I posed the question does juju/umuthi work for better athletics on Facebook. – Bhekuzulu Khumalo
I received responses mainly from seasoned coaches and athletes. They follow below:
1 October at 6:32am V M: I think it is the same thing as the primitive psychology of teaching by instilling fear.
Remember our ancestors used the psychology of fear to teach children to desist from doing antisocial or dangerous activity.
Ungahambi nyovane kuyazila. The word kuyazila was associated with anything terrible that could happen even if it was not mentioned and children just feared and complied.
I think juju works the same way. The one using it has a confidence boost and push themselves to the limit. When they lose they actually believe the other team had better juju.
I think it is a phenomenon that would be difficult to get rid of in an African unless we put more sports science in the heads of the young children at school.
Forget these old ones already practicing it, they will argue that it works in Africa.
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1 October at 6:45am •PKL: I want to agree with V, but I would go on to conclude that it does not work. That myth is for lazy and weak people that hope to relay on fear and support from unknown power.
Juju believers tend to make sure that their opponents get to know a thing or two about them so that the mentally weak fall off.
I have personally witnessed this juju thing and noticed that it’s all about letting them know you have back-up and they all tremble with fear, lose confidence then you would be the winner.
1 October at 7:11am EN: Those who use juju believe it works. Those who do not, believe it does not. Whatever the case juju is a psychologically phenomenon can either inspire or dispirit the user.
I am yet to hear it in athletics, but it’s more pronounced in football.
1 October at 7:42am via mobile CN: No juju does not work.
1 October at 9:43am via mobile MN: Superstition and juju only work in that they provide the athlete with a sense of confidence and control.
1 October at 10:17am SD: It’s sports psychology. Athletes are dupped into believing that the juju will improve their performance and reduce anxiety and increase arousal, lol(sic).
1 October at 10:57am • SD: I believe it doesn’t work, but then again it’s all in the mind.
Other athletes have very low self-esteem and confidence ahead of competitions and known athletes who excel.
When they use this so-called juju they supposedly get a sense of invincibility and suddenly their latent innate motivation and drive are subconsciously brought to the fore and added to their state of preparedness they can overcome their fears and stand for the challenge ahead.
It becomes more a case of extrinsic motivation being regarded more than the intrinsic, innate, latent talent and motivation.
A person’s background and circumstance will sway them to believe the juju magic if the community they are in believes in it and folklore stands to give “concrete” examples of juju having helped overcome adversity or challenge.
In communities where sheer hardwork and determination has yielded inspirational results most athletes will shun juju because of their appreciation of hard work and due diligence. I could go on and on here, but I will stop here so as to give others a say.
1 October at 12:48pm via mobile SD: Soccer teams have used unauthorised entries into stadia for fear of juju and still they have gone on to lose.
In football we have seen African teams sprinkling and smearing, god knows what, but still they have gone on to lose. Hard work and preparation are the keys to successful Athletic performances. The old adage goes: “If u don’t prepare to win you are preparing to lose”.
1 October at 12:53pm via mobile MN: One reason for all this is to distract opponents so they may refocus their attention to task irrelevant cues.
1 October at 12:55pm • SMC: Come rain come thunder juju does not work, but only one thing: Prayer and training is the best nothing that is called juju for an athlete
1 October at 1:07pm via mobile •SC: Juju doesn’t work, I think it’s got effects psychological. In athletics, I think it’s a tactic to motivate and give the athlete confidence.
1 October at 3:44pm via mobile •BK: Thank you so much for these contributions.
It’s good to get the practicing coaches and athletes share views on these topics. May I invite more of us to contributions.
Here is what I came across in the web search about the use of juju in sports.
“But let me state categorically here that much as juju is powerful, the team also will have to complement its work by putting in a lot of efforts on the field of play,” the 48-year-old karate-do specialist who is popularly known in Lome as Maitre Polo, asserted.
Polo is an international referee and professor of judo and karate-do.
The former national trainer of Togo’s martial teams at the Abuja 2003 All-Africa Games, owns the Plaisir Judo Club.
For his part the Malawi-based renowned local herbalist, Dr Moffat Moyo, disclosed that he has been supplying juju to both local and foreign clubs but quickly points out that hard work and training are the best medicine.
“I can confirm those teams from within and neighbouring countries and regions come to seek help, but I cannot give their details.
“However, what I can advise is that hard work is the best medicine.
“The (concoctions) that we give only boost performance.
I provide farmers with medicine that boosts crop yields, but if a farmer doesn’t work hard, he won’t realise bumper yields.
“If I provide medicine to somebody who has never practiced boxing, will that work against an experienced boxer?
That’s why I am saying one needs to put in extra effort other than waiting for juju to do everything,” Moyo said.
Other reports have it that juju or umuthi as they call it in Zimbabwe is a commonplace, but as to whether it works is another story.
Teams have regularly given juju to players or made to do certain rituals, but at the end of the day had to battle relegation.
Juju is a mind game!
From all indications, it is believed that somehow juju in football is all, but a mind game — a kind of psychological warfare. In the words of former Ghana coach, Burkhard Ziese: “Club officials in Ghana draw a lot of money from teams under the pretext of paying a juju man, but end up pocketing it.
Perhaps, that explains why owner of Ghanaian premier league side, Tema Real Sportive, Y A Ibrahim, recently called on the Professional League Board and the Ghana football Association to, as a matter of urgency, deal severely with juju men in the league.
“Football games are supposed to be won on merit on the field and not by evil spirits,” he said, adding that when the situation was not controlled, a time would come when the results of matches in the country’s football would be determined by soothsayers.
A story is told in Zimbabwe of a football player traumatised by news that one Zimbabwean player drowned and disappeared in the Zambezi River while performing a juju ritual with his teammates.
He narrated: “All the 16 players took off their clothes and were made to jump into the crocodile-infested river to clean them of bad luck ahead of a first division game in Victoria Falls.
“After the ritual, the players dressed up, but they then noticed that a set of clothes was still on the ground and the owner was nowhere to be seen.
“That’s when it hit them that one of their friends had been swept away. Or was he taken by a crocodile? Whichever way, all very sad indeed!
“My personal view is that juju does not work, ignore the fact that I have been forced to go through many of these rituals in my career, not as an individual but as a team,” Aloise Bunjira once wrote.
What emerges from all these contributions is that juju is more of a psychological practice as, even the providers, emphasise the importance of hard work in sports performance.
Interestingly, there seems to be no documented use of juju in track and field athletics.
If humans believe so much in enhancing performance through means other than training, to what extent does religion contribute to sports performance?
