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As soon as the ball hits the laterite ground, a cloud of dust forms at the feet of the players. It is 10 o’clock in the morning and, under a blazing sun, the training of the Tonnerre de Yaoundé begins. It is there, on a bumpy and slightly sloping ground in the Ekounou district, south of the Cameroonian capital, that the mythical club trains today. The “Thunder”, as everyone calls him, marked the history of African football.
Prestigious players like George Weah, Japhet N’Doram, Rigobert Song or Roger Milla have worn his white jersey on all the grounds of the continent. There was also a time, in the 1990s, when players from “Tonnerre” made up the backbone of the Indomitable Lions, the Cameroon national team, which is to face the Comoros on Monday January 24 in the round of 16 of the Coupe d of African Nations (CAN).
But that time is over. No player from the current team, which qualified – after two wins against Burkina Faso (2-1) and Ethiopia (4-1) then a draw against Cape Verde (1-1) in the first round of the CAN – only made his first dribbles at Tonnerre de Yaoundé. “Today, we don’t have a training center, or even a changing room, regrets Martin Atangana Omgba, vice-president of the club in charge of the professional team. Our training ground belongs to the army. »
The “Tonnerre” owes its fame first to its founder: Martin Omgba Zing, a particularly swift striker. In November 1930, he founded the Canon de Yaoundé with three friends, in reference to the weapon used by French soldiers against the German army during the First World War.
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An elegant and offensive game
But four years later, following a dispute, Martin Omgba Zing, 22, slams the door of the Canon and creates the Tonnerre Kalara Club of Yaoundé. Since that day in November 1934, the two clubs have maintained a fierce rivalry.
The term “Kalara” found in the name of the club means “book” in Ewondo, the most spoken language in Yaoundé. It refers to an imaginary manual that should be mastered to produce fluid football, resolutely turned towards attack. A kind of old grimoire, full of tactical diagrams and instructions, which should also be applied to defeat the Canon of Yaoundé, the best enemy. “At Tonnerre, it is sometimes said that it is better to lose a match than to win it without panache”, laughs Martin Atangana Omgba.
Since the creation of the club, the philosophy of the game produced by the team must be in the image of its founder: elegant and offensive. Martin Omgba Zing, captain of his own team, imposes immaculate outfits on his players, a revolution for the time. Coming from the Mvog-Ada, the majority ethnic group of Yaoundé, he is the general manager of the national printing office, “an influential businessman always dressed to the nines”, according to the current vice-president.
Member of the high society, he has his entrances everywhere, except at the Canon of Yaoundé where he is nicknamed “Bad-type” because of a bounty of money he allegedly refused to share. In his circle of friends, he notably counts Simon Noah, a personality of the city. The son of the latter, Zacharie Noah (father of Yannick) is a good football player, a rigorous defender who will have a long career in Sedan with whom he will win the Coupe de France in 1961.
Hands down on national titles
“After independence, André Fouda, brother of Martin Omgba Zing, became the first mayor of Yaoundé, remembers N’Do Essama, sports adviser, leader of Tonnerre since 1981. Our founder, who, following an injury, converted to refereeing, was then an emblematic figure in the capital. »
But on the ground, the results are long overdue. From 1961 to 1969, the Cameroon championship regularly went to L’Oryx, Le Caïman and L’Union, clubs from Douala. It was not until the mid-1970s that Tonnerre lifted their first trophy: the Cameroon Cup (1974).
The following year, he reached the roof of Africa by winning the first edition of the Cup Winners’ Cup, thanks to a victory in the final over the Ivorians of Stella Club Adjamé. The capital club reached the final again in 1976, but lost to the Nigerians of Shooting Stars. In his workforce, he has a pearl, an outstanding center forward with swaying dribbling: Roger Milla. Aged 24, the native of Yaoundé flew to Valenciennes in 1977 to follow a long career in Europe.
In the 1980s, Tonnerre de Yaoundé seized the national titles: five times the championship (1981, 1983, 1984, 1987 and 1988) and four times the Cameroon Cup (1987, 1988, 1989 and 1991). During matches, fans shout: “Kalara, kalar! » Then they comment on their victories over a beer: “Our players applied page 14 and page 17 of the manual… In the gallery, there is sometimes Paul Biya, president of the country since 1982.
George Weah and Roger Milla
The “Thunder” is distinguished by a certain flair in recruitment. “During a game in Liberia, we spotted a player who was way above the others, says N’Do Essama. George Weah [qui deviendra en 1995 le premier ballon d’or africain et président du Liberia en 2018] arrived at “Thunder” in 1987, then he was recruited by AS Monaco of Arsène Wenger. » In 1989, a Chadian attacking midfielder arrived at the Yaoundé club. In 32 games, Japhet N’Doram scored 18 goals before flying to FC Nantes.
In the mid-1990s, Roger Milla, after detours to Monaco, Saint-Etienne and Bastia with whom he played 137 games, embarked on a crazy gamble. After the 1990 World Cup, where the Indomitable Lions reached the quarter-finals, he decided at the age of 42 to play in the 1994 World Cup. And, to prepare, he returned to… Tonnerre de Yaoundé.
“He had made his jubilee [une fête autour d’un dernier match amical] and had therefore drawn a line under his career, remembers Martin Atangana Omgba. It was Paul Biya who insisted and convinced him to play the World Cup in the United States. » The “old lion” will not repeat the feat achieved four years earlier (Cameroon will not pass the first round), but he will score his fifth goal in the World Cup.
Then, like the Cameroonian championship, undermined by scandals of embezzlement, match fixing or transfer of players at falsified ages, the Tonnerrre de Yaoundé will decline. “The money that came into the club was never capitalized, analyzes Martin Atangana Omgba. Le Tonnerre was left without a seat and without a charismatic leader after the death of its founder [en 1983]. »
Hope with Samuel Eto’o
Today, the national championship is moribund and Cameroonian clubs, whose numbers are looted by foreign recruiters, are trying to survive. “In 1988, we had a 25-seater bus but we don’t have any more, deplores Martin Atangana Omgba. At Le Tonnerre, we have a small stand to take shelter when it rains, but most teams don’t have one. »
The best players leave for Europe, Asia or the Gulf countries, which constantly impoverishes the level of the championship. The average salary of a Cameroonian professional player today is 100,000 CFA francs (about 150 euros).
In this context, the election of Samuel Eto’o at the head of the Cameroonian Football Federation brings a lot of hope, in particular because he has pledged that each club will receive a nest egg of 20 million CFA francs. (about 30,500 euros) to start the season on February 21. “The CAN can also bring visibility to Cameroonian football and bring in investors”, wants to believe Martin Atangana Omgba, appointed in July 2021 for “to restore Le Tonnerre to its former glory”.
Relegated to the second division at the end of last season, his club, which today plays with black stripes on a white background, will finally remain among the elite thanks to a new championship formula comprising twenty-five teams. “It is sometimes hard to be a player in Cameroon, but you have to adapt, assures Arsène Evouna, captain and goalkeeper of the team. Like everyone here, I would like to make a career in Europe. In the meantime, it is an honor to keep the goals of the legendary Tonnerre de Yaoundé. »
