Ethiopia is in the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in 31 years. It is a very exciting time for football fans and attending their first game on Monday night was definitely a highlight of my time here thus far. At some point, I will go into detail and explain what it is like watching the National team play here. But for now, I was forced to have a second lunch after a huge first one so I can hardly function I am so full.
The photo of the day is my favorite so far, but it will take some back story. As mentioned, Ethiopia has not qualified for the Africa Cup for 31 years. As a result ETV (the Ethiopian national channel) has always received the rights for the tournament for free. This year, since Ethiopia is in it, they would need to pay something like 20,000,000 birr to obtain the rights. In the weeks prior, it was rumored that they had/would reach a compromise somewhere between 15-18,000,000. Since the game was on, it was easy to assume they had reached an agreement. Then, in the second half of the game, this came on the screen. And the announcers made a big fuss about ETV committing piracy and shaming them. This screen shot is from the international broadcast (thanks to Abel Asrat for the photo!) so every African country and anyone lucky enough to be watching in the world saw this.
As a result, ETV is a hero in Ethiopia. For those who could read and understand the English during the game, there was laughter and cheers. Everyone else figured it out afterwards. Coming from a country that is so uptight about piracy- where it feels like the government investigates teenagers illegal downloading music better than murders- what an amazing breath of fresh air. So I must say, I feel in love with this country a little more Monday night because of this hilarity.
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