It’s really good news that the government has promised to build new stadiums in the capitals of the newly created six Regions. They are Nalerigu (North East), Damongo (Savannah), Techiman (Brong East), Goaso (Ahafo), Sefwi Wiawso (Western North) and Dambai (Oti).
This is a healthy move to boost sports development in all parts of the country, but I have a special plea for Nkawkaw and Sunyani to be included in this lovely package. I have cogent reasons backed by historical facts. Nkawkaw may not be a regional capital, but the buzzing commercial town is so strategically located in the country. It has also produced a large number of sporting giants at the famous Catholic Youth
Organisation (CYO) parks in decades past when sports facilities were scarce. The strategically placed Nkawkaw is the largest town between the Accra and Kumasi highways and is also a gateway to the sprawling towns on the famous Odweanoma mountains and the tourist attraction Afram Plains.
The current generation fondly remembers the glory days of Okwawu United when the Asase Aban boys were among the top in Ghana football. Opeele Aboagye, Mohammed Odoom, Tony Yeboah to
mention a few.
The old folks will recall this historic incident in the early sixties when Fabulous Asante Kotoko were compelled to use the Nkawkaw CYO park as their home grounds for the 1961-62 national league. This was
punishment for challenging the authority of Sports Director Ohene Djan, forming the controversial star-studded model club, Ghana Real Republikans.
It’s a rather long story. Kotoko had threatened to boycott the league, having been deprived of their two key players, Baba Yara and Dogo Moro, to form the model club and threatened to boycott the league in protest. To counter the threat, the authorities in an unprecedented show of power hurriedly formed Kumasi United Club as a replacement for the Porcupine Warriors if they carried out their boycott threat.
After a series of tense secret negotiations, Kotoko agreed to play in the league. However, for daring to rebel in the first place, they were forced to honour all their first-round home matches at Nkawkaw.
The situation changed in the second round, and Kumasi United moved to Nkawkaw while Kotoko returned to their natural habitat. Nkawkaw is, therefore, a historic league centre that must be celebrated and honoured with a modern stadium.
The strong case for Sunyani is that the local Coronation Park has for decades produced enough national stars to warrant a replacement for a modern venue.
The Region that bred legends like Agyeman Gyau, Adasi Fofie, Atta Kwame, the Barniers, Soccer Articulator Agyeman Badu, Akuamoah Toyota, Saarah Mensah, George Arthur, Kwasi Appiah, Asamoah Gyan and Co deserves to be honoured with a new stadium.
I would suggest that the experts should come out with various stadium designs that would suit a particular environment.
I was privileged when a board member of NSA 20 years ago, to learn that Sunyani had reserved land for a modern stadium. I hope developers have not encroached on the site so Ghana can also build first-class stadiums like we saw on TV during the AFCON hosted by neighbouring Ivory Coast.
It is fair to suggest the formation of a strong management team to be in charge of these facilities when they are completed as planned. A lesson should be learnt from what has happened to the newly built stadiums at Essipong, Tamale and Cape Coast.
This reminds me of the status of the Borteyman Sports Complex that hosted the last African Games. It’s a modern edifice, except that time and ostensibly money did not permit us to crown it with the projected international-sized football stadium.
The subsequent decision was to complete it shortly and transform the whole complex into a Sports University.
The Sports Ministry would have to tell the sporting public whether the plan is still on the table. It is hoped the facilities there are being utilised to avoid waste.
With the numerous keep-fit programmes taking place in the country, especially in the capital, there seems to be a reawakening that the national sporting fever is coming back.
For example, a lot of men (myself included) are now taking a keen interest in women’s football. The just-ended WAFCON in Morocco attracted such attention that it surprised me. I must confess I didn’t fancy women’s football that much at first. I had agreed with my long-time friend George Amoako of Asante Kotoko fame that female legs must be handled with care and that such a contact sport for ladies should not be encouraged.
Watching both the European and African championships, the ladies themselves don’t seem to mind the tenderness of their legs and also their intricate hairstyles, so why must I appear to cry more than the bereaved?
Anyway, I still hold the view that at least boxing and wrestling should be no-go areas for women for obvious reasons.
Just as I was ending this write-up up a good friend of mine who prides himself on what he calls “useless information” drew my attention to the fact that both the Black Queens and Asante Kotoko won their respective matches against South African sides on penalties.
Kotoko beat Kaiser Chiefs on penalty shots for the Toyota Cup in Durban after the Black Queens had beaten South Africa for the Wafcon bronze in Casablanca.
I reminded him that former GFA chairman, the late Sam Okyere, might be smiling in his grave. Sam Okyere was the GFA chairman who, in the 1989 season, introduced penalty shootouts for a bonus point in drawn league matches to sharpen accurate penalty kicking instincts in our footballers.
We are yielding the dividends.
Cheers, everybody, and keep loving sports.
By Ken Bediako
