Dead Men Tell No Tales-Ken Bediako writes

It is with a heavy heart, full of trepidation that I volunteer to comment on recent social media reports of alleged attempts by Black Stars officials to throw the 1982 Afcon Cup final against Libya in Tripoli.

The social media report said categorically it took the intervention of then PNDC leader Jerry Rawlings to stop team officials from accepting a bribe from Libyan leader Col Gaddafi who wanted the Black Stars to deliberately lose the cup final.

Where is this coming from? was the reaction of my boyhood acquaintance seasoned sports journalist Joe Aggrey when he heard the story. He is not alone. Many decent sports enthusiasts have dismissed the alleged bribery attempt as unthinkable.

Sports journalist former deputy Sports Minister Joe Aggrey. Photo Courtesy: GhanaSoccernet

How foolish can a head of state be to attempt to bribe a whole national team to lose such a crucial match when it should be easier to influence match officials if he was bent on becoming that corrupt and you are talking about a principal revolutionary like Muammar Gaddafi who preached fairness all his life. My immediate reaction when I read the story on line was to treat it with the contempt it deserves but on second thoughts I decided the records must be set straight.

Zimbabwe Prime Minister Robert Mugabe, and Lybia’s President Muammar Gaddafi in 1982. (Photo by Daniel SIMON/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

The fact is I was right in the thick of events in Libya 1982. I covered the Afcon in my capacity as Sports Editor of the Daily Graphic. I was part of the seven man media squad from Ghana who were always in touch with the four-man technical bench and the leader of the delegation, Zaya Yeebo.

Unfortunately all the members of technical bench are dead and dead men tell no tales.

Head coach C/ K. Gyamfi, Kwasi Afranie, Osam Duodu masseur Joe Amartey and medical officer Dr Joe Ofori Atta are no more.

Worse still five out of the media crew, Ben Eghan Jnr, Harry Thompson, Nii Anum Thompson, Eric Brakohiapa and Albert Niikoi are dead. Yours truly and bosom colleague sports journalist Oheneba Charles are the only living witnesses from the Ghana media.

C.K Gyamfi-The first African to play in Germany when he joined Fortuna Düsseldorf in 1960, and later became the first coach to lead the Ghana national football team to an Africa Cup of Nations victory. Photo Courtesy:3News

And since dead men tell no tales I am electing to speak on behalf of the dead and assure the sporting public that the so called attempt to bribe the Black Stars is a concocted story. From all indications in the Black Stars camp, the players, spearheaded by old warrior Opoku Afriyie, were poised for victory.

Opoku Afriyie in his playing days. He was a member of the squad that won the 1978 African Cup of Nations making Ghana the first team to win it thrice. He scored the two goals in the final of that tournament.

I recall an incident on the eve of the cup final when Zaya Yeebo at a pre-match meeting, appealed to the players to go all out to win as their contribution to the success of the Rawlings revolution. Opoku speaking Twi politely cut and asked Yeebo to speak properly about incentives and not revolution”. In a charged atmosphere you could sense the players were poised for victory.

Instinctively I could judge from the faces of the coaches they were all charged for victory expecting thunderous reception on arrival home with the cup.

Zaya Yeebo. Photo Courtesy: Fatuma’s Voice

I can imagine Afranie fuming in the grave in reaction to this atrocious fabrication.

Osam Duodu may, typically, be forgiving and C. K Gyamfi would laugh in jest, saying you guys can’t be serious. Let’s recognise the fact that Global football has come a long way and such childish stories must not be entertained.

Competitive sports is a sacred aspect of modern day living. The Olympic maxim of Citius, Fortius, Altius (stronger, faster, higher) is held in high esteem and respected globally.

Fair play is a hallowed principle that’s why cheating sportsmen and sportswomen who take banned drug enhancers are heavily punished. Even in the top European football leagues where money really talks and the stakes are high, there is something called financial fair play where the less endowed clubs are protected from being completely dwarfed by the elites.

Olympic maxim. Photo courtesy: Vocal media

Politicians may be privileged to twist facts and go unchallenged but sports statistics are sacred and cannot be toyed with.

For instance Brazil, despite their incredibly low performance these days, the ‘Samba Seniors” are still the only country that has qualified for every FIFA World Cup since its inception in 1930.

Coming home, despite Accra Hearts of Oak’s unprecedented six time back to back national league triumphs, Asante Kotoko still top the record charts with 24 wins and Hearts 21.

Hearts of Oak Treble winning team in 2000. Photo Courtesy: Prime News Ghana

It is a healthy development that the number of sports historians in the country are growing but some of them need to recheck their facts. Periodically, I will volunteer to add my bit to make the soup more palatable.

Let me start this week with the pioneer members of the National football team that was officially inaugurated with the nomenclature BLACK STARS. This was at a ceremony at Nsawam CYO Park in October 1960. Why Nsawam one may ask. The answer is Ohene Djan the football colossus, lived at Nsawam, his second home town from Aburi, and that explains why such football ceremonies were held there. He dubbed Nsawam the “Mecca of Ghana football”.

Ohene Djan. Photo Courtesy: Modern Ghana

The players on that occasion were C.K. Gyamfi, Baba Yara, Aggrey Fynn, Addo Odametey, E. O Oblitey, W.K Mfum, Ofei Dodoo, Mohammed Salisu, Dogo Moro, Kwame Appiah, Ben (Simmons) Acheampong, Kwao Baffoe, Asebi Boakye, Kwame Adarkwa, Addoquaye Laryea, A R. Kassum, Robert Bunyan and Edward Obadzen.

Ohene Djan later in 1962 formed The New Horizon that was the official deputy Black Stars.