Unripe for Champions League?

Like many of our supporters across the world did, I strained my eyes to watch the entire duration of Sunday’s CAF Champions League qualifier against Etoile Sportive du Sahel online, switching from our App to various links that popped up in the course of the game.

Under the circumstance, Nana Kwame Dankwah’s Twi commentary on the App was fine. The fact that, I could make no meaning of the Arabic commentary on the other links also did not matter. The images being beamed were enough. The quality of the images was not good.

However, as long as I saw the two teams in action, I was satisfied and I dare add that, we underperformed. I posted on Twitter and Facebook that: “Save the poor penalty decision, the team’s performance was uninspiring. We were badly exposed in defence and midfield. Attack was simply non-existent. We are still not good for the CAF Champions League. Painful truth.”

The above was my brief take on the game immediately after the poor Egyptian referee ended proceedings. We have to be sincere. Referee Ibrahim Nour El Din penalty decision for Etoile in the 20th minute was at best, appalling. The ball hit the chin if not the face of Justice Blay.

How the referee adjudged that incident to be a penalty affirms the long-held view that, visiting teams especially from West Africa rarely get fairness in matches against North African clubs. We saw an example of bias in Monastir. But that aside, we must boldly accept, too, that, the Porcupines did not come to the party. Our performance left several disappointing imprints.

Nothing seemed right with our second half approach. Even when Etoile were a man down, we hardly showed any promise, to exploit their numerical disadvantage, for instance. Against an experienced Etoile side, who were playing at home and bent on winning; why Coach Zachariassen resorted to the 4-4-2 formation and virtually stuck to it throughout surprised me.

I reluctantly question player selection, since several considerations, not always available to the media, influence coaches on who they field but Alexis Didi not being a starter or a substitute was intriguing. Coach Zachariassen admits the team was poor and puts it down to inexperience.

“We didn’t stick to the plan” he said. “We played a little strange football; sorry to say, we showed that, we don’t have too much experience at this level. They showed that, they have more experience and they used it. A long list of [things] were not good enough” said Zachariassen.

There should be no further excuse. The team must be back to the drawing board to assess what went wrong and fix it. Prior to the game, some argued that, the Porcupines were still not cut for the CAF Champions League. I agree. Having the guts to play is one thing and backing your guts with quality form is another. On the evidence of the Monastir game, there is no shame in accepting that, we have more work to do as a team to reach the group stage of the competition.

The quest to be back to the class of top African club performers should be lauded. Whether or not, we were unimpressive in Monastir, we a consistent appearance. we must learn from the experiences of 2018 and this year, plan well and build on our effort. We will get to our destination one day. We should grab the chance to compete in the Confederation Cup.

We should redirect our energies there, seeing it not just as a consolation but also an opportunity to consolidate our 2018 gains in that competition. We need to stay in Africa. That is why we must take the elimination from the Champions League in good fate. We must resolve to build an improve team, employing workable ideas to maintain players lest we will make no progress.

The revolutionary manifesto

The thinking that the 120 delegates who will be voting to elect a new Ghana Football Association (GFA) President and an Executive Council, have no regard for manifestos may have its own foundation. However, against the backdrop of what our football has gone through in the last one year, for example, it will be impolitic for the presidential hopefuls to assume that, football fans and the media do not care about their plans to significantly change the state of our football.

I have held in previous write-ups that, even if the delegates have no interest in the hopefuls’ manifestos and will vote on the basis of factors other than the set of ideas being presented by the hopefuls to change our game, they must, for public good, give us an understanding of what their presidency will do if handed the four-year mandate to administer Ghana football. The public is a stakeholder in teh game. The media will as well hold anyone who wins to his promises.

So, it is important the GFA presidential hopefuls come to the table with something. At this stage, I do not care if they have no faith in their own ideas or whether indeed, they are presenting manifestos for the sake of it. I also do mind if the 120 delegates, with all due respect to them, will shun the contestant with the best collection of ideas and vote for someone who has nothing in substance. At the end of it all, time will judge the choice delegates make and its impact on our football.

The other day, it was Kurt Okraku who briefly outlined his vision, pointing out that, his administration will ’ignite passion and create wealth for all’. Kurt Okraku is expected to unveil his manifesto today. Next was Osei Palmer, whose team announced that, they would have their media launch on October 2. The Palmer team has not really given broad themes of what their regime will do. The fact that they have something to share with the media however suffices.

Just this morning, George Afriyie, another GFA presidential hopeful, published snippets of his manifesto, giving the public a clear indication that, he cannot be left out of competition to put out his objectives of seeking the high office of Ghana football. The fact that George Afriyie also took to Facebook and Twitter to share the snippets of his manifesto, underlines his firm appreciation of the use and relevance of social media the campaign.

It has to be noted that, the people who will vote are a very small population. They may well be on social media but George Afriyie and the other presidential hopefuls’ resort to social media to promote their campaign, lays bare, their view that, they cannot engage the 120 delegates in their privacy and think that, it is enough. Effective use of social media is important in any enterprise today. I laud  George Afriyie and the others who have seen the significance of employing relevant social media platforms to get their message across.

