When He 'Stopped The War': Lessons Learnt From History

We live in strange times. Donald Trump, President of the ever-powerful United States, claims to have "ended 8 wars in just 8 months" and repeatedly goes public with an assertion that he deserves to win the Nobel Peace Prize. He fails to earn the Norwegian Nobel Committee's favour and months later, orders a sustained military attack on Iran to originate a fresh war.

Leave alone the stopping of prior wars, Trump appears to be actively stoking the current one, wreaking havoc in the lives of millions in West Asia and elsewhere. The US-Israel-Iran conflict has entered its 23rd day (Sunday, March 22) as we speak, and Trump has threatened to “hit and obliterate” Iran’s power plants if Tehran doesn't open the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has vowed a heavy retaliation in such a scenario.

Pele And Santos In Nigeria

In sharp contrast to the malevolence of war, lies the bonhomie of peace-making through sport. Football ornament Pele and his Brazilian club Santos attempted just that in 1969, when their visit to Benin City reportedly led to a 48-hour ceasefire in a raging civil war between Nigeria and the secessionist state of Biafra.

Pele, 28 at that time, was a two-time FIFA World Cup winner by then. His fame transcended geographies anyway but the fact that he was a player of African origin endeared the legend further to his audience in Lagos. The 'Black Pearl' shone bright in the exhibition match between the Peixe and the Super Eagles, which ended in a 2-2 stalemate, with two goals.

Call it an ephemeral joy or the vagary of geopolitics, but the supposed ceasefire was abandoned soon after Pele and Co left Nigerian shores, and the war ended only in January 1970 after almost two-and-a-half years of bloodshed.

The Brazilian icon also has history of visiting the Middle East, which in present day is bearing the brunt of war, in conditions of strife. Having retired from club football in 1974, Pele travelled to Lebanon as part of an international tour in April 1975, days before the start of a 15-year civil war.

Representing Lebanese Premier League club Nejmeh SC against an assortment of players from universities, Pele began the match as a goalkeeper before netting twice in Nejmeh's 2-0 victory. Just like in Nigeria, Pele's departure was followed by sectarian violence, this time lasting until 1990.

Nigerian Civil War Explained

The seeds of the bloody civil war were sown with the controversial election of October 1965, which was marred by allegations of massive rigging. Growing unrest led to the country's first-ever coup in January 1966, and after another coup and lakhs of Igbo people returning to the east, the Republic of Biafra seceded in May 1967 with military officer Odumegwu Ojukwu leading the rebellion.

By July 1967, the conflict escalated and within weeks, it snowballed into a full-blown civil war. After around 30 months of fighting and a death toll nearing a million people, Biafra formally surrendered in Lagos and the gruesome saga concluded on 15 January, 1970.

Other Civil Wars And Ethnic Clashes In Africa

Time and again, African nations have been ravaged by armed conflicts as well as one-sided attacks in the 20th century and after. Besides the Nigerian civil war, the Rwandan genocide of April 1994 marks one of the ugliest chapters in the history of the continent (and the world).

Over a period of 100 days, members of the majority Hutu ethnic group killed an estimated 800,000 minority Tutsis, moderate Hutus and members of another ethnic group, the Twa. The infamous state-owned Radio Rwanda fuelled hatred against the Tutsis, and the world's leaders did not intervene.

The fallouts of the genocide were immense, with neighbouring countries plunging into long-drawn conflicts called Africa's 'World Wars' (first one in Zaire in 1996-97 and second in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 1998-2003). Even today, DR Congo and Sudan continue to face humanitarian crises amid large-scale destruction caused by the internal fighting.

Sports In Wartime - A Brief

War polarizes factions as well as opinion, and the same holds true for sports as well. Players of the Iran women's football team were labelled as 'wartime traitors' on state television back home for staying silent during the national anthem at the Women’s Asian Cup. The silence was interpreted by some as protest and others as mourning, and the players reverted to singing the anthems in the next two games.

Amid safety concerns, many of the side's players sought asylum in host nation Australia but later changed their minds. The team was greeted with a welcome ceremony upon its return to the Islamic Republic. Two members, Fatemeh Pasandideh and Atefeh Ramezanisadeh, chose to remain in Australia and have been training with the Brisbane Roar club.

But there are heartwarming stories too, just like the aforementioned Pele visit to Nigeria. The First World War, for instance, famously witnessed a Christmas Truce in 1914.

Hostilities were paused and a temporary ceasefire arranged as gifts were exchanged and the no-man’s land in between the two lines of trenches became a football pitch for British and German soldiers. The (purported) events of the day were later depicted in the 2005 war drama film 'Joyeux Noel'. The match remains one of the most compelling instances of the role of football in bringing some modicum of peace amid war.

However, keeping such hopes for the upcoming FIFA World Cup in the Americas might be futile. The ongoing West Asia conflict shows no signs of abating quickly, and while Iran have outrightly refused to visit the United States for the marquee tournament, global governing body FIFA is yet to budge on Iran's request to shift their matches to Mexico.

In a perversely public showdown of the mights and egos of the powers-that-be, there's only so much that sport can do.