By Fikre Tolossa
Ethiopian Review, August 1993

In my article about the soccer event in North America (ER, June 1993) I predicted that the Walia Club of San Francisco will be this year’s champion. And indeed, that prediction has been fulfilled–the Walia Club is now the champion.

The long-awaited and much talked about soccer tournament is over at last; but it didn’t pass by without leaving its mark on thousands of Ethiopians who participated in this remarkable event from June 28 through July 4, 1993 in the Bay Area of San Francisco. The occasion brought together people and friends who never met each other for two decades or more. It enriched some business people and musicians, and impoverished others. It delighted the winners and saddened the losers.

Perhaps because of the inflation, people spent their money very cautiously. The Ethiopian singers were expensive to hire and hard to deal with. Some of them broke agreements made to one sponsor and made a deal with another for a better pay. One example of this is the case of Tamrat Abebe. According to his sponsor, Tamrat Abebe broke his contract before it expired. He was supposed to perform on Sunday, July 4, at 9:00 PM. As the audience was waiting for him eagerly, he showed up at 11:00 PM and left right away under the pretext to drive around for a minute. He then was seen performing in a restaurant while his sponsor and the audience were waiting for his return nervously.

The sponsor had to find another singer, Elias Tebabal and Yohannes Berhanu, who, out of sympathy for the sponsor, sang for free. She is now filing a law suit against Tamrat Abebe.

There were so many music shows in every corner of the Bay Area performing simultaneously that people were confused in deciding where to go. I was saddened when I realized that Ethiopians in North America were attracted more to concerts and drinks than to cultural activities such as theater and poetry performance.

It seemed that neither the singers nor the sponsors were mindful of the financial problem of their community. When few people showed up for the shows, the sponsors had no choice but to lower their original price by half. Few profited anything even among those who sold food. Those who sold cassettes and T-shirts, I think, did well, even though the price of some of the T-shirts was incredibly high. One smart fellow probably have made a fortune selling T-shirts bearing the names of the different Ethiopian high schools, which invoke nostalgia for many.

Ethiopians spent over three million dollars in just one week, demonstrating their great economic potential. In the main, it was the American community of the Bay Area and the various American airlines which benefited much from the whole episode.

Nonetheless, the Ethiopian Sports and Cultural Federation in North America was not a loser. It is estimated that it has grossed at least $150,000 from the soccer entrance fee and from the concert given freely to it by Aster Aweke and a group of other musicians. The Federation disputes this figure and wants the large expense to organize the tournament to be taken into consideration. It also promises to make the financial statement public shortly.

The Federation has won the admiration of some people for its ability to organize the tournament effectively on a national scale; and above all, for being instrumental in brining thousands of Ethiopians together. On the other hand, it has outraged many individuals by the way it had conducted its business. I will summarize below the complaints I gathered from different individuals and the Federations response.

Ato Sileshi Mengiste, President of the host of this year’s game, the Walia Club, says that his team worked extremely hard for months in order to make the tournament successful. It reserved the stadium, hotels and concert halls. It welcomed the players with wreathes of flowers unlike previous years. It provided medical aid among other things. In spite of this, the Federation did not acknowledge Walia’s efforts. Ato Sileshi complains that, “members of the Federation, the big guys, just walked in, shortly before the soccer game started, to a house built by the sweat of our brows, had fun in it, gave presents to each other, made their money and left without even saying thank you.”

The Federation’s Auditor, Dr. W.M. Akalou, argues differently: “It is important to state that Walia Club or its representative is a member of the Board of Directors of the Federation and as such it has more power than the Executive Committee.

The Executive Committee, which carries out the decision of the Board, works at the pleasure of the Board. The President of the Walia Club not only is aware of this fact, but that he was an active participant during the deliberation of the Board on all the procedural issues he raised. Undeniably, he has worked very hard during this tournament. So have all of us. Most of us were at the stadium for all the 7 days and worked on the field for over ten hours everyday. No one was paid for this service.”

