IVORY COAST: FOOTBALL/SOCCER: Elephant Mummies come up with new songs to boost the national soccer team

Record ID: 181580

  • Title: IVORY COAST: FOOTBALL/SOCCER: Elephant Mummies come up with new songs to boost the national soccer team
  • Date: 6th May 2010
  • Summary: ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (RECENT, 2010) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FOOTBALL GAME SEEN IN THE DISTANCE VARIOUS OF ELEPHANTS SUPPORT GROUP SINGING AND DANCING (SOUNDBITE) (French) EMILE GNAHOULOU, FOUNDER OF THE ELEPHANT ANIMATION COMMITTEE, SAYING: "The supporters - we are like the twelfth player on the team. What happens on the field, that's between the other players and the coach - that's not our problem. We aren't allowed to watch the game. The committee that you see here isn't allowed to watch what's going on. It's only in the evening that we watch the game on television to see if our players played well or not." VARIOUS OF SUPPORTERS GROUP SINGING AND DANCING (SOUNDBITE) (French) GENEVIEVE DOHBI, FOUNDER OF THE ELEPHANT MUMMIES SUPPORT GROUP, SAYING: "We are in the process of learning some new songs. They are in the Zulu rhythm. Please don't ask me to sing them here because I'm not very good at them yet." VARIOUS OF ELEPHANT MUMMIES IN REHEARSALS FOR THE NEW MATERIAL
  • Embargoed: 21st May 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky,Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA16ZBO4UNX8IDGWE1HIOS4P962
  • Story Text: As the Ivory Coast soccer team, nicknamed The Elephants, prepare to go to the World Cup in South Africa, a group of their supporters are working on songs and dance to urge their team on.
    The Elephant Mummies, as they call themselves, are a support group of more than 500 people, whose job is to act as cheer leaders during matches, a process they call animating.
    With choreographed dance moves and chanting straight through the intermission some say the support groups work harder than the players.
    The group isn't even allowed to watch the game while they are cheering, because it could take away from their concentration.
    "We are like the twelfth player on the team. What happens on the field, that's between the other players and the coach - that's not our problem. We aren't allowed to watch the game. The committee that you see here isn't allowed to watch what's going on. It's only in the evening that we watch the game on television to see if our players played well or not," said Emile Gnahoulou, founder of the Elephants Animation Committee.
    Many of the country's national side play in top clubs in Europe but the team hasn't won an African Championship since 1992 in Senegal.
    Elephants supporters in Ivory Coast have a new special repertoire prepared for the World Cup in South Africa including a selection of South Africa-inspired songs.
    "We are in the process of learning some new songs. They are in the Zulu rhythm. Please don't ask me to sing them here because I'm not very good at them yet," said Genevieve Dohbi, founder of the Elephant Mummies.
    The various Elephants support associations, which make up the national support group for the team, come together every Saturday to practice in Abidjan's Houphouët-Boigny stadium.
    And for all their effort, the Elephant Mummies would have liked to get a ticket or two to the must-see of sports tournaments this year on the African continent.
    But the reality is that only a small fraction of them will actually get to accompany the country's national side.
    Members of the support groups say however that they will be making a lot of noise during the World Cup tournament wherever they are.
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