As football lovers are trying hard to somewhat forget the AFCON fiasco and patiently await preparations towards the crucial World Cup qualifier between the Black Stars and the Super Eagles of Nigeria GTV sports deserve applause for their relentless crusade to save the passion of the nation.
Barely a week ago the nation’s biggest free on air TV sports station assembled four past GFA bosses to deliberate on the way forward to resuscitate the game to its past high international level. The four GFA kingpins, Nana Brew Butler, Alhaji M.N D. Jawula, Dr Nyaho Nyaho Tamakloe and Kwasi Nyantakyi collectively made numerous useful suggestions that could see Ghana Football reach the pinnacle again.
lt was a rather lengthy but interesting programme that caught national attention. Perhaps it was this national attraction that encouraged the organisers to follow up with another discussion programme this time by three accomplished Radio and TV sports commentators and a veteran sports writer who also made many more suggestions to make the national game tick again. Dr Kwaku Ofosu Asare now head of the 2023 African Games Organising Committee, Nii Lante Vanderpuye of GBC sports fame now MP for Odododiodoo constituency
SWAG President Kwabena Yeboah were all in their elements in the two-hour programme. They showed they were trained talkatives and yours truly enjoyed their amazing oratorial skills.
I loved the way they raked the past especially the brilliant pioneering achievements in the sixties except that they seemed to give all the credit to Osagyefo the President ignoring the grassroots performance of Sports Director Ohene Djan, “the initiator of all onslaughts” True, President Nkrumah loved sports and I would say he gave Ohene Djan all the support but the heavily built man from Aburi was an accomplished sports administrator, full of ideas and as he often told his critics he was abreast with all the subterranean aspects of sports administration especially football. Fantastic humorous man I would add. A trained school teacher by profession and cocoa broker by occupation, Nsawam based Ohene Djan had been involved with grassroot politics of football even before independence with the likes of Richard Akwei struggling to form a national Football Association (FA) from the various district FAs at the time.
To cut a long story short, Ohene Djan was survivor of a national football revolution and became FA boss in 1958. So when Osagyefo formed a Central Organisation of Sports and put Ohene Djan in charge of all sports in the country the smart guy elected to be executive Secretary of the FA and made the Minster of education Kojo Botsio chairman more a less honorary position at the time. Note that we had one Ministry for education culture and sports those days.
Ohene Djan knew the FIFA statues that football should be managed by the FA “to the exclusion of all others”. ln his capacity as Director of sports and executive Secretary of the FA he was the “alpha and omega” of football administration in the country. And being smart and sharp he implemented
to the full Osagyefo’s mandate given him to make Ghana soccer showpiece in Africa. He planned a solid foundation for sports in general.
Ohene Djan sent abroad a number of sports oriented trained teachers like Sam Boohene, Alfred Kye, J.S Wontumi, Lawton Ackah Yensu and Co to become regional sports organisers.
For football he also sent abroad retired national players like Ben Kwofie, RM Aggrey, Asebi Boakye, Chris Briandt, James Adjei, Ben Sissuh, Kwame Appiah, E. K Ekudi, D.S. Dramani, K.N. Nketia and Solomon Gray to be coaches.
In his quick bid to get a strong Black Stars group he took a rather controversial decision to pick two top players from the existing league clubs to form Republikans that was to be a nucleus national team in disguise.
There is a whole episode about the formation of Republikans and subsequently aiding Ghana to win the Africa Cup back to back. There was also the formation of Academicals and The New
Horizon as future Black Stars material.
All this rigmarole is to point to the fact Osagyefo picked the right man for the job and he excelled so the labourer deserves his honour.
My submission is that Ohene Djan did a yeoman’s job and there is no reason why Accra Stadium should not be renamed after him.
I may have to return to this topic in future.
Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.
