Setting The Mark For Africa

Ghana has moved forward in bound and leaps with the management and maintenance of its sports facilites.

The country invested millions of US Dollars in rehabilitatng Accra and Kumasi stadia and building two new stadia in Sekondi and Tamale. The state also constructed 15 training pitches complete with changing rooms and it is gratfying to note that 2 years on all these facilites are being properly maintained to a very high standard. Last week Ghana hosted 4 natonal teams, namely Mozambique, Burkina Faso, Guinea and the Black Stars and this was not a problem because we had quality training facilites to accommodate all four teams in Accra alone. Mart Noi, the Dutch Head Coach of Mozambique Natonal team was full of praise for Ghana as host. He said everything they requested from the Ghana FA was provided to specifcaton and was very complimentary of the training pitch at El Wak which he said was comparable to any in Europe, he went on to say Ghana was setng a standard for Africa.

What I fnd very interestng is the harmony; teamwork and high level of professionalism exhibited by the Sports Council, Ghana FA and GGT the maintenance contractors. In a chat with Worlanyo Agra, Head of the Sports Council, the facilites are Natonal assets which cost a lot of money and he believed in a maintenance culture so only the best would do.

The General Secretary of Ghana FA Mr. Kof Nsiah also mentoned that their outit received the urgent request from FIFA to host Burkina Faso and Guinea at short notce and they quickly communicated the request to the NSC and GGT and afer a short meetng the logistcs were provided. There is one school of thought that the high quality of our pitches has had a positve impact on the fortunes of our natonal football teams, this is a view shared by Mr. Frank Boahene, CEO of Green Grass Technology, the pitch maintenance contractors for all the stadia and training pitches. Mr. Boahene is well placed to make this comment if you look at his record at Fulham FC where his pitch was ranked among the top 3 in the English premiership for 3 years running. The Black Satellites trained at the PRESEC facility for about four months before going to the U-20 World Cup in Egypt.