More than 24 hours before the kickoff of Senegal’s CAN semi-final against Egypt, the meeting has already started for the 320 members of the Twelfth Gaïndé (“lion” in Wolof). Failing to already be able to take their seats in the aisles of the Ibn-Batouta stadium in Tangier, the fans who are part of this collective created in 1995 and voted best group of supporters in Africa in 2018 are transforming the backyard of their hotel into a high-energy turn this Tuesday.
To the hellish tempo dictated by the players of assiko – a rectangular-shaped percussion notably used by former slaves held on the island of Gorée -, several dozen supporters dressed in the same yellow polo shirts with the logo and hats or caps in the colors of the Senegalese flag follow the swaying steps of mbalakh – a traditional Wolof dance notably popularized by Youssou Ndour -, accompanied by the heady melodies of the players of trombone.
“We adapt according to the matches. For the quarter-finals, we mixed Malian and Senegalese sounds, and there we try to take Egyptian sounds to associate them with ours,” trombonist Theodore Dognon, 44 years old and 8 CAN under the clock, will explain once the rehearsal is over.
After a good fifteen minutes of uninterrupted dancing, the president of Douzième Gaïndé, Issa Laye Diop, speaks with an unplugged microphone in front of an audience of guests seated to admire the show. It is about the “sense of responsibility” that falls to the members of the group and their major impact on the performance of Pape Thiaw’s players, in a solemn speech which is more reminiscent of a pre-match talk than a conductor’s briefing.
The 52-year-old also thanks the many partners who financially support the group, starting with a representative of the Senegalese Ministry of Sports whom he invites to speak on the hotel terrace, the supporters’ costs being largely covered by the country’s government. He ends today’s meeting with a moment of silent contemplation in tribute to a 24-year-old member of the Twelfth Gaïndé who died in a road accident since the group’s arrival in Morocco on December 21.
“When the nation calls on its sons, it is a duty to respond”
The supporters did not hesitate to take a month off, sometimes far from their families, to support their team at heart. “Women leave their husbands, men leave their wives to come,” explains Ndeye Mbodj, a proud member of the Twelfth Gaïndé for more than twenty years, over a mafé and eucalyptus tea. “When the nation calls on its sons, it is a duty to respond,” adds Issa Laye Diop, president of the Twelfth Gaïndé since 2012, whose martial tone and green beret give the air of a general on a mission.
Although the members of the group of supporters fortunately do not risk their lives in the continental games they attend, they must nevertheless give of themselves. Thus Aba Cheri Binta, 35 years old, second-hand store employee in the city and “N” of Senegal on match days, who takes his place in the stands with the letter painted on his bare torso alongside his six friends to form the name of his country, despite the torrential rains which have been falling on Morocco for several weeks.
“I’m not cold. When I think that we left 19 million people in Senegal and that we are among the people taken to come and push the team, it reminds me why we do this,” proclaims Aba, who paroxysmically illustrates the motto of the Twelfth Gaïndé, “at all times and in all places.”
“I look at the match summary to see who scored”
The thirty-year-old’s voice trembles as he talks about his best memory of CAN, the 2021 final won against Egypt, which Senegal returns to this Wednesday. “I didn’t watch Sadio Mané’s last shot on goal because I had goosebumps,” he relates, a state not linked to the temperature in Cameroon but to the dizziness that the moment represented for Senegal, winner of the continental trophy for the first time in its history.
Responsible for the choreography and with his back to the pitch during matches, Ibrahima Diop sees nothing of the events on the pitch. “When I come home, I look at the match highlights to see who scored. We want to make the stadium shake and attract the attention of all the spectators,” confides this admirer of Illiman Ndiaye.
After attracting the gaze of the cameras for his ecstatic pose during Senegal’s success on the DRC lawn in qualifying for the World Cup in October (3-2), the 29-year-old man attracted another supporter an international celebrity after integrating into the group of dancers during the 2022 World Cup a Moroccan fan, Othman, who followed all of Senegal’s matches during this CAN in the stands alongside the Twelfth Gaïndé. “He is more comfortable with Senegalese supporters than with Moroccans! », jokes Ibrahima, while Othman confides on the phone that he is still hesitant about the semi-final which he plans to attend this Wednesday, between two countries linked by a sporting and geopolitical friendship.
The dilemma of the most Senegalese supporter of the Moroccans could further intensify if the two teams were to face each other in the final this Sunday. But whatever the result of the Lions of Téranga, their supporters will continue to dance.
“We are talking about former coaches, managers or footballers, but not former supporters”, underlines the president of the group Issa Laye Diop, before concluding: “I will be a member of the Twelfth Gaïndé until my death”.
