Ghana has been blessed with a lot of talents in the diverse sporting fields, but most notable amongst them is football. Aside from the countless number of football talents, Ghana also boasts of some of the best of the best football administrators on the African continent; the late Ohene Djan, who championed the campaign of increasing Africa’s number of slots at the World Cup, Kwesi Nyantakyi, who was once the second most powerful man in African football, and the Current Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana, Justice Anin Yeboah who is also the head in charge of disciplinary issues are men that cannot be overlooked.
In spite of all this infrastructure, we are one of the lowest-ranked amongst the best footballing nations on the continent. We cannot compare ourselves to the likes of Morocco, Algeria, Nigeria, and Senegal to mention a few. Yes, we can argue on the basis of the types of the economy that exist in those countries. It is true they outweigh us economy-wise, but the question is; how are we managing our football with what we have?
For the past decade, we have heard and seen the internal struggle between the FA and National Sports Authority on the usage of sporting facilities. One of the struggles is NSA coming out with a notice that the only standard footballing facility in the capital city is to be closed down after only 6 games into our premier league season. Is the NSA supposed to be the body to tell us about Stadiums that are supposed to be closed down instead of the club licensing board? There are other notices that clearly indicate that musical concerts will be held during the closed down period. Does this mean football does not give NSA more money than the concerts? What is the prime objective of a stadium in the first place? or we don’t respect our local teams enough?
As of now, the only sporting facility that meets the standards of CAF and FIFA is the Accra Sports Stadium; meaning the only available and standard football pitch in the whole of Accra is the Accra sports stadium. This is a country nicknamed ‘’the Brazil of African Football’’Is this nickname still relevant with respect to this situation?
Other popular Stadiums in Accra such as El-Wak has been poorly managed and is in a deteriorating state now. El-Wak was supposed to relieve the Accra Sports Stadium of some pressure due to where it is situated.
Legon cities Fc who also use the Accra sports stadium could have also made use of the legon sports stadium; Accra lions could have also followed suit looking at where they are based but what is preventing them is a topic for another discussion.
Tema sports stadium has also turned into a mini-hub for rats and rabbits hence Tema Youth and Inter Allies playing their home matches at the Accra sports stadium. SOS Herman Gmenier School Park which was used by Egypt for training in AFCON 2008 could have been the best venue for Inter Allies and other Tema-based teams taking its location into consideration.
Winneba Sports College is one of the first and best-planned sporting facilities in Ghana but little is heard of this facility and how it is faring. Reports even suggest the facility has morphed into a mini-bush for rodents.
The top-performing countries/teams have a collection of facilities that help to produce results. Our clubs have always struggled when they are hosted on top pitches in CAF club competitions and some players in our local clubs have also attested to the fact that the quality and size of a stadium they played in representing the nation had an impact on the performances they put up.
Hence, until stakeholders of our clubs, league, and FA as a whole begin to realize the impact of facilities in producing complete footballers which indirectly increase the weight of the brand, the nickname is nothing to write home about rather than past glory coats.
BY: Maxwell Okumasi
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