Why Haiti’s government and fans should share the blame for World Cup misses

As we approach tonight’s game with Brazil, it’s important to call out that Les Grenadiers did their job against Scotland last weekend. It’s the rest of us Haiti team supporters who weren’t quite ready for its reappearance on the global stage. Not the fans inside the stadium, not the coaches, not the Haitian government. 

Here’s what I mean.

In my experience with sporting events — from living in places like Florida, where sports is HUGE, to working in ESPN sales and marketing, albeit briefly, to having in-laws who are rabid college football fans — a team needs three main ingredients to build and sustain momentum for wins on and off the field. 

Culture, fandom and investment. It’s a tripod, with each leg doing its job together to uphold the whole team. If one is missing or wobbly, the whole thing falls apart.

Culture 

One: You need to lean into your culture. Your origin story, its songs, its sayings, its slogans. 

On Saturday, the Scots showed how it’s done.  This Tartan Army, as they call themselves, showed up in their country’s traditional, meaningful gear. Many actually flew in from their country to support their national team.

One fan, Scott McCleean, told our Haiti Bureau Editor Fritznel Octave that a fan group of 1,500 took a week off work just to come to support Scotland. They wanted to make sure the team started the tournament well, as they had not gotten that opportunity since 1998.

Many went straight to Gillette Stadium after crossing the Atlantic. Others arrived days prior, taking over Beantown’s bars and brunch spots through the weekend. Men in kilts around Boston outnumbered those in pants on many a block around downtown.

The Scots came bearing bagpipes to make noise. Their kids’ faces were painted in blue and pink-ish colors. Inside the stadium, they knew ALL the songs — in Celtic. They knew every player’s story, hometown and what to say or not say to spur them on.

What did us Haitians have? Our national flag, of course. Jerseys which, ironically again, were designed by a non-Haitian company, and purchased last minute. Tepid, uncoordinated shouts of “Ayiti, Ayiti.” Too many well-connected VIPs attending more as a flex than to rally the players.

Last November, when we first wrote about the meaning of ‘Grenadye, alaso,’ I was taken aback by a social media commenter saying, ‘Yeah, right. Since when?” Fortunately, the slogan trended multiple times and everyone had caught on by kickoff. Yet, spectators at the stadium failed to belt out the traditional ditty to pull the team up when it was going down.

Compared to the Scots screaming their national anthem, we only mumbled La Dessalinienne. We also didn’t raise our voices loudly enough when Haiti had possession, but instead waited for a player to get to the box to start yelling. We didn’t pregame with meaningful moments in our history, such as a Bwa Kayiman inspired reenactment or rara teach-in at select intersections, to drum up support. We could’ve had fasting sessions too, in addition to the big concert that popularized ‘bwa kale’ only recently. We didn’t.

Fandom 

Now, on to the second, but related point. Sports management and marketing expertise for the Haiti team just doesn’t exist. 

Buying a jersey and wearing your team colors is only the bare minimum. Diehard fans march in with bells and whistles (literally), headdresses.

They sacrifice for months to travel from Scotland to support them. In college sports, they buy overpriced merchandise to support their team’s purchase of new or state-of-the-art equipment. In baseball, they still buy player cards. In basketball, they buy season tickets to fill the stands. 

All this allows repeat spectators to get comfortable with the rhythm of the games, to know the players and their journeys, to create new memories that bind them to each other and reinforce the team’s story.

In a nutshell, they INVEST — emotionally and financially. They are the outcome of a massive consistent push by marketing teams whose sole job is to persuade fans (i.e., customers) to “buy, buy, buy.” And, once inside the stadium, fans have their pick of beer koozies, stanchions and chevrons, hats, balloons, inflatables, mascots and other knickknacks to cheer or jeer. 

Us Haitians did not have these at the scale for it to  make the difference on the field.

Investment

Now, let’s talk about the elephant in the room: Haiti’s government.

Where is it anyway? Sadly, there isn’t one right now. To the detriment of the game. 

We do not have the socio-economic infrastructure that translates to a higher probability of wins – yet. FIFA allocated $10.5 million minimum for each participating nation. Where and how Haiti spent that money awaits to be seen.

We don’t even have a stadium safe enough for players. That’s why we’ve been practicing in Curaçao for the last four years. So if your government can’t even provide the bare minimum, how can it afford to support the fandom and culture work that’s critical?

To help the team prepare, the Haitian government said it had allocated $4 million after the qualification. Compare that to $67 million per year spent on U.S. office, according to a FIFA board member that Octave dug up.

Outside of the government, private donors like GB Group, Sunrise Airways, Paryaj Lakay, a sports betting company, Unibank and Couronne Brasserie have pledged to provide support. Those efforts, unfortunately. came too little, too late for this time around.

Team backers also help boost management’s performance. That is, if the coaches and managers don’t perform, the financiers cut them loose. Just look at what happened to the Tunisian coach (now ex-coach) in real time.

In the Scotland match, Coach Sébastien Migné did not at least ask for a VAR review — while the game was taking place. Had he done so, maybe the turnout would’ve been in Haiti’s favor. 

Let’s upgrade our supporter game 

So now what?

To wrap up, I have to reiterate what the players said after the game. They need us fans, our energy to play even better because this is not over yet!!

Haiti needs real fans through thick and thin, not bandwagon fans who only tune in when the team is doing well. Going after FIFA’s documented racist acts might make a difference in the next World Cup or two. But what matters more now is showing up as world-class supporters. 

After the referee uproar, at least one report in the UK called us “bitter fans.” Basically, cry babies. That is not a good look on this world stage, at this level, after 52 years. There’s a fine line between advocating for your team and looking for excuses. Of course the ref was unfair. It’s football. But, the bad calls, or lack of any calls, was not the only reason we lost.

The ref, the VAR, racism — all of these are valid factors that, combined with our own failures, toppled Haiti. Saying we were “robbed” overshadows the Grenadiers’ tremendous effort. To be a champion, you have to be able to win in less than ideal circumstances. Soccer proves that again and again. That’s the overall beauty of sports — winning against all odds!!! 

I get that launching a petition is something to do while the wound is fresh. But let’s focus once the shock of the initial cut diminishes. We must continue fighting on new terrain and adopt different strategies, just as our namesake Grenadiers did in 1803. Instead of this world-wide whine fest, let’s use our energies to celebrate the team, embed our culture deeper, build our fandom and finance the team. We must to ensure we become a powerhouse in more ways than one.

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