Elizabeth Gebeyehu, who organized a beauty contest, was another disappointed person. Her beauty contest was supported by the Walia Club. She paid for the use of the hall reserved by Walia with the understanding that the Federation will advertise her program at the Hilton and at the stadium. Ato Sileshi says that he presented her program to the Federation, and the Federation approved it on May 24. But to his surprise, the Federation changed its mind, and on May 28, stated that it had never approved it, even though the minute of the meeting testified the previous conversation. Elizabeth complains that Ato Birhanu Wolde-Mariam, the President of the Federation, refused to even let her place her fliers on the information desk and to announce her show at the stadium. She claims to have lost several thousand dollars as a result.

The Federation responds that while the it is “sympathetic to her dilemma, her function was unilaterally scheduled by the Walia Club contrary to established procedures. If the Federation had promoted her function as scheduled, it would have violated a contractual agreement with a group that was scheduled to appear the same night. Several of the complaints in this connection are from individuals who missed the deadline or came at the eleventh hour and insisted that they be included anyway.”

Aregahegn Werash, a singer, was also denied access to the information desk. I heard him say bitterly, “This is like piercing my throat with a knife!” There were a dozen other people whose information was suppressed by the Federation. What is more, the Federation went out of its way to pick up fliers from parked cars and throw them away. On the other hand, the Federation was advertising Aster Aweke’s show extensively.

On top of all of this, the federation delayed its decision on who would use the concert halls reserved by Walia in the Bay Area. Hence, people were unable to do the necessary preparations for the shows such as early promotions. Vendors complained about the price of boothes. For instance, each vendor selling T-shirts had to pay $300 for the booth and license.

Those who sold food claim to have paid over $884. They say that it was difficult for them to make a profit. Some did profit nothing at all. According to the Federation, the rate of contribution, which has not changed for the last three years, is $250 for dry goods, $300 for snacks and $450 for cooked food.” These figures do not include the license fees.

The vendors were forbidden to sell drinks. The Walia team was in charge of all the revenues generated from refreshment sales. Consequently, it had to interfere with vendors who tried to sell drinks. This put the Walia at odds with vendors. A vendor, Ato Asmamaw, was stopped from selling mineral water even though he had the permit to do so in the beginning. Woizero Zaffua brought some soda to her booth for her thirsty children. Somebody from the Walia confiscated the drinks inspite of her plea to leave them for her children.

Dinbernesh Woube brewed Tella and Tedje and brought them on a trailer all the way from Seattle, Washington. She charges that instead of supporting her, the Federation forbade her from selling outside the stadium, inspite of the fact that the Federation was not offering these drinks for sale. The Federation argues that it “does not permit, endorse or promote the use or sale of alcoholic drinks on the premises on which the tournament is held.”

A group of young men was endeavoring to recruit customers for MCI by offering a free phone call to Ethiopia from the stadium. The Federation refused to announce this information to the public. Had the Federation cooperated with these young men, they would have made some money, and people would have spoken with their relatives in Ethiopia for free.

The Federation has also been criticized for being partial to a team it favors when it comes to selecting the site of the tournament. The Ethio-Atlanta Sports Club is the recent accuser of the Federation for being partial. According to Ato La’eke Malede, the Secretary of the Ethio-Atlanta Sports Club, his team should have been the host of the 1994 tournament in Atlanta. La’eke said, “Dr. Akalou came to Atlanta on June 10, 1993 to assess whether we would fulfill the criteria of the federation in order to host the 1994 tournament. We showed him everything the Federation required including the site of a five star hotel with a large lobby, the stadium and Ethiopian restaurants which were all within three miles radius from each other, as well as the concert halls, the ballrooms costing $2000 which we managed to get for free, unlike other host team of previous years including the Walia of San Francisco. In addition, we assured him of the cooperation of the Mayor’s office to make the event significant and to declare the football week as an Ethiopian week in Atlanta. We also revealed to him CNN’s willingness to broadcast the news of the soccer event to the world and to Ethiopia. Dr. Akalou was impressed. He went from Atlanta to Maryland to see if they were as well qualified as we were to host the tournament. He then told me that our hotels and stadium were far better than those of Maryland, but that Maryland had more Ethiopian restaurants than Atlanta. I explained to Dr. Akalou that Maryland itself had no restaurants of its own unless we took into account the ones available in Washington D.C. Atlanta’s ratio of restaurants, however, was in proportion to its population. Most important of all, we know that Maryland hasn’t yet found a stadium. In spite of the fact that we are in a better position than Maryland to host the 1994 tournament, and though the 24 board members of the Federation should have voted over this matter in accordance with the bylaws of the Federation, the Executive Committee violated the bylaws and decided that Maryland host the 1994 soccer tournament. The Federation should reconsider its decision and the 24 Board Members should vote to determine the real host of the 1994 tournament.”

