By Ken Bediako
Ohene Djan was lucky to have got a President Kwame Nkrumah who loved football to the hilt and sports in general. Full of confidence, Ohene Djan would always make it clear to sports journalists at his regular weekly press conference that Osagyefo had mandated him to take bold decisions that would make Ghana football a showpiece in Africa.
“You have my personal support” President Nkrumah is reported to have told Ohene Djan.
It is on record that at the annual conference of the Ghana Amateur Football Association held in Ho on June 12 1960, President Nkrumah sent a historic message concerning the formation of a model football club for the country.
The message said inter alia “My interest in football is so great that I propose in the near future to encourage the formation of a model football club which will offer leadership and inspiration to clubs in the country.
This club shall be known as Ghana Real
Republikans to commemorate the launching of the GAFA’s three-year development plan.”
Ohene Djan’s GAFA had, in 1960, launched a three-year development plan to host Afcon 1963.
And with such encouragement from the Head of State, he implemented the formation of a model club that could be a national team in disguise for Afcon 1963.
The audacious Ohene Djan took a bold and unprecedented decision by selecting two outstanding players from each of the existing national league clubs to form his novelty model club Real Republikans.
The resultant boisterous controversy over this Republikans issue is a whole chapter in the history of Ghana football that will be told another time.
In a nutshell Republikans became a solid nucleus for the Black Stars and Ghana won Afcon 1963 beating Sudan 3-0 in the cup final at Accra Stadium.
Two years later, a reorganised Black Stars led by Addo Odametey of Republikans fame retained the Afcon Cup in Tunisia at the expense of the host country.
Even though Ohene Djan was sacked from office a year later as a result of political changes in the country, his good legacy prevailed as the Black Stars made two more back to back Afcon Cup final appearances in Ethiopia 1968 and in Sudan 1970 narrowly missing both gold medals.
This fine record by Ohene Djan and feats in many other sports disciplines like athletics, amateur boxing, table tennis, hockey etc were the reasons why the Accra Stadium was named after him when the Kufuor administration decided in 2004 to honour the memories of Ghana’s past outstanding sports personalities even from the colonial days.
The first batch included Mrs Theodosia Okoh who had the national hockey pitch named after her: Table Tennis celebrity Hathiramani was honoured so were boxing kingpin Azuma Nelson and football hero Baba Yara.
Strangely enough some hoodlums have forcibly erased the name of Ohene Djan from Accra Stadium and this is not funny. Yours truly has given support toAce sports broadcaster Dan Kwaku Yeboah’s crusade to restore Ohene Djans name at Accra stadium. The ace sports administrator deserves it.
In addition to his administrative acumen Ohene Djan was also a good writer and sports historian.
In this third part of my series to honour the memory of this Aburi Royal, I present his recollection of HOW FOOTBALL GOT TO ASHANTI.
“From the football mustard seed sewn in Cape Coast in the first decade of the 20th century grew the mighty soccer trunk of Ghana, one of the essential spreading branches shooting into the municipality was the stalwart tributary which developed into the dynamic Ashanti Football Association an Association which was destined to play a most colourful path in the football reformation of Ghana.
It was nearly 20 years after the introduction of football in Cape Coast that the game reached Kumasi the Garden City o f Ashanti in1920. For the first few years of its introduction the game did not move beyond the stage of kicking about of any convenient spherical object for fun and amusement. Gradually enthusiasm grew out of proportion and the need to harness this into a healthy and well directed organisation became apparent. In 1922 therefore the first two football clubs Evertons developed as a recreational club for the Kumasi Roman Catholic Mission School and Royals sponsored by the Wesleyan Mission School ( now Methodist).
Patronage was strictly based in religion. Evertons the Catholic group had Brass Band attached to it and consequently a greater appeal for the general public. Its regular Saturday outing was the bait for patronage. Friendly fixtures were arranged between the two clubs at Fort Park where now stands imposing governmental buildings on, opposite the Kumasi Central Post Office. Among the great pioneer football players of Kumasi were D M. Forson of UAC Ltd who played in the goal for Royals, Amissah, Whyte, K.Renner and Kwaku Sanku all members of Evertons Football Club.
