Football reflects the hard realities

Euro 2004 qualifying/Georgia v Republic of Ireland: Tom Humphries assesses the current political and sporting climate in Georgia.

There are two posh hotels in Tbilisi. The Marriot and the Sheraton. Both are a hard town. Not too long ago one of the nation's football heroes, Kakha fussy about guns in the lobby area. Which is good. Tbilisi is a poor town and Kakhi Asatiani, was shot dead in the centre of Tbilisi. Football is a key part of life here and life is hard.

For Georgians the game was the opium of the people during the long years of Soviet rule. The game was introduced to the country via their ports by British seamen back in the 19th century. Dinamo Tbilisi have always borne primary responsibility for the happiness of the people. Boris Paitchadze started as a striker with Dinamo in 1936. He was known as the Caruso of Football and for being as good as the Russians and this earned him enduring affection from his compatriots.

Perhaps their greatest moment was the winning of the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1981. A decade later the Georgians were free and independent. A country with a population about the size of Ireland's making its way in the world again.

The experience has been a disappointment footballwise and politically. In a recent survey 54 per cent of Georgians expressed themselves pessimistic about the future. For a country with the bleak past that Georgia has endured expecting more bad times is a reflex. Yet independence hasn't delivered much. The country has received massive grants and run up huge borrowings and is in a state of dilapidation. Corruption is as rife as in the old days. Annual national budget revenue is about $350 million and has been stagnant for six years. Next year Georgia begins paying off $180 million a year in external debts. The current debate over the economy is a depressing one. Does the government shove up the national minimum wage (average weekly wage is under $15) or does it set about paying back the national pensions funding that it ransacked some time ago.

Football should be a diversion. It isn't. Talk to Georgians and they reckon that what happened with the football reflects what happened with the politics. Some people made out like bandits and forgot about everyone else. Money came in and changed people quickly. Footballers became demigods, went abroad, became too big for the boots they could scarcely afford a short time ago. Georgian football's recent history has been pockmarked by rows, walk-outs and troubles.

There's always some new trouble. PSV Eindhoven's Georgi Gakhokidze is declining to play for Georgia while Alexander Chivadze is manager. Chivadze's crime was to criticise Gakhokidze after a 3-0 friendly defeat.

Rumours are always rampant. Will Temuri Ketsbaia ever play for his country again? Does Kakha Kaladze (of AC Milan and one of a handful of genuine class Georgian players) really undermine the manager every chance he gets? Is the team split into cliques and factions? Chivadze has his problems but it has been the same for every national manager Georgia have had in recent years.

Georgi Demetradze was picked as a star of the future but has toiled since he left Dinamo after being top scorer in the 1997/98 season. Since then he has been to Lokomotiv Moscow, Alania Vladikavkaz, Feyenoord, Kiev and his current club Metalurh Donetsk. Ditto the diminutive forward Mikeil Astvetia, who is now with Alania, a traditional Georgian refuge in the Russian league. Rati Aleksidze, a nothing figure at Chelsea, has thrived since joining Dinamo Tbilisi.

Georgians who once endured seeing their best players play international football with the letters CCCP on their chests and longed for decades to see their players express and distinguish themselves on the international stage are now concluding that football independence has brought no more relief than national independence.

This campaign has brought no solace. A 4-1 away loss to Switzerland was a shock but the chance to save face came a month later when the Georgians were to entertain Russia in a politically charged friendly to be played at the impressive new Lokomotiv stadium. To the huge embarrassment of the hosts the game had to be abandoned at half time when the floodlights failed.

The Georgians were keen to play the next day but the Russians refused. They had another qualifier a short time later against Albania. The Russians complained to UEFA and sought to have the match rescheduled for a neutral ground. Instead the game will be played on April 30th but the Georgians are still blushing.

Those not inclined to the grey mood that seems matched to the streets in this crumbling capital point out that the team did well at the European Under-17 Championship and that players like Kaladze and Levan Kobiashvili (of Freiburg) might just be ready to deliver on the bigger stage. The isolated patches of optimism are touching but unconvincing.