African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 189: Chapter 178: Soccer Nation

Vienna.

Danube River Food Industrial Park.

The construction site was bustling with workers, building two paved roads extending from the park towards the main city of Vienna and the port.

”Today, let’s try to finish the last fifty meters, then we can call it a day,” the foreman said to the workers as he looked at the darkening sky.

Hearing that the end was near, the workers, who were busy all day, inadvertently began to speed up construction, eager to grab a hot meal sooner.

...

In East Africa.

Nairobi City, Ontario Village.

”Figo, pass the ball!” Mars shouted to his teammate.

Hearing the shout, Figo turned around with a flying kick, sending a leather-stitched soccer ball backward.

”Catch!”

A strong figure quickly rushed towards the soccer ball, Mars halted the rolling ball with his foot and charged towards the undefended right side.

”Damn it, stop him!” Antonio yelled at his teammates.

Three players from the Jacob Village team rushed back to cover the open area.

But it was too late; Mars breezed past them as if it were a no-man’s land, fooling the intercepting trio with a feint.

He turned his head back and taunted the three, ”Bye, cuties!”

With a ball at his feet, he sprinted towards the opponent’s goal.

The goalkeeper, watching Mars approaching, had already begun to predict the direction of his shot.

Other players from Jacob Village couldn’t return in time and could only watch as Mars launched an attack on their goal.

Mars came to a sudden stop, smoothly shifting, and as the soccer ball hung mid-air by inertia, Mars found his direction, leaped up, and swung a volley shot towards the right of the goal.

Everyone inside and outside the field held their breath to see if the shot would succeed.

In the blink of an eye, the soccer ball sped towards the goal. At the moment Mars kicked the ball, Jacob Village’s goalkeeper, Solais, lunged to the right of the goal, and the ball slammed hard into Solais’s arms.

”Gah!” Mars roared through gritted teeth as he looked at the captured ball.

”Another failed shot; this is Mars’s third attempt today, but unfortunately, his luck is not on his side as Solais blocked them all,” an Ontario Village resident commented.

”I thought it was a pretty good shot, almost flawless, and it was heading towards the goal, not out of bounds. The real problem is that the recent weather is quite damp, and since the ball is made from wild boar leather, it’s absorbed a lot of moisture and feels heavy. That’s why Mars’s shot failed to threaten Solais,” said another villager.

”That’s true; we haven’t dried the ball under the sun lately. I reckon it’s at least a third heavier than a month ago. If we had dried it in the sun before, it would’ve flown faster, and the goalkeeper wouldn’t have had time to save it.”

The men, women, and children of Ontario Village and Jacob Village all came to watch the match, and almost everyone could talk about football in one way or another.

As the biggest sport in colonial East Africa, football has been popular in almost every village.

During the farming offseason, a thrilling football match is a rare enjoyment for East Africans who lack entertainment activities, making football almost a national sport in East Africa.

The widespread popularity of football in East Africa is due to its unique conditions. East Africa has an abundance of land, with many open fields perfect for playing ball. The soft soil effectively prevents injuries.

Moreover, the goalposts and football are easily resolved, with stones or two lines serving as goalposts, and East African football is made using various animal skins filled with soft materials.

Animal skins are abundant in East Africa, with a full range of types contributed by the generous grassland animals. Many of these skins are also sold by East African colonies to Europe, where fine lion and crocodile skins are very popular, fetching high prices and profits.

As a team sport, football is quite competitive with strong confrontational and entertaining elements, especially since the football rules in different parts of East Africa are quite imperfect and lack a unified standard, allowing players great freedom and many have their unique skills.

There are all kinds of fancy playing styles, creating many classic plays that are talked about with relish. If an East African football match were held in Europe, it wouldn’t be surprising for a game to have dozens of mistakes.

However, the current East African football rules basically have no rules, making entertainment far more important than competition.

After all, the villagers just seek fun as long as there’s no roughness; if you want to hold the ball and walk, there’s no problem; you can play however you want.

Even the number of players on the field is not heavily restricted; as long as both sides are equal, a theoretically hundred-player battle can take place.

In East Africa, almost every region has its own set of football rules, which are results of common acceptance.

Such a chaotic football order leads each village to entertain its own rules, and neighboring villages must devise an acceptable set of rules for everyone before their friendly matches.

Of course, very few European immigrants have been exposed to regular football, but the number is limited, as most immigrants come from rural areas. And nowadays, football is popular mainly in England, where there’s limited public interest in sports.

Thus, the popularization of football in East Africa owes much to Ernst’s promotion, as he has always placed importance on time management for East African immigrants, ensuring they aren’t too idle and that they have things to do.

Football turned out to be perfect for promotion, as the materials and fields are readily available, and just by organizing a few scheduled matches each week in different regions, the sport could take hold.

As the immigrants gained more exposure, they gradually began to enjoy the sport during their free time and would spontaneously organize games.

Everyone participated in these games, both men and women, young and old. East African immigrants generally skew younger, with older individuals not being excessively old.

Children, while receiving compulsory education, would also be taught football at school. There is a considerable emphasis on physical education in East Africa since textbooks, teaching materials, and educational tools come at a cost, and the range of knowledge for East African children is not extensive. Thus, in some schools, nearly a third of the curriculum is dedicated to physical education, making it the easiest course to spread.

Compared to more monotonous activities like running and long jump, football is clearly more popular among children.

As the whistle blew.

The friendly match between Ontario Village and Jacob Village concluded with Ontario Village narrowly winning six to five. As per local customs, the two teams shook hands in farewell.

”Solais, you better watch out next time. I wasn’t in top form today, but next game, I’ll score three for sure,” Mars said while shaking Solais’s hand.

”Haha, I’ll be looking forward to it,” Solais chuckled.

”You rascal!” Mars patted Solais on the shoulder, and both burst into laughter.