The oldest existing football club in the country Accra Hearts of Oak, born on November 11, 1911 marked their 114th birthday on Tuesday November 11. Congratulations to the Centurion club for surviving all the intricacies in the football industry all these years to be alive and kicking.
Accra Hearts of Oak boast of one of the noisiests supporters you can find around the globe. They pride themselves with the brightest colours of yellow, blue and red dubbed “rainbow” plus an inspiring motto of “Never Say Die” to boot.
Indeed history tells us it is that “never say die” urge to challenge that motivated a group of youngsters from Usher Town, suburb of Accra, to form Accra Hearts of Oak Football club in 1911 to rival Invincibles, the first ever football club to be formed in Accra in 1910 based at James Town.
The Invincibles were made up mainly of young men from the James Town area but it was a young man from Saltpond where the game of football had been played earlier on who really gave the newly formed club the inspiration and guidance. He was Ackom Duncan who was to become the club’s first captain.
Duncan also took up the training of the players and by 1911. Hearts were ready to face the Invincibles. Historically, it was on November 11, 1911 that Hearts outdoored their first jerseys hence their official birthday.
Significantly, the club began with no elected officers. It was the playing body which made up the membership with all and sundry accepting the leadership of Ackom Duncan.
Some of the founding players were William Simeon Okraku, C.B. Nettey who was later to become the chairman of Accra Football Association. JTO Ankrah, father of “Black Flash”, Roy Ankrah the legendary Ghanaian boxer and national boxing coach, J.A. Aryee, Dodoo Annan, Darko Abbey, Mark Nettey, Amponsah Solomon, Quashie Solomon.
Other pioneers were W.W. Bruce Tagoe, TF Bruce Tagoe, William Ocran, Peter Malm, Quashie Coker, Adolf Simeon Okraku, Alfred Simeon Okraku and Teacher F.D Amoo.
It was in 1914 that Hearts appointed its first secretary Capt Mark Nettey whose house in Ussher Town the club had first met before the outdooring of its jerseys three years earlier. In the same year the club appointed Hansen Sackey an auctioneer who had been a father figure of the club in the formative years.
All wasn’t smooth sailing however. Towards the end of 1944 some players broke away to form the Gold Coast champions. But it was here that Hearts began to show their unyielding spirit and resilience, which were to culminate in the motto of the club “Never Say Die.” Despite the breach, membership of the club continued to grow resulting in the formation of two other sides Auroras in 1912 and Dwarfs in 1914.
It was in 1917 that Hearts decided to change their colours. The task was accomplished by Mr T. F. Bruce Tagoe who came out with the rainbow colours of red, yellow and blue.
When it was approved a set of jerseys in the new colours were ordered from Manchester. Outdooring of the new jerseys was marked with a match against the old rivals Invincibles. Hearts of Oak emerged winners by a lone goal. The same year saw the election of the club’s first chairman S.Q Nelson, an Engineer who had played football in Nigeria.
The first major triumph by Hearts in competitive football came in 1922 when Governor Sir Gordon Guggisberg donated a Shield for a novelty Accra Football League which had been firmly established in 1920.
Hearts won the first competition and the Guggisberg Shield at stake to become the first to win the Shield.
The competition gained tremendous support for many years. In fact, Hearts won the the tournament six times in a 12 year period.
The club underwent some transformation in 1939 when it infused fresh blood into the side. Among the new players was sensational right winger Joe Ankrah better known later in life as Lt Gen J.A Ankrah chairman of the National Liberation Council the Military cum Police junta that ousted Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s CPP regime in 1966. He was later made life patron of Hearts.
With the huge experience gathered by Hearts of Oak over the years it was no surprise when they won the first National League to be organised in 1958. Also known as The Phobians, the club’s achievements, both home and abroad can only be rivalled by 90-year-old Kumasi Asante Kotoko.
The two giants are the only Africa Cup winners from Ghana. The two have been dominating both the league and FA Cups and attracting the biggest fans base. Incidentally, Hearts were made to host Kotoko last Sunday on the eve of their 114th birthday in a league fixture dubbed Super Clash.
At the time of writing this piece sportswriters were still researching the last time a lone penalty goal decided the Super Clash winner like Kotoko did last Sunday. Daily Graphic ace sportswriter Peter Sarbah provided some interesting data.
The victory marked Kotoko’s 4th win in their last five matches against Hearts and 19th league triumphs since 1958. Hearts have 18 wins in that period with 26 encounters ending in a draw. Last Sunday’s clash was the 119th meeting between the two sides with Kotoko now leading the head-to-head with 41 wins to Hearts 38 and 48 draws. Cheers everybody and keep loving. sports.
