Quote

I just had a normal African childhood; we played football a lot, but it was always in the street and always without shoes. Boots were very expensive, and when there are seven in your family, and you say you want to buy a pair, your father wants to kill you.

— Yaya Toure

Sentiment: NEGATIVE

←Previous Next→

✓Similar Perspectives

When you go to Africa, and you see children, they're usually barefoot, dirty and in rags, and they'd love to go to school.

— Annie Lennox

I'd been told that when you first put your feet on African ground, you'll be hit by a feeling of overwhelming understanding, like you've returned home and suddenly belong. Quite frankly, I didn't feel that.

— Jill Scott

I remember my dad, who coached football, would buy some of his players football shoes when they couldn't afford it.

— Chaske Spencer

Luckily I don't have to buy shoes anymore, because I design them! I'm off tour, so I can dive in and create the shoes that I want for my line. But okay, I did buy a pair of vintage combat boots because they were so beaten up - I had to have them.

— Fergie

My mother was not happy with the Afros that my friends and I emerged with - there's that crack in the book of 'Why, if a fly landed in there, he'd break his little wings trying to get out.' I was not pure dashiki, though - I was a combination of African dresses, miniskirts, tank tops, shawls, ethnic-looking earrings, sandals.

— Margo Jefferson

Ever since I can remember, I've worn big black boots. They are super warm and get me where I need to go.

— Penelope Mitchell

I have interests outside of rugby and have been cultivating them for when I do decide to hang up the boots.

— Brian O'Driscoll

I always felt that I had to leave a legacy on the African continent. As I was only the third player to come to the NBA from Africa, I felt I had to do my best to recruit more young Africans to come and play in the NBA - and also find a way to bring the NBA to Africa.

— Dikembe Mutombo

Coming from a farming background, I saw nothing out of the ordinary in running barefoot, although it seemed to startle the rest of the athletics world. I have always enjoyed going barefoot and when I was growing up I seldom wore shoes, even when I went into town.

— Zola Budd

✗Opposing Perspectives

I grew up in Africa, in Nigeria. I never knew, I never had any reasonable encounter with football. I saw football on Sky News. I thought there were people dressed like extraterrestrials, you know, like they were going to Mars or something, headgears and shoulder pads. And I wondered why, as a child, why did they have to dress that way.

— Bennet Omalu