The crime of Togo's punishment

The crime of Togo's punishment

There is a scene in the British comedy Blackadder Goes Forth, where on a mission into no-man's land during the first world war, one English officer asks his captain what he should do if he treads on a mine.

"Well, normal procedure, lieutenant, is to jump up 200 feet into the air and scatter yourself over a wide area," comes the reply.

The day before their showpiece final in Angola, the Confederation of African Football (Caf) have been indulging in some dark comedy of their own.

And while being equally as idiotic as Blackadder's Lieutenant George, they are also being distinctly unfunny.

In their defence, they are only following procedure. In the same way you might follow procedure once your foot had detonated a mine. That is, in a completely braindead manner.

The Togo football team has been banned from the next two editions of the Africa Cup of Nations for quitting the tournament on the orders of their government.

Their departure came two days after their assistant coach and press officer were killed by rebels with machine guns as their bus crossed into Angola so the team could prepare to face Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana and Burkina Faso on the football field.

Organisers say they had warned Togo not to travel by bus, as the exclave of Cabinda where their Group B matches were taking place was unsafe due to the threat of armed separatists (probably not a good idea to host an international football tournament there, then).

Yet all sympathy was extended to the traumatised group of players when, against their wishes, they were recalled by the Togolese authorities to mourn their dead.

Now, with champions Egypt set to face Ghana in the Africa Cup of Nations final in Luanda, Caf say there can be "no exceptions" to Article 78 of their rules, because the decision was made by the Togo government and not the players.

"If the Togo players had decided to quit due to their emotion and suffering then we would have been understanding," Caf president Issa Hayatou said on Saturday.

There can always be exceptions.

Togo's players came under fire for 20 minutes. One of the team, goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilale, is still recovering from bullet wounds in a Johannesburg hospital.

Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor cradled one of the casualties in his arms as his friend's life ebbed away from him.

Is it really going to set an awkward precedent if Caf let the Togolese authorities get away with protecting their players, just this once?

Or would that lead to difficulties next time someone tries to slaughter a team of athletes?

Perhaps that would be one bureaucratic nightmare too far.

Better instead for these Togo players to miss out on not one Africa Cup of Nations (because of the deaths of Stanislas Ocloo and Abalo Amnalete), but three (because the authorities who are meant to care for African players don't have the guts to stand up for the survivors).

Still - as long as Article 78 remains intact, that's the main thing.