I’m reading David Elleray’s autobiography right now. Quoting this book’s introduction, David Elleray was, until his retirement at the end of the 2003-2003 [football i.e. soccer] season Britain’s best-known and highest profile referee.
On page 145, he writes about a South-Africa versus Brazil friendly that he was refereeing. I quote:
I arrived at Jo’burg Airport to a carnival atmosphere as the Brazilian team had just arrived and the terminal was alive with dancing and singing children, and a plethora of media representatives. This was clearly a special match for South Africa who were still on a high, having won the African Cup of Nations on home soil, and they were relishing playing the World Cup holders.
I was greeted royally and then whisked off to some TV interviews. My host was Ari Soldatos, a FIFA linesman who later officiated in the 1998 World Cup finals. My assistants were from Angola and Mauritius. The former spoke only Portugese and the latter spoke English and French so, as in Japan, communication was not easy. The next morning we set off on what I thought would be a sight-seeing tour: it soon became a procession of visits to back-street car dealers as the Mauritian assistant needed some spare parts for his car back home.
Soooooo typically Mauritian! I can easily imagine the scene: David Elleray wanting to discover the beautiful sights of South Africa, visit some museums and tasting some typical food and nice wine being forced to visits to back-street car dealers as the Mauritian assistant needed some spare parts for his car back home.
It’s funny… and a little bit pathetic at the same time.
It’s funny, all right but not really pathetic, I’ll say. Elleray’s writing this in a more amused fashion rather than cursing the Mauritian official under his breathe.
At least, that’s how I read it.
Well, as I think, that’s typically Mauritian!
It’s the pretty mentality of the Mauritian representatives abroad who only fulfill their personal desires. They just forget about their duties.
And this is not only Mauritians abroad. This mentality is pretty here, too. As I have witnessed presidents of clubs, student representatives and others at the university who shut their mouths when they have to defend students, and some members of academia at committees!
Sorry if I am rude. But that’s the mentality: “Avoye merde!, mo pa pou fatigue mwa r sa!”! [“Why should I bother? There’s no need for me to put an effort to fulfil my duties!]
To Khalil:
My feeling is that David Elleray was really pissed off with the Mauritian assistant. To put things into context, David works at Harrow, one of the most prestigious private school in England (i.e. where kings and stars send their kids)…
To Dilraj:
I agree with you to an extent. They do fulfill their duties but many stop there. They won’t do anything else : no discovery of another culture, no nice restaurant, no museum, etc. In a way, the typical Mauritian is not open at all.
As for your “Avoye merde!”, I also agree with you somewhat. Here we seem to practice the “minimum effort” paradigm. It’s very noticeable in the public sector (and I see that because I worked in the private sector for 6 years before joining the UoM).
Amazing how our education system reflects on our personality then!
I remember a lot of him!
Esp those late 1990s games between Man Utd and Liverpool. esp that one in April 1997 when Liverpool lost 3-1 at home. He again refereed a couple more games between the two and I think Liverpool fans shouldn’t have fond memories of him since Liverpool never won under his refereeing…