u/blurr3s

Can we please get this subreddit back to being about African football?

Lately it's been flooded with the same hate posts and comments over and over, usually about month-old grievances. Some accounts are brand new, while others seem to post the same divisive content every few hours. It honestly feels like there's little to no moderation at the moment.

If hating another country's team is that important to you, create a subreddit called r/FuckXTeam (or whatever the fuck you want to call it) and have your reunion there.

Most of us are here because we enjoy African football. We're not interested in endless nationalistic feuds or reliving old conflicts. That kind of content only fuels hostility, and we've all seen how online hatred can spill over into real life.

This is a football community, not a therapy session for unresolved grudges. Let's talk about the matches, the players, the tactics, and the sport we all came here for.

The moderation also feels very lenient right now, and it's allowing this kind of content to take over the subreddit.

Edit: For those interested in football and not drama, there's this new subreddit: r/Africa_Football.

I wasn't really sure if I should post this, but I wanted to hear from other Senegalese (and other Africans too) because religion is such an important part of our society.

I was born to a Muslim non-practicing Senegalese mother and a Togolese/Ghanaian Christian father. Out of the gate their union made me and my mom pariahs in her own family which led to me and my grandma not having the slightest relationship. I felt it very young because of how she treated me compared to my cousins and how she basically made an enemy out of my mom, her eldest. I was baptized as a Christian when I was around 4 years old, had my first communion and confirmation a few years later, but my mother's family also did everything they could to raise me as a Muslim, including sending me to a Daara when I was younger which wasn't the greatest experience, (we used to get beat up by the teacher tbh). I have been to mosques and churches in my 26 years of life but it's like I'm cosplaying.

The thing is, I never really felt at home in either religion. During my time at the Daara I never found myself connecting with Islam, and despite going through Christian sacraments, I never felt like Christianity fully reflected what I believed either.

I don't think I necessarily believe in nothing. I think the human nature defines this constant need of sense that helps our brain organize the world, cope with uncertainty, and find a purpose which is probably why I struggle to completely let go. I struggle with some of the doctrines of both religions, and I don't feel like I genuinely belong in either community. To me these religions have been updated so much to fit individual biases and desires to the point where It just feels performative at this point. To me religion feels like this imported "product" that people are hooked on to the point of dismissing any process of logical thinking.

Because of how people often react to religious questions, I don't really feel comfortable talking about this with my family or anyone, especially here in Senegal or in Africa in general. I know the first response would probably be to arrange for me to speak to an imam or a priest. While I respect both religions, that's not really what I'm looking for because they usually have their agendas. The one time I dared to talk about it was with a Muslim friend, who outright told me that I was going to burn in hell because I am not a believer regardless of much of a good person I was on earth which to me was mental. My christian friend preferred burying his head in the sand but I could tell he was judging me.

I also haven't attended church regularly in years. The only times I go are for celebrations like Christmas or Easter because one thing some families like mine cannot stand is someone who doesn't belong anywhere. There was a time where one uncle (a christian, also my tutor for nearly a decade) told me and my cousins (his kids) that we had to be either Christians, Muslims or Jews; there was no place for non-believers in his house and that just felt like lottery to me. You're born into a family, you inherit their beliefs, maybe somewhere down the road, you doubt then you explore other options and hope for the best and it goes on and on.

Sometimes I feel like the black sheep on both sides of my family. Too Christian for some people, too Muslim for others, and not religious enough for either. And another thing that's very weird to me is how some of my family members call themselves believers but wear loads of talismans and partake in witchcraft.

To be clear, I'm not trying to criticize anyone's faith or start an argument. I'm just wondering if anyone else, whether Muslim, Christian, atheist, agnostic, or still figuring things out, has ever felt this way. How did you deal with it, especially in a country where religion is such a big part of everyday life?

Please keep the discussion respectful. I'm here to understand other people's experiences, not to argue about who's right.
Thanks in advance.

This is genuinely the first time I'm this heartbroken over a football result and I'm usually used to the pain since I'm a Dortmund fan. But this is genuinely bad and it just highlights how African teams, especially West African teams lack composure when it matters the most. I feel like we can only play well against each other. When watching the France and Norway game as well as this one you see how much our coaches decisions affected our results. We can talk about individual performances but the truth is this coach has cost us this campaign. I think I'm gonna start watching some shit like badminton or fencing I don't know 😭