Exchequers - 2007 IPMC Champions

After waiting on the championship sidelines for some 4 years, Exchequers of Bank of Ghana announced their arrival as championship contenders when they forced CEPS to a scoreless draw in the final match of the IPMC Hockey A-League.

Exchequers started the day as underdogs against a CEPS side buoyed by the inclusion of 4 national team players and one player who had a 6 month stint with the competitive Belgium Hockey League. The script favoured CEPS in its entirety and most followers of the game expected them to win the match and the championship to crown a wonderful year of winning doubles. CEPS were 2007 Gala champions in men and women’s divisions and SESSA Champions in both divisions as well. With the women winning the IPMC L-League, it was a foregone conclusion that the double would be achieved, especially against a seemingly lame opposition that had no big names and only one national team player.

The match itself lacked the excitement of a championship match and rightly so because the technical handlers of both teams employed very different strategies. CEPS went all out to win while Exchequers just needing a draw to be crowned, sat back soaked the pressure and attempted to catch CEPS on the counter attack. In their haste to score, CEPS created and wasted countless chances while the defensive strategy of Exchequers worked to perfection for them.

It was a tense match which saw the umpires struggling to keep up with the consistency of their interpretation of the rules of the game. Players on both sides were visibly unhappy with some of the decisions of the umpires and this affected player composure and the entire beauty of the match.

With the scoreless result, Exchequers won their 14th League championship and their first real silverware since 2003. They also assured themselves of the right to represent Ghana at the prestigious African Hockey Federation’s Africa Cup for Club Champions Competition to be held in Abuja, Nigeria during the latter part of the year. Dethroned champions Golden Sticks of Ghana Commercial Bank placed second on the log and CEPS came in third.

The league trophies were handed to the winning teams and various individuals were awarded prizes for their performance during the season. Joseph Appiah of Golden Sticks of Ghana Commercial Bank was adjudged the best male player of the year by a panel of coaches and team officials while Georgina Sam of Reformers of Ghana Prisons Service was adjudged the best female player of the year. Promising players were Dorcas Aboagye of CEPS (female) and Samuel Marfo of Exchequers (male). The best defender award went to Grace Mensah of CEPS (female) and Charles Moses of CEPS (male) while Aziz Adima was voted the best umpire. Abigail Adalatey of Reformers and Lydia Mettle of CEPS shared the joint honours of top scorers in the female category while Titus Mills won that for the A-League and Eric Dada Manu of Multistix claimed that for the S-League. Multistix, CEPS and Exchequers won the top scoring club award in the S-League, L-League and A-League respectively.