#SénégalRek

This blog entry is regarding the Morocco vs Senegal AFCON Final game which Senegal won legally & now Morocco is trying win underhandedly & illegally in boardrooms. This AFCON tournament was marred with controversy as it was cited that referees often made decisions which favoured Morocco & ball boys would hound players for towels, towels which goalkeepers used to keep their gloves dry so the ball does not slip. Moroccan ball boys were literally trying to influence the outcome of the game. 

Here's what happened in the game in sequence; 

• Morocco gets a penalty. 

• The Senegalese coach (Pape Thiaw) calls all the players to leave in protest claiming the penalty is unjust as they did not recieve a penalty earlier in the game. 

• As the players are leaving, with some heading to the changing rooms - Senegalese player (Sadio Mané) thinks twice & calls back the players to continue the game. 

• The players return & the referee continues the game. 

• Morocco misses their penalty. 

• Senegal scores a goal. 

• Referee ends the game. 

• SÉNÉGAL ARE AFRICAN CHAMPIONS! 

Here are the IFAB rules pertaining to teams leaving the pitch: 

1. Authority to Manage the Situation

Leaving without Permission: A player who leaves the field of play without the referee's permission is guilty of a cautionable offence (yellow card).

Time-Wasting: The referee must make an allowance for time lost due to the walk-off.

Prevention: Referees are encouraged to act in a preventative manner, such as instructing players to return immediately. 

Laws of the Game | IFAB

Laws of the Game | IFAB 

2. Authority to Restart vs. Abandon

Waiting Period: The referee has the discretion to set a "reasonable amount of time" for the players to return. There is no strictly mandated minute count in the IFAB laws, but once the referee decides the time has been "exceeded" or the situation is unreasonable, they may take further action.

Restoring Order: If players return and the match can continue, the referee has the authority to restart it.

Abandonment: If the team refuses to return within the time specified by the referee, the referee has the authority to abandon the match. 

ESPN

ESPN 

3. Consequence of Refusal

Forfeit: If players leave the field without permission and refuse to return, the team that remains on the pitch is often awarded a 3-0 victory, regardless of the score at the time of the walk-off.

Reporting: The referee must submit a report to the appropriate authorities regarding the abandonment. 

ESPN

ESPN 

In summary, the referee can allow the match to continue if they choose to wait for the players to return, but they also have the authority to call off the game, which usually results in a forfeit against the team that left. 

The CAF rules regarding a team leaving a game state: 

Key CAF Rules on Abandoning a Match: 

Forfeiture and Score: A team that refuses to play or abandons the field (e.g., in protest) is deemed to have lost 3-0. If the score at the time is more beneficial to the opposing team (e.g., 4-0), that score stands. 

Abandonment Procedure: If a team leaves the pitch, the referee typically waits for a set period (often 15 minutes) before abandoning the match, treating it as a refusal to play. 

Immediate Penalties: Under Article 82, a team that abandons a match may face immediate elimination from the tournament. 

The referees decision is final. IFAB/FIFA & CAF rules state that should players leave the game in protest or whatever reason, the referee should demand they return & continue the game within a given time or get cautioned &/or lose the game. In the case of Senegal vs Morocco, the players returned voluntarily (in under 15 minutes) without the referee having to warn them. Mind you, Morocco once won an AFCON title in 1976 after abandoning a final game for more than 15 minutes against Guinea. So should Guinea get the AFCON 1976 title that Morocco "won"? Should Argentina be stripped the 1982 World Cup title because of the illegitimate "Hand of god" goal by Diego Maradona against England? It's obscene for a team to be stripped of a title because of biases & "brown envelopes" two months after the tournament is over. Therefore, Senegal's victory is legal from my perspective. 

Félicitations Sénégal pour la victoire contre la corruption, le tricherie et les voleurs. 

Black leaders who caused the most damage towards the black cause.

