By Ken Bediako
Let’s not brood too much over the lousy performance by the Ɓlack Queens in the ongoing WAFCON in Morocco. Maybe they want to follow the footsteps of their male counterparts. What a shame. Anyway all does not seem lost. The Queens have a window in the play off series to qualify for the World Cup in Brazil next year.
But ,seriously, the handlers have a lot of work to do to make the team attractive. The nation’s teeming lovers of football are really sad the standard of the game in our dear country appears to be taking a nosedive .We really need to adopt measures that would help us regain our fast waning prestige.
On that note let’s continue with what many readers regard as.an exciting history of the National League.
THE 1978 LEAGUE
HEARTS FINISH HARD TO WIN CUP AS RTU MAKE GREAT DEBUT.
April 23 – Sept 27
Sekondi Hasaacas tried hard to be also masters of the long distance event but Hearts, in terrific form, proved the experts of the marathon race and finished to eclipse the ‘Giants of the West’ by three points.
Two more clubs, Real Tamale United (RTU) and Volta Juantex, were promoted to increase the number of participants to 18.
RTU, an amalgamation of several teams from the Tamale district, made an impressive debut. Those were the days of Mahama Nlai, Mohammed Choo, Harruna Seaman, Farouk and others. United took most of the already established clubs by storm and were riding majestically to a historic league triumph on their debut when they were halted in their tracks by Asante Kotoko.
The Tamale boys placed a respectable third position, just four points behind the impeccable Hearts of Oak. Top attraction was RTU’s young prodigy Abedi Pele who would go on to become a world class star.
The league started with an exciting local derby between Hearts of Oak and Great Olympics which ended 1-1. Tanko Ayuba scored first for Hearts and Sowah McPayne equalized for Olympics. New entrants Juantex lost 0-1 to GIHOC Stars but fellow new entrants Real Tamale United beat Dwarfs 3-2 in Tamale and Kotoko thrashed city rivals Cornerstones 3-0. Owusu Sekyere, (2) and Gyasi were the scorers.
The first mid-week matches played on May 3 saw Hearts beating traditional rivals, Kotoko 2-1 in Kumasi. Hearts got their goals through Bismarck Odoi (15th) and Douglas Tagoe (88th) whilst Victor Siriboe scored for Kotoko (55th). Hearts finished the match with nine men as Robert Hammond and Seth Ampadu were sent off by Referee Baah Alhassan for challenging his decision. Hearts had protested strongly against the 55th minute equalizer by Kotoko. In the melee the Referee was seen to have been kicked down by some Hearts players. After 10 minutes hold up the Referee sent off the two Hearts players.
In a stampede after the match, 15 people were killed and several injured in the worst disaster at the renovated Kumasi Stadium. The match had barely ended when Kotoko supporters charged into Hearts supporters who were jubilating over their idol club’s victory.
During the ensuing struggle in which chairs and other missiles were thrown, a portion of the railings at the stadium collapsed under the weight of the crowd who stampeded over those trapped under the railings. A committee headed by Dr J.W.S. de Graft Johnson then director of Building and Road Research Institute probed the incident. Dr de Graft Johnson became Vice President in the Third Republic. The report was not published.
Kotoko quickly overcame the sad occurence and won the following Sunday’s match against Akotex. Kankam had opened the scoring for Akotex but Kotoko hit back with a bang and scored four times through Oheneba Siaw, Justice Appiah and two goals by Joe Sam.
The two new entrants Juantex and Real Tamale United clashed in the 5th week and United won 2-1. As if by design the 7th week fixtures recorded seven draws, it was only Olympics, Dwarfs and Wise that won their matches.
By the 9th week Mohammed Choo was leading the goal king race with seven followed by Simon Awuah of Dumas with six goals. Not much excitement was produced till the 11th week when Hearts went on top of the table following their 2-0 win over GIHOC Stars at Nsawam.
At this juncture Choo had regained his lead in the goal king race with 10 goals having scored twice in RTU’s 3-0 win against SS 74.
Free scoring Hearts thrashed B. A. United 4-0 in Accra with Seth Ampadu and Mills Aryee scoring a goal each whilst Robert Hammond netted twice in the two most exciting matches of the week.
The 13th week saw Juantex winning their first match of the season by beating Cornerstone 1-0 at Ho. Goal scorer was Eben Atta. Hearts tasted their first defeat the following week losing 2-1 to SS 74. Otchere scored first for SS 74. Asabir replied for Hearts and Kuntu Blankson got the match-winner for SS 74. Fresh from their historic victory, SS74 were trounced 5-2 by Asante Kotoko in an outstanding match in Kumasi to end the first round.
The second round started on July 30 with Olympics beating Hearts 2-1 in a local derby. Sam Annan and George Alhassan scored for Olympics and Kingston Asabir got Hearts only goal.
Hearts, still on top of the table, were next held to a 1-1 draw by Hasaacas in Sekondi before they beat traditional rivals Kotoko 1-0 at Accra stadium. Kingston Asabir was the lone goal scorer. Kotoko, true to character, recovered quickly and beat local rivals Cornerstone 4-2 in an outstanding match.
Fankobaa became one of the few clubs to beat Hearts when George Quaye’s penalty goal gave the Swedru based club a lone goal victory at Swedru on August 13.
Juantex caused a big sensation when they beat the two giants of Ghana football, Kotoko and Hearts, within a week. The factory club from Juapong beat Kotoko 2-1 at Ho on August 30 and licked Hearts 1-0 on Sept 3 in Accra.
As a result of persistent attacks on referees and other acts of hooliganism, the Kumasi Stadium was closed down towards the end of the league. Corners and Kotoko therefore had to play their home matches at the Obuasi Horsey Park.
It had been an exciting race with Hearts of Oak and RTU fighting a close contest. Thus their match on Sept 27 in Accra topped the league fixtures. Mahama Nlai’s 6th minute goal won the day for RTU.
Hearts, however, finished hard in the remaining matches and victories over SS 74 and Dumas won them the cup by three points; beating Hasaacas to the second spot.
This was a bad season for the two Swedru clubs, Fankobaa and All Blacks, who were both relegated.
Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.
