I was going through my archives when I found this article published 33 years ago in The Monitor bi- weekly newspaper jointly published by the legendary journalist Ajoa Yeboah-Afari and yours truly in 1990. I hope my readers will find it worthwhile of the throwback. Here we go.
Dated 19th January 1990 “If I were asked to pick the best sports administrator of the decade in Ghana, I would easily name Samuel Ansah Okyere, until Dec 31 last year, Chairman of the Ghana Football Association.
Sam Okyere, in my estimation, had the most chequered sports administration in the just ended decade.
Taking over from Justice Aboagye’s GFA which was dissolved in the: “blood and thunder days” of 1979, Sam Okyere opened the decade of 1980 as chairman of the Ghana Football Association. It was a short reign as he was soon made the acting Executive Chairman of the National Sports Council.
Unfortunately, his appointment sparked a clash of personalities at the NSC administrative hierarchy and there appeared to be some uneasiness in the air. Come 1982 with Jerry Rawlings in the saddle, the new PNDC Sports Secretary, Zaya Yeebo, set up an inquiry dubbed “The Duah Adonteng Committee” to probe the Sports Council.
Mr Sam Okyere was subsequently transferred to the Ministry of Sports as Technical Director with a lot of responsibilities on his hands. In his capacity as Secretary General of the Ghana Olympic Committee, Sam Okyere was the Games Attaché to the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics in the USA. There were a few disciplinary issues at the Games that attracted national attention. No wonder after the Games, there was a big controversy over the way UK based Ghanaian sprinter, Ernest Obeng, was sacked from the team at the Games Village for indiscipline.
In the midst of the controversy in sporting circles came a terse announcement from the government retiring Sam Okyere from the Ministry of Sports. The veteran sports administrator therefore prematurely left public office.
Sam was “sitting his somewhere” leading a private life when in December 1986 he was invited by the same government to be GFA chairman once again.
“Naturally I hesitated but in the end I accepted
It as a call to national duty” Sam told me in an interview. This call to national duty however proved hectic for Sam. The first national league he organised on assumption of office was full of problems. It turned out to be the most interrupted in the history of the competition since 1958. There were as many as five breaks to take care of international engagements. Ironically Ghana lost all the international assignments in that year.
Noted for his strong character and creativity,
Sam did not lose hope to revive interest in the passion of the nation. He introduced a special knock-out competition with the Ohene Djan Cup at stake. He also introduced a special round-robin tournament for the top six clubs in the league table to decide who becomes champion and qualifies for Africa. Happily, for Kotoko fans the fabulous club of Africa won both competitions and who goes to Africa was not in doubt. But as it turned out the season that began on Feb 31 ended on Dec 19.
If Sam Okyere’s maiden league was a long season the subsequent one was a real marathon and full of turmoil. It was a controversial season plagued with court cases, management crisis in some top clubs, mass exodus of players and fixed matches. Off the pitch and for the first time in the history of the Ghana Football the head of the FA was dragged to the law Court, fined and made to sign a bond of good behaviour for six months or serve three months’ jail term. Sam Okyere’s charge was that he had ignored a court ruling in favour of Cape Coast Venomous Vipers who had contested that they should play in the league instead of Accra Standfast.
Then in a bizarre end to the season four clubs were engaged in a serious match fixing which shook the entire Ghanaian football populace. Sekondi Hasaacas threatened by relegation, defeated local rivals Sekondi Eleven Wise by the astonishing score of 19-0 in Sekondi and B. A. United, also on the brink of relegation whipped Accra based Man U by an equally astonishing tally of 20-0 at Sunyani.
Sam Okyere and his men quickly reacted. The results of the matches were nullified. The four clubs were fined and all players and officials connected with the matches were banned for a year.
Meanwhile, the junior national team, Black Starlets, had qualified for the finals of the JVC World Cup in Scotland and the GFA were making feverish preparations to make the occasion big.
Sam Okyere the GFA boss, as is customary, flew to Germany to join the team in their final preparations for the World Cup.
Suddenly an official announcement in the media asked Sam Okyere to return home by the next available plane and show cause why he should not be surcharged for making the trip to Germany.
Sam Okyere responding to national call, returned home.
Unruffled he continued to be at his desk until a few weeks to the start of his third league season when the Ministry of Sports came out with a shocker – Cape Coast Venomous Vipers had been granted automatic entry into the national league and would take part in the 1989-90 league.
No official reason was given for the action but it was obvious Vipers were promoted on the strength of their court case against the GFA.
By this time there were strong murmurs that Sam Okyere was going to be replaced.
Apparently not waiting to be overtaken by events, Sam Okyere tendered his resignation letter to the authorities explaining. that his three-year contract had expired.
His decision rather strangely took officialdom by surprise and the Ministry of Sports pleaded with him to stay on till further notice.
Sam the nationalist, stayed on and worked relentlessly as if nothing had happened.
He brought complete sanity into the league with prompt disciplinary measures. The fixtures were so attractive that the very last day of the year saw the two most glamorous teams Asante Kotoko and Hearts of Oak face to face at Accra Stadium in a pulsating thriller.
It was a titanic battle which yielded the highest gate proceeds.
In the history of the league. The Head of state Jerry Rawlings, was present at the stadium.
Barely two hours after this historic match a new GFA chairman was announced by the government to replace Sam Okyere. And thus ended Sam Okyere’s memorable decade of sports administration.
To me Sam Okyere deserves the award of Sports Administrator of the Decade.
Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.