Dr. Akalou responds that, “The five star hotel touted by La’eke charges almost $70 per day with $12 per day parking, a much hefty rate than the Federation has established as an absolute minimum. It must be remembered that the majority of our players are students with limited means.” Regarding the decision process in selecting the tournament site, Dr. Akalou says that, “it was the Board’s decision to delegate this responsibility to the Executive Committee. Nevertheless, Atlanta has the right to appeal the decision to the Board of which it is a voting member.”

Ato Belete Shiferaw, a businessman from Seattle, Washington, is another individual who is complaining against the Federation. Ato Belete was the President of the Seattle Dashen Sports Club which hosted the 1991 tournament. He says that in his capacity as the President of Dashen he bore on his shoulders all the financial responsibilities involving the rent of the stadium, tents and other costs with the understanding that he would be reimbursed by the Federation after the game was over. He claims that the Federation left him in debts and destroyed his credit. He complains: “The members of the Federation disappeared from Seattle with all the funds we generated, thus leaving our team without funds, and me with a debt of $13,000. The Federation was supposed to allocate 40% of the revenue to the host team. It kept all of it for itself illegally. Nobody knows the exact figure of the revenue from Seattle. The Federation ran away with it before our CPA was able to balance it. They had also sold the wrong tickets at the entrance claiming that the original tickets were lost. This they did, in order to evade investigation.” There was the same accusation this year that wrong tickets were sold at the stadium.

According to the Federation, Ato Belete Shiferaw left for Ethiopia when the new government took power abandoning his responsibility. The story is much complicated to explain in a few lines. The Federation accuses Ato Belete as “a man who has caused much anguish and loss to both the Federation and the Seattle Soccer Club.”

Regarding the sale of wrong tickets, the Federation answers that they ran out of tickets on Sunday and they had to use Saturday’s tickets. In spite of its shortcomings, the Federation should be praised and given credit for its achievements, and not be condemned totally. If the Federation is to last longer, it has to improve a number of things. First and foremost it should focus its attention on serving the community instead of channeling its energy on a total fund raising campaign. It should give autonomy to the host teams to decide on petty matters such as renting concert halls and boothes. In other words, it shouldn’t interfere with recreation and the rental of recreational and commercial facilities. It should limit the term of its officers to only two years in order to avert favoritism and corruption. It should make public its financial statement supervised by a Certified Public Accountant shortly after the end of every soccer tournament. It should provide evidence of its non-profit status. It should indeed finance as it claims to do the expenses of the teams when they travel to participate in the annual tournament. It should promote and encourage cultural undertakings such as the performing arts during the soccer week, instead of supporting and promoting only music and dance. It should not favor one group over another when it comes to advertising. It may ask for a reasonable fee for doing an advertising service, but should discriminate nobody as long as the advertisement is not harmful to the community. It should diversify the soccer event by including other sports such as volleyball, tennis and swimming, even as it introduced track and field this year.

If the Federation is willing to implement the suggestions mentioned above, I think the event will be an ideal phenomenon for Ethiopians in North America for years to come.
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Fikre Tolossa, Ph.D., is Assistant Dean of Faculty at Columbia Pacific University in San Rafael, CA and Associate Editor of ER.