George Afriyie talks about 'rebranding the GFA and creating a new image, adopting a revolutionary posture for change, forging a non-compromising approach to corrupt practices, reconciling the GFA with the public, educating the football populace on the laws of the game, restoring cordial relations with the football fraternity and enacting new stringent regulations to combat hooliganism and vandalism'.

His eight-point campaign promise is lucid. What attracts me most are the bits about a new image for the FA, stemming corrupt practices reconciling the FA with the public and the stringent regulations on violence. Post #12, the GFA’s image was impaired. Then again, grand referees’ complicity in bribery badly wounded the moral fibre of our football.

We knew and suspected that majority of our referees were innately corrupt. They were constantly influenced compromised by club managers and their operatives. We had very little, concrete evidence to support our suspicion until investigative journalist, Anas went underground to confirm it. Tied inseparably to corruption is hooliganism, another cancerous tumour that must be expunged from our game or substantially dealt with.

I will support any revolutionary, combative campaign to bring under control or stop these worms in the belly of Ghana football. Thus, George Afriyie has set his vision clearly. Just like the other hopefuls, I have no way of telling whether or not he will live by his promises but then, this offers hope. It gives us substance to shape the discussion on who leads Ghana football. The dialogues in the media have to be made better with what the hopefuls have in mind. This is good.  

On the GFA election

As I tried to stir a discussion on the GFA Presidential election, the personalities that have filed to contest and their campaign messages last Friday; I noticed that, some colleagues have been as concerned as I am on the silence of virtually all the presidential hopefuls on their plans to substantially change the state of Ghana football. The essence of my post was not to ridicule any of the individuals who have formerly submitted their forms but to only share my observations. Thus, I wrote on Facebook and Twitter: 

“Perhaps apart from Kurt Okraku and Nana Yaw Amponsah, who have given the public snippets of their plans for Ghana football, if they're given the mandate as GFA President, the rest have had no message. We may have to wait for their official launch or when they become 'proper' candidates to see what will change regarding their plans for our game. So far, for me, there's been nothing convincing from Osei Palmer, George Afriyie and Fred Pappoe. I have no vote but I'm afraid, as an observer, I've seen nothing impressive.”

I stand by this view despite the opposing opinions others have on it. I acknowledge replies from the teams of Palmer and Kurt, all inviting me to their media events. Kurt unveils his manifesto on Tuesday while Palmer does his media launch on October 2. I have seen documents spelling out the vision of Nana Yaw Amponsah and Amanda Clinton. I have heard George Afriyie and Fred Pappoe speak vaguely on what they bring to the table.

From where I sit, sketchy media commentary by the presidential hopefuls on their plans defeats the idea of making the general public part of their campaign. The presidential hopefuls are yet to pass the integrity test and thus declared fit for the contest. While they wait to be cleared, they have, nonetheless been campaigning. Their campaigns ought not be in the public domain.

The voting population they have to meaningfully engage and win their votes are only 120. This small voting population is within the public space but the sensible thing to do is to engage them privately. I have wondered why people think I do not know this and that I expect, the presidential hopefuls to mount radio and television platforms to campaign. Only a novice would think like that. I do not expect the presidential hopefuls to be busy with media campaign.

That will spell doom to their ambition but it is also narrow-minded to assume that, the media and the public do not have to know the plans of the presidential hopefuls for Ghana football because their campaign must be on the quiet and to the 120 delegates. 

The hopefuls have a duty to involve the public in their discourse. The public is a stakeholder in this enterprise although it is the 120 delegates who will chiefly be voting. The delegates must do Ghana football a good service. They must elect someone with a broad vision, unblemished character, impeccable leadership credentials, proven and demonstrable competence, to steer our football which is increasingly slipping into nothingness at almost every level.

The delegates must be guided by reason, not superfluous or extraneous factors. We cannot afford a return to all the things that triggered #12. A new era dawns. Those to usher us into that new era of Ghana football are not the President and the Executive Council who will be elected on October 25, 2019. It is the 120 people. Those with the power to vote and to make choices as to who leads our football. Their choices will define Ghana football. We can only hope that they choose wisely.

What about Essipong Stadium?

A post on the Facebook Page of the Minister for Youth and Sports, Hon. Isaac Asiamah, with pictures, talks about a delegation he led to “Inspect the Cape Coast Sports Stadium on Friday, August 16 to mark the commencement of refurbishment works on key areas of the facility”.

According to the publication, apparently authored on behalf of or by the Minister himself: “The maintenance agreement signed between the Chinese and Ghanaian Governments also includes a training [programme] where some Ghanaians would be skilled as permanent staff on the ground to maintain the facility and the country’s other sporting infrastructures”.

