I'm not sure ...

... it wouldn't surprise me too much if Mobutu did get involved - read The Fight by Norman Mailer for a decent account of how interested in sport, and how ridiculously zealous (not to mention unpleasant) Mobutu was.

Disorganised, indisciplined and just downright bad as that Zaire team was, I doubt if one of their players would just not understand the rules and boot the ball away (and that nobody else would have told him not to do it) - I suspect that's just Mwepu's story, one that he told knowing that condescending European commentators would happily accept.

Posted By: Ottosson Foxtrot, Jun 17, 19:23:50