While we celebrate black heroes & black people who contributed positively to the world, we do have evil-doers who may have been celebrated in some corners but on a grander perspective, did tremendous damage to the dignity & livelihoods of the black/African people they affected. These are six of the black leaders that I feel did understated damage to the image, dignity & progress of the black cause. 

Tippu Tipp: Tippu Tip was said to be a notorious slave trader who had a large army which raided slaves all along the Swahili Coast & further inland into the Great Lakes region. He contributed in the continuation of the brutal Zanj slave trade, where Africans would be sent to Arabia to be made eunuchs & ultimately slaves.

Mobutu Sese Seko: This was a leader of the former Belgian Congo after the horrible death of Patrice Lumumba. He was backed by Western powers & plundered the land he renamed Zaïre for his own personal gain.

Jean-Bédel Bokassa: This was a leader of the Central African Republic who wanted to be Napoleon so badly that he renamed Central African Republic to the "Central African Empire" & ordained himself as the "Emperor" in a very lavish ceremony. When the people rebelled against one of his laws regarding school uniform, he arrested them, including children who he was said to have beaten in jail.

Manto Tshabalala-Msimang: This lady was the health minister in South Africa when she denied the existence of AIDS, claiming people simply needed to boost their immune system by eating beetroot among other things. The AIDS disease ended up killing 1,4 million black people in South Africa.

Nzinga-a-Nkuwu (João I): One of the Kongo kings that gave slaves to the Portuguese in exchange for firearms & other traded items. This slave trade led to conflict & turmoil in the Kongo kingdom which the Congo region has never fully recovered from.

Autshumao: He was the leader of the Khoisan tribe called the "Goringhaikona", he helped Jan van Riebeeck & the Dutch settle in the Cochokhoi land of the Cape called ǁHui ǃGaeb (now Cape Town). The Dutch along with the Huguenots & British would later exterminate & rape the Khoisan leading to their near complete extinction from modern South Africa. 

"The shortest line between two points is a straight line."

"The shortest distance between two points is a straight line." is a quote by Ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes of Syracuse. 

This is not so much a mathematical concept as it is simple commonsense. Ignoring potential obstacles, the shortest path between two points is a path directly towards the other point. 

Artists impression of a futuristic passenger drone. 

Flying cars already exist but their implementation is tricky because of the perceived dangers of them malfunctioning, falling out of the sky & damaging infrastructure. Whereas if a vehicle on the ground malfunctions, it can be stopped on the side of the road or crashed into an arrestor bed. 

SHORT-RANGE AIR TRAVEL

I've been searching some information on heavy-duty vertical take-off aircraft (helicopters) & found aircraft such as the Mil Mi-26 of the Soviet Union/Russia & the Boeing CH-47 Chinook. Both these aircraft have a cruise speed of over 250 km/h, both can lift over ten tons (i. e. over 70 people & their luggage) & both can travel over 400 km without refueling. They cost ten times less than the Boeing 737 most commonly used in South African flights & about the approximate price of eight buses. What I am thinking is custom made Mil Mi-26 & Boeing CH-47 Chinook aircraft with passenger seats, passenger windows, some lighter carbon fibre fittings. This could be done to make an air service that works like a bus service, using shorter range stops to pick up people at select launching pads as opposed to airports with extended runways. Just several small patches of landing pads with a separate parking lot to make an airbus stop/micro airport setup. This could be as an (air)bus service for people who need to travel 100 km to 300 km. The advantages could be; 

1) no traffic, 

2) shorter travel time & 

3) no road/rail infrastructure (& it's associated infrastructure problems) needed. 

Taking into account that these aircraft - the Mi Mi-26 & Chinook cost about US$ 3,5 million a year to maintain including fuel (that's US$ 9600 a day), a ticket for a trip could be US$ 48 per passenger for the air service to cover costs. Provided that the aircraft are carrying a full load of passengers each trip. 

If my concept of vertical-axis wind-turbine powered electric vehicles comes to reality & translated into aircraft, we could have aircraft that need less external power whether it be kerosene or electric to make a full trip.