Hon. Isaac Asiamah proceeds to express Ghana’s gratitude to the Chinese Government for their support, while pointing out that, “A rigorous maintenance culture will forestall the rapid infrastructure deterioration we have witnessed in the past” in Ghana. While I read the Minister’s Facebook post, two things engaged my mind.

First, our depressing maintenance culture and secondly, the state of affairs at the Essipong Stadium in the Western Region. To start with, the mere fact that, we will not allow the Cape Coast Stadium to deteriorate like the Essipong Stadium before repair works begin, is laudable. Questions have to be asked however as to when same will be done to the Essipong Stadium.

In June, the Director General of the National Sports Authority, Professor Peter Twumasi, speaking on behalf of Hon. Asiamah at a forum of 120 leading actors in the sports industry in the Western Region, stated that, rehabilitation works at the Essipong Stadium has been catered for in the new six-year Ghana Sports Renaissance plan. It however did not say when the works will actually start.  

The renaissance plan was expected to be launched in July, according to a Ghana News Agency report I read. I do not know whether indeed the plan was launched. What is clear however is that, every day, the corrosion and general deterioration of the Essipong Stadium enters a different phase. That is why our sports authorities ought to be reminded that, the more we wait to breathe life back into the dying Essipong facility, the greater we contribute to its ruin.

There is no question about the Government’s commitment to develop sports infrastructure. I have my difficulties with Hon. Asiamah over the utterly incongruous 2019 AFCON expenditure, not budget, whose details we still have not seen or do not have. But, like or loathe him, the Minister, with the construction of youth centres nationwide, is spearheading a project that will surely give sports infrastructure in the country a decent facelift.

Will the maintenance approach to these youth centres, when completed, be like that of the Essipong Stadium? I said earlier that, the commencement of repairs at the Cape Coast Stadium is positive. We should not wait till it rots before we assemble tools for rehabilitation. I therefore make a passionate appeal to the Hon. Minister to turn his eye to the Essipong Stadium.

We enjoyed its usage in 2008 and the few years that followed. Now with its torn, decaying roofing; broken seats, wrecked electrical fittings and mold-infested stands; the Essipong Stadium looks like a decrepit, run-down structure, which sadly tells a story, perhaps about the state if sports not just in the Western Region but in the entire country. It is unacceptable.

Political actors in the game

So, this week, and in fact a little earlier than that, there’s been an unending commentary on what some have termed ‘the unhealthy presence’ of politicians in our football. I call them political actors in this article. Their growing presence in our football has been described in various ways, with loads of adjectives being brandished here and there.

The picture has been painted, as if to say, nothing as dangerous this has ever happened to Ghana football since Independence Day, March 6, 1957. I beg to differ. There’s an exaggeration. The furor, for me, are all much ado about nothing. With our unfettered freedom of speech, we say too many things without truly looking at the reality of our situation.

We are often too quick to condemn. I say this not because I’m naïve. I’m not ignorant of what seemingly underlines the concerns of those whose voices have been loud against the presence of the political actors. I’m aware of how some Ghanaian and African politicians are careless, insensitive, corrupt and incompetent – the result of which leave them mismanaging state resources and not meeting the expectation of the masses.

For most of our breed of political actors, it’s about their selfish interest, not what would serve the interest of the populace. That’s the reason concerns would be raised they populate our football space even for a right cause. The latest concerns follow the appointment of the Black Stars management committee, chaired by GNPC Boss and former Asante Kotoko Executive Chairman, Dr. K. K. Sarpong.

Other members of the committee are ex-footballer, Ibrahim Sunday; Deputy Chief of Staff, Francis Asenso-Boakye; Deputy Youth and Sports Minister, Perry Okudzeto and Deputy Finance Minister, Madam Abena Osei Asare who is also an MP. While the political colours of Sunday Ibrahim isn’t known to me, that of the other personalities is public knowledge.

They are all NPP. They are part of the ruling government. That forms the premise of some of the concerns. They are politicians or political actors. But are these concerns justified in our situation? I don’t think so. Take it or leave it, politicians would always have a stake in our football. They had it during NDC’s reign. I don’t believe it would ever change.

Regardless of how NDC and NPP have collectively mismanaged Ghana in recent years; irrespective of the harm they would still wreak on this nation years to come, either consciously or inadvertently, with their ‘volatile’, usually impolitic, partisan politics; we can’t disassociate or disengage them from our football. We can’t keep them away. We should accept that. We deceive ourselves if we think we can do that. From the days of the first Prime Minister, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah to present times, politicians or political actors have been part of our football. 

You must be new to the terrain if you think this isn’t true. They have and would continue to have a stake in our football so long as the financing of the national teams; like the salary of Black Stars coach, for example, is paid by the Ministry of Youth and Sports or the government. 

In conclusion, I’m of the opinion that, where politicians first have the competence to deliver a certain task, (like in the case of the recently appointed Black Stars management committee), our energy should be channeled to keeping them on their toes; put a check on them, and demand that the right things are done. 

That’s better than anything else.