Over-concentