2003 UNDER REVIEW: Misery For Football But Good Elsewhere

“c'etait une annee miserable pour moi et toute la famille royable” or “It was a miserable year for me personally and the entire royal family,” were the ghoulish but candid words of Queen Elizabeth II in a new year message to her British subjects in 1996. She was of course referring to the official dissolution of the fairy tale marriage between Prince Charles and Lady Diana that had left in its aftermath royal heart and head aches.

Nine years later I couldn’t help but borrow a leaf from Her Majesty’s heart-wrenching statement, juxtaposing it with the situation in Ghana vis-?-vis our sports. Let us kick off with our national pastime, football.

FOOTBALL

The year 2003 by every stretch of the word and to all intents and purposes was a miserable year for Ghana Football. Well, if contriving to miss out on all the major International football events doesn’t do justice to the word miserable then I guess I chose the wrong word.

I mean what else is there to serve as a palliative for all the poverty, wars, famines, coup d'?tat lived out on a daily basis in our neck of the woods but sports. Sports is like an analgesic that soothes our aches. It provides us the veritable escape from the daily ravages and realities of living in the deprived conditions we had come to embrace as part of our existence in Africa.

So when we contrive to miss out on international sporting events especially football which is our national pastime it is pain of boundless proportions. People are shattered, workers wear forlorn faces to work and most families sit on power kegs if you catch the drift.

For the first time in a long time we failed to qualify for all the tournaments that mattered.

We were knocked out of the U-17 World Tournament by Kenya in the qualifying stages, while the U-20 side failed to make it to the World Championship after failing to pick up one of the four slots reserved for African countries at the African Youth Tournament in Burkina Faso.

You would have thought that as 2-time world champions in the u-17 championships and twice losing finalists both in the u-17 and u-20 championships we weren’t just supposed to make it but it was rather our destiny to be there. After hopelessly failing to qualify for the Mundial itself for decades, we somewhat massaged our egos with the exploits of our junior teams. Those were the staging grounds where we plotted our revenge strategy against our South American and European opponents and always beat them to a pulp. So failing to make it to both tournaments since our last appearance in 1999 and 2001 respectively was a big disappointment.

Well these blights though unfortunate and sad were nothing compared to the heart-wrenching and shocking failure of the senior national team, the Black Stars to qualify for the African Cup of Nations.

Placed in a very comfortable group comprising, Uganda and Rwanda both considered soccer minnows everybody knew our qualification was as guaranteed as the sun rising and setting the next day. As 4-time champions and a football giant in Africa, we were a “shoo-in”, like they say in America.

We only had to show up at our matches, pick up the points and prepare to show up at the tournament proper. That was at least the general consensus of most pundits of the game which was also shared by almost every follower of the game home and abroad.

As far as most people were concerned Ghana was in. Uganda and Rwanda were out and had to bid their time. It was just that simple and for good reason too. Since 1992 we had always qualified for the bi-annual tournament and had always posted a good showing. We were until 1998 the only nation to have won the Cup of nations a record four times.

Player for player we were several million light-years ahead of Uganda and Rwanda. We had more players in the professional leagues of Europe that our opponents could never dream of having-ever.

How we blew it only God knows. Unfortunately and like we are always wont to do we had to find someone to put the blame on. Poor Herr Burkhard Ziese had to be sacrificed and sacrificed he was.

Personally I think firing Ziese was a big, big blunder both on the part of the Ghana Football Authority (GFA) and the government.

Nothing was gained but a lot was lost. Well I guess the government feared any intervention on its part might be characterized an interference. Well who pays the piper to play the tune? Your guess is as good as mine.

Firing a coach few weeks to a crucial world cup qualifier because he failed to qualify us for the Nations cup certainly isn’t anyone’s idea of a sound administrative decision. Hiring a stop-gap coach in the person of Ralf Zumdick wasn’t a master stroke either.

I believe our failure to make it to Tunisia 2004 was a silver lining in the cloud for us.

SILVER LINING

In the modern day tedium of struggling to gain the release of national team players from their European clubs juxtaposed with the club versus country conundrum, our nations cup failure this time presented us with the longer end of the stick and not the shorter end as had always been the case. (FIFA has placed a cap on the number of times a country can call up its nationals playing for a foreign club. The latest I would recall limits such a call-up to seven in a football season).

So even though the door was slammed in our face in losing out on Tunisia 2004 it also provided us with a perfect leeway or call it a window of opportunity in that it meant we didn’t really have to use our players until we really needed them.

In other words, we didn’t have to activate our FIFA call-up privilege until we were ready with a camping programme to condition our players for both the World Cup and Olympic qualifiers.

It also meant we had the advantage of activating this privilege when we needed it most and when it would benefit us the most.

Talk about having an ace or negotiating a deal with all the chips in your favor. This was it-the real McCoy.

PSYCHO-ANALYSING

Psycho-analyzing isn’t exactly my tour de force or magnum opus but I think Burkhard was thinking the same way. His human relation wasn’t perfect but he certainly knew what he was about when he took the job to coach the Black Stars-to take us to our first world cup tournament. The ante was upped when his successor effectively abandoned us for a ‘lesser role” in the bundesliga. However it is beyond doubt that by deactivating our call-up privilege we are going to end up with a better bargaining power anytime the issue of demanding the release of our foreign legion from their clubs comes up for discussion and negotiations.

This to all intents and purposes would also balance out the dynamics in our relationship with them.

This is how the whole scenario would play out- we demand the release of our players and they respond favorably. They would, because we didn’t have to use our call-up right, which is safeguarded under FIFA regulations and by missing out of Tunisia 2004 we didn’t even have to use it.

Other countries and particularly our opponents in Group F most of whom qualified for Tunisia 2004 would pay a kings ransom to have what we have. This is as good as it gets.

It’s time to seize the moment.

DOMESTIC LEAGUE

The 2003 Kinapharma League though generated some excitement among football loving fans the most refreshing news that came out of it was the coronation of a new champion. By breaking Hearts of Oak’s 7-year throttlehold on the league, Asante Kotoko managed to stave off public discontent and apathy that was bound to show up to affect the 2004 league. People were getting fed up with the one-way, predictive race and risk of the competitive halo around the league gradually becoming a farce than a reality was sending panic waves among stakeholders.

It would have been a great disservice on the part of Kotoko if it had failed to stop the rail-roading of the league diadem to the Tudu Head Office of Hearts for the umpteenth time.

I congratulate Kotoko for saving the 2004 league.

As they trot out to the bigger stage presented by the Champions League after their last flirtation in 1990, Kotoko should be proud of their achievement. I congratulate golden boy Abdul Razak for a double carat gold performance. I endorse his selection for the Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) coach of the year.

Even though the Interim Management Committee (IMC) was quick to take credit for the League triumph (I don’t oppose their right to that because they deserve some credit) I share the popular sentiment that Herbert Mensah who supervised the renaissance of the team during his 3-year chairmanship should come in for some credit too-if not most of it.

Even though some people in Kotoko might characterize this as hogwash and borderline stupidity I make bold to say that the league success validates and affirms Herbert position that his years at Kotoko has finally paid off. You bet.

BAD-BYE Ben Koufie

Remember the favorite line quoted by law enforcement agents when they report the accidental killing of a person? Try this: “He was at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Well that epitomizes the tragi-comedic narrative of Uncle Ben’s stewardship as the helmsman at the Ghana Football Association (GFA).

Whoever is thrust on this surprisingly much-coveted seat is doomed to failure because they are placed in a lose-lose situation. That is the conundrum most

GFA Chairmen found out when it was too late to hit the eject button and some of them were made public spectacles of hate, ridicule and calumny. Some barely left with their professional image intact.

The fact is that the job is a thankless one. It is like the poisoned chalice-you are better off without it.

Uncle Ben was the quintessential honest public servant. Sauntering the football landscape for decades first as player, coach and finally wearing a badge of excellence as a FIFA Instructor he felt he was qualified for a job and could not turn down an offer from his country to serve.

MINEFIELD AND SHARKS

What he didn’t figure out was that the job of GFA chairman was indistinguishable from walking on the minefields of Cambodia-it is a land mass filled with its fair share of back stabbers, blood thirsty sharks waiting to circle at the scent of your blood and basically an environment starved of goodwill towards the one in the hot seat.

However the most disconcerting part of the job is funding. Government runs the show when it comes to that. The GFA used to compete with as many as twenty or more different organizations for funding under the former Ministry of Youth and Sport (MOYS).

With the adding of the Education portfolio to Youth and Sports, the number of institutions waiting for the crumbs to fall has naturally ballooned.

The FIFA goal project brought in the injection of much needed cash but that had to be used under the direct specifications of FIFA. So this was an only just solution sort of.

What we need to get around this perennial problem is to elect a candidate who should be encouraged to make the GFA independent of government funding.

FAVORITE

Uncle Ben was not my personal favorite for the job. However I was more relieved he got the job instead of the known neophyte he was competing with. I prayed for him to succeed and God knows this is true. He had worked with my late dad on some projects back in the day and I knew he was coming to the job with integrity of heart.

He scored some points with his 5-year development plan, the thrust of which sought to de-emphasize the use of over-aged players for age restricted competitions.

This was a recurring problem most previous administrations never broached or even to debate in public. He was the only one who did something about it and that should be applauded.

Even though his one term saw our soccer fortunes plummeting to an all-time low he would certainly be remembered for his big heart and genuine intentions.

ATHLETICS

By some twist of fate or call it a sleight of hand (if you will), athletics gave Ghanaians something to cheer about when Team Ghana picked up 23 medals at the All-African Games held in Abuja, Nigeria.

In winning 4 gold, 13 silver and 6 bronze medals this team came close to equaling our all-best record of 27 medals set in 1973. They were just four medals shy from realizing that goal.

In deed, the amazing feat chalked by the likes of Myles-Mills, Margaret Simpson, Ignatius Gaisah might just change the old script of failure and underperformance which we had become accustomed to and definitely send clear signals to all that indeed the “old crow is back”.

It was an incredible feeling-one that left you salivating and wishing for more. It is our hope that our athletes would continue to make Mother Ghana proud. While scoring some great points on the field we also discovered boundless talent and potential in the likes of Ignatius Gaisah, Margaret Simpson and in disciplines like Bodybuilding, Hockey, Judo etc.

With the proper guidance and incentive these athletes could blossom into great stars and rub shoulders with the big names in International Athletics. It’s about time we see the red, gold and green flying high at international meets.

BOXING

Once one of our strongest fortes, 2003 failed to deliver any significant breakthroughs in both amateur and professional boxing where golden performances by the Azumah Nelsons, the Ike Quarteys, Alfred Kotey, Raymond Narh and the giants before them had etched our nation’s name in the pages of boxing history. Making the ingression from the amateur to the professional stage back in the day was considered the natural progression. Not so today.

This generation’s rush to land the big bucks without going through the mill like their forbears coupled with the unavailability of adequate sponsorship and governmental support have contributed to the current state of affairs.

Things have to change and I couldn’t agree more with Ike Quartey who is counseling them to bid their.

We managed to make some modest gains in Hockey, Volleyball, Table Tennis, Lawn Tennis, Wheel chair and Special Olympics. We don’t need to stop there. We have to forge ahead and make the most of every opportunity presented to us to represent our nation. However we need to change out attitudes and mindsets of the past. We have to approach sponsorship differently. We have to consider it as a trusted and crucial ally.

Sponsorship is the oxygen that gives life to sports development and if we want to see our sportsmen and women excel we have to attach all the importance to it.

FINALLY

I would want to congratulate winners of the 2003 Sports Writers of Ghana (SWAG) awards for excellence in their chosen disciplines.

Cycling- Zormelo John

Sports Personality- Ignasius Gaisah

Team of the Year- Ghana’s gold winning 4 by 100 relay team

Male Footballer of the Year- Aziz Ansah of Kotoko

Female Footballer of the Year- Adjoa Bayor

Dedication and Valour- Emmanuel Osei-Kufour

Discovery of the Year- Akosua Serwaa

Promising Star of the Year- Shaibu Yakubu

Joint Goal King- Shaibu Yakubu and Kwadwo Poku

Chairman of the Year- Ebo Bartels (Table Tennis Assoc)

Table Tennis player of the Year- Nana Yaw Boateng

Volleyball player of the Year- Casmil Agbenyegah (Kwamerk)

Email writer: paakwesip@yahoo.com