Vice President Aliu Mahama, inaugurating a 15-member committee to plan activities to mark 100 years of football in Ghana, on Thursday, tasked the Committee to use the occasion to devise effective systems and strategies for the total revitalisation of the game.

"The celebration of 100 years of soccer with the theme 'Football in 100 Years' is a unique opportunity for us to make the game we all love better.''

"We expect that this Committee will plan and execute activities and ceremonies that will involve the mass of the people in commemoration of this most popular sport," he told them.

Vice President Mahama said the true, factual and accurate documentation of the history of the game should be recorded during the period that should also honour the nation's soccer heroes, players and administrators in line with their achievements.

He recounted Ghana's excellent performance in international soccer in the past and expressed concern about the downturn in soccer, especially in recent years, saying mediocrity, inconsistency and hooliganism had become the character of football in Ghana.

"We have not invested in infrastructure and have failed to adopt measures to modernize the game, including applying the principles and practices of good corporate governance to our football clubs,'' he said.

He, therefore, charged the Committee to take stock of the years, identify the challenges and strengths and work hard to bring back the once glorious image of Ghana as a soccer nation. The first football club in Ghana, Excelsior, was formed at Cape Coast, the then capital of the Gold Coast, in 1903. On December 26, of that year, it engaged a team of local sailors in a match, reported to be the first organized competition.

Activities for the occasion will kick-start on December 26 and run until March 7, 2004.

Minister for Basic, Secondary and Girl Child Education, Ms Christine Churcher, who is also the Member of Parliament for Cape Coast, chairs the Committee whose membership include football administrators, veteran footballers and sports journalists.

Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, said the period should be used to plan how Ghana can achieve her targets of hosting the African Cup of Nations in 2008, the All African Games in 2015 and the World Cup in 2044.

Events for the occasion, he said, should include a Hall of Fame and the naming of important monuments after soccer heroes, adding that every player who participated in the just-ended league would receive a certificate as a testimonial.

Ms Churcher, who described herself as a soccer enthusiast, accepted the challenge and pledged to do her best with her team to make Ghana a proud soccer nation again.

She went down memory lane to reminisce the days of Aggrey Fynn, Baba Yara and Robert Mensah, whose dedication and passion to the game brought them greatness.

''The stock taking would bring to the fore what went wrong and create a path for moving ahead.''

Mr Ben Kwofie, Chairman of the Ghana Football Association, veteran players Abedi Pele and Osei Kofi are members of the Committee.