In 1926 football in Kumasi crawled from childhood to boyhood stage and the first all Ashanti Football Club Ashanti United which in the 30s developed into the present powerful Asante Kotoko, was formed by 13 young Ashanti boys headed by a young driver Kwasi Kumah and L.Y. Asamoah a private electrician. It was almost a miracle how Ashanti United managed to survive a period of precarious existence when failures and disappointments characterised their efforts in the field of play the leaders cleverly resorted to regular picnicking to sustain the waning interest of members and thus managed to prod along in the years.
Ashanti football obtained adolescence in the 30s clubs sprang up like mushrooms and a central body, the Ashanti Football Association was formed to control, develop and regulate the progress of the game within the region.
In 1930 there were enough clubs in Kumasi to justify the organisation of local competitions. The officials of the six regions of the day Evertons, Royals, Ashanti United, Europeans, Primrose and Highlanders came together to arrange fixtures for regular competitions.
Among the popular trophies competed for was the Prince Jones Shield donated by an English police magistrate who was a prominent football enthusiast. Messrs SAT and FH Ryden also provided trophies for inter departmental matches. Mallam Salu a Zerikin Zongo was another enthusiastic patron who provided an attractive trophy for inter club knockout competitions.
1932 saw a significant landmark in the history of Ashanti football. The Ashanti Football Association was formed. Membership of the Association was Major R. Blackburn-Kaye (Town clerk of Kumasi Public Health Board) R.E.Hunt (Public Works Departnent) J.S. Kankam and John Darkwa.
The Association was powerful and effectively controlled football in
Kumasi.
In this same year Ashanti United hoping to draw inspiration from Cape Coast Titanics who were performing brilliantly along the coastal towns changed their name into Kumasi Titanics. Fante football enthusiasts in Kumasi grouped together to found the Kunasi Cornerstone Football club. This Fante founded club has since remained one of the too clubs in the country. Titanics did not find enough luck under their new name and consequently in 1934 they adopted a more powerful name Mighty Atoms.
In 1935 Mighty Atons was reorganised and Christened Kumasi Asante Kotoko by J. S. K. Frimpong with the permission of Otumfuo the Asantehene. Asante Kotoko has been nursed and matured into a powerful football club and now represents all that is best in Ashanti football.
Originally membership of Asante Kotoko was limited to Ashantis and Nzemas only but now it commands a real cosmopolitan membership although it still symbolises the football spirit and aspirations of the Ashanti nation.
The Ashanti Football Association began to work under a constitution in 1936 and a magnificent trophy to be competed for annually by Ashanti clubs.
The outbreak of the second World War considerably affected the Ashanti Football Association and it became completely disorganised in 1939. Luckily in 1940 Mr S Russel Manager of UAC Ltd came forward to reorganise the Association on a firmer basis. Russel himself became its new chairman with JSK Kankam as his vice. John Darkwa was appointed the secretary of the Association and the following were elected to represent the clubs; Edward Ofori, K.A .Gyimah, JA Asubonteng, George Ochir, J.A Solomon and A Imbeah.
In 1935 the Jackson Park was built and became the central venue for all matches in Kumasi and the importance of the Fort Park was reduced.
Gate fees for football matches were introduced in Kumasi with the opening of the Jackson park.
The Ashanti Football Association grew from strength to strength and very soon became affluent. It developed a fastidious and critical attitude towards the National Football Association and showed tendencies towards absolute independence. This nauseating nature of the Ashanti Football Association culminated in the 1957 football revolt of the country.
In the 50s Ashanti dominated the football scene of Ghana and played a leading role in the historic massacre of the Nigerian National Eleven in 1955 at the Accra Sports Stadium.
In the national team which outplayed Nigeria in every department of the game and nailed the visitors to a memorable 7-0 defeat were seven from Ashanti. Between 1940 and 1960 club formation was embarked upon in Ashanti at a fantastic rate. Most of these clubs play in regional and district leagues and only four, Asante Kotoko, Cornerstone,
Great Ashanti and Adansiman are successfully maintaining prestige and glory of Ashanti football.”
(End of story written in 1964).
Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.
