There is no doubt that the national football league has been the nation’s favourite pastime over the years. But let’s face it, the glitter is fading fast.
And this is where I find the immortal words of legendary musicologist Ephraim Amu in his “Yen ara asase ni” composition very appropriate.
The legend says in Twi the national problem is “nnimdee ntraso ne pese menko menya” (loosely translated as all knowing and selfishness).
This is exactly the problem with Ghana football being run by people who think they know too much to take any advice outside their circle of fellow know-all experts in football administration.
Some of us are old enough to have seen the genesis of Ghana’s progressive football development since Independence to a point where the Black Stars neatly qualified for four back-to-back Afcon Cup finals in 1963, 1965, 1968, and 1970, winning the first two.
The first was against Sudan in Accra, 1963; second against Tunisia in Tunis, 1965; third against Congo in Ethiopia, 1968; and 4th in 1970 against Sudan in Khartoum. Even though it took the Stars eight more years to reach another Afcon cup final, they hit a record hat-trick in 1978 in Accra that won Ghana the original Africa Unity cup for keeps.
The fire was still burning after this feat and four years later in Libya 1982, a renascent Black Stars became the second winners of the new cup after Nigeria 1980 by beating host nation Libya in Tripoli. End of story.
After more than four decades the Black Stars have been struggling in vain to shine again in Africa. What can the matter be?
Please ask the all-knowing football people for the answer. Some of us have witnessed the best of Ghana football in the past both at local and international levels, especially from crowd-pulling Asante Kotoko and Accra Hearts of Oak.
These two dominant clubs have produced a lot of talented players who also donned the national colours. I think those old players still around should be celebrated.
It would be a good idea for the nation to revisit the past to see whether we can resurrect some of the productive measures that made the league so attractive to fill the stands, sometimes more than two hours before kick-off.
In those days every football lover was eager to pay to see in action popular stars who were always featured in the numerous sports papers, Radio and TV. It is a pity we are witnessing just the opposite these days.
Instead of the GFA putting progressive measures to bring the fans back to the stadium, they are rather interested in adopting all kinds of subterranean measures to extend their stay in office.
The recent Congress at Prampram was reported to be a huge joke where important decisions were rubber-stamped by “gaping sycophants” (apologies to late Kwaku Boateng, Education Minister in the First Republic at a probe after the 1966 overthrow of Dr Kwame Nkrumah).
It is learnt that voting on vital issues at the Prampram Congress, strangely organised behind closed doors for the media, was by show of hands instead of the accepted international convention of secret balloting. All this was to ensure a vote for the top GFA hierarchy to remain in power for a third term and possibly for life.
Insiders say the GFA top hierarchy is so powerful any club risks facing relegation if their officials appear to be too radical and do not sing the master’s voice.
Let’s all pray sanity will prevail in the administration of the nation’s favourite game. All hands should be on deck so we regain our fast-waning international prestige in the game of football.
We have been told of a multi-million dollar sponsorship by telecommunication giant MTN for our four national football teams, Black Stars, Black Queens, Black Satellites and Black Starlets. Even though this sounds a good idea, most football analysts feel the sponsorship should have covered the Premier League instead.
The argument is the Premier League is the production machine that unearths talented players to feed the Black Stars.
Giving preference to the Black Stars over the Premier League is like putting the cart before the horse, the argument goes.
I seem to agree with this school of thought. The Ghana Premier League with its myriad of problems deserves more attention than the already-made Black Stars who are currently enjoying mouth-watering support from FIFA.
The argument further stretches that most of our so-called Premier League clubs have sub-standard playing grounds and nauseating dressing rooms that need to be upgraded.
On top of this, the marathon league comprises 34 hard-fought matches per team that will be criss-crossing the country each season as compared to the handful of matches played by the national team annually.
It is on record that the GFA has a new partnership agreement with Adepa Enterprises. A good one there. The understanding is the deal covers essentially media exposure of the league matches.
This is a big challenge for the company because currently the TV coverage is most disappointing. Those who watch the English Premier League on DStv do find the coverage of Ghana’s Premier League most appalling.
Kudos to the GFA for a promising entertaining new football season. There is no doubt Okraku and Co have a bold vision to make Ghana football tick again. Let’s hope for the best. Happily we are witnessing clear indications that the government is interested in resurrecting the national passion for sports in general and football in particular.
Very good. President Mahama has promised to build stadiums at the six newly created regions. Sports Minister Iddi Adams keeps talking about measures to develop the less patronized sports disciplines on the wings of football.
National Sports Authority boss, the ebullient sports journalist Yaw Ampofo Ankrah, is also making sure all abandoned sports facilities in the regions come to light.
Recently Chief of Staff Julius Debrah at a GFA function recommended to the GFA to think of quickly establishing a Hall of Fame for our legendary footballers. This is long overdue for our entire sports legends in the various disciplines.
It is my hope the so-called football people, who seem bent on controlling every aspect of football administration in this country to the exclusion of all others, will not consider the infectious interest in football being shown by these top government officials as political interference. They should know what I am talking about.
Cheers everybody and keep loving sports
