The debate is on. Judging from the current unimpressive state of football in the country, do we blame the coaches for poor work, or are the talents simply not available to harness?
My Abusco Headmaste,r the late C.J. Bannerman, once said at Speech Day that “were Teachers magicians, no pupils would ever fail examinations. But where native intelligence is lacking even the Gods are powerless.” In other words intelligence or talent is a major factor to ensure progress in life. So the pertinent question is do we have the football talents or not? And is it the case that the coaches are incapable of discovering and moulding the talented players to become stars?
I don’t have the answer but from what I gather from public discussions in the media those in charge of our football administration should take the blame.
Many ordinary football fans unfortunately regard the Ghana Football Association leadership as a cabal of self seeking opportunist club owners
solely interested in transporting abroad half baked and immature players for foreign cash.
And to add confusion to disbelief selections for the progressive age group national teams are manipulated to suit the football enterpreneur club owners who style themselves bank rollers.
The allegations are that age cheating is prevalent and this explains why frustrated handlers often don’t stay long enough to build reliable nursery teams for the Black Stars.
Serious football analysts feel the low standard in the Premier League is the result of mushrooming clubs all over the place some with funny and meaningless names.
Gone are the days when every league club could uncover at least one potential national star at the end of the season. And the fans would give him fantastic nicknames thus encouraging the player to show improvement and attract more fans to the stadium.
Anybody who says names don’t attract fans is being careless with the truth. We go to the stadium to see the big names in action.
A couple of years ago I heard of Sunyani Neymar. I am anxious to know his whereabouts.
Some of these potential national stars need to be carefully nurtured to benefit the nation in the long run. I hope he has gotten some good contract outside the country.
And this brings to mind the sudden transfer of Asante Kotoko’s Albert Amoah to Libya.
Amoah is definitely a talented goal poacher and Kotoko will miss him a lot. On balance however Kotoko will make some financial gains as compensation.
Selling of players is a legitimate practice where professional football is a beautiful venture. All transactions are made in the open.
It is my hope Kotoko will use the resources to look for an acceptable replacement.
I still maintain that Ghana is yet to appreciate what real professional football is all about. Indeed that’s why some people still think the government or the GFA must do something about the salaries of our professional players.
My advice is this topic must not be discussed again to avoid international ridicule.
If after 20 years we still don’t know the nuances of professional football, it’s not surprising that we still have low patronage for many of our haphazardly arranged fixtures on weekdays.
Meanwhile let me return to my original question of poor coaching or lack of talented players.
Sir Jones Attuquayefio comes to mind as an outstanding coach. He was part of the historic success of Accra Hearts of Oak winning unprecedented six back to back league titles from 1994-2004. As national coach he fielded a virtually Hearts of Oak side to hold Super Eagles of Nigeria in a crucial international match at Accra Stadium.
As coach of Liberty Professionals he transformed the club, which was later nicknamed the Scientific Soccer Lads.
Jones Attuquayefio hit the soccer limelight as far back as 1963 when he was selected to be a foundation member of the first junior national team called The New Horizon. He was among five junior players from Real Republikans who made the grade. E.K. Nkansah, A.R. Gibrine, Gladstone Ofori and J.K. Adjei were the other four from Republikans.
The rest of his colleagues in The New Horizon were Osei Kofi, Nii Lutterodt, Edward Boateng, Issaka, Ben Kusi, Osei Kwame (Asante Kotoko); Frank Odoi, John Naawu, Kpakpo Allotey (Great Olympics); Ofei Dodoo, Anum Okai, Akuetteh Armah (Hearts); Atta Kwame, (B.A. United); Sammy Stephens (Great Ashanti) and Torgbor Laryea (Army).
Jones, a great inside forward player with good shots in both feet and great dribbling ability, quickly gained promotion to the senior national team, Black Stars. Indeed, he was a useful member of the victorious Black Stars team that won the Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia in 1965. Ghana beat Tunisia 3–2 in extra time to win the cup for the second time having won in 1963.
Jones joined Great Olympics in mid-1966 when Real Republikans, known as Osagyefo’s Own Club, was disbanded after the 1966 coup, which overthrew Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s regime.
Jones was also in Ethiopia in 1968 when the Black Stars lost gallantly 1–0 to Zaire in the Cup of Nations final. The Black Stars were based in Asmara, and Jones was so outstanding that back home he was nicknamed “Man Asmara.”
Jones continued to hit the headlines with his dazzling soccer artistry and was made captain of Great Olympics. He led the club to their first continental assignment in the African Clubs championships and reached the semi–finals. It was a titanic clash against defending champions Asante Kotoko.
Incidentally, it was the second leg of the semi-finals at the Kumasi Sports Stadium on November 11 1971, that Jones suffered a severe knee injury, which eventually ended his illustrious soccer career.
Jones was replaced midway through the second half by Thompson Vanderpuye, and Olympics lost the match 1–0 through an 89th-minute goal by Ibrahim Sunday.
It was a match played under tight security because of suspected crowd violence. Asante Kotoko’s international goalie Robert Mensah had been stabbed a few days to the first leg match and Kotoko fans were really agitated.
May the soul of Jones Attuquayefio rest in perfect peace as the nation awaits another apostle of scientific soccer.
Cheers, everybody, and keep loving sports.
By Ken Bediako
