidy, colourful, stitched badge, national flag slapped on the back etc – but it’s also frustratingly vanilla compared to what might have been. Long story short; Errea won the contract to supply the Ethiopian F.A. at the last possible moment, sneaking in right under the noses of Australian manufacturers AMS Clothing, who were all set to unleash the ridiculously ungainly design pictured below upon the world.
Just, why? Why would you do that? This shirt is an absolute beast and whoever took the decision to can it in favour of Errea’s fine yet comparatively yawnsome effort deserves to have their testicles hooked up to a car battery. Anyhow, moving away from what might have been to what actually is, there seems to be some confusion as to whether this yellow version is the home shirt or not. Certainly, Ethiopia have historically favoured the colour as first choice, however there is precious little photographic evidence of the team wearing it – hence why I’ve had to use a photo of the women’s team for this post – but plenty of them donning the green alternative, which IS listed as “home” wherever sold. Either way, both can be purchased from my friend Nick’s Nick’s online shop listed below.
http://www.footballshirtworld.co.uk/shop/caf/ethiopia.html
As luck would have it, despite their daft as fuck design never seeing use, AMS have made them available as a “sample shirt.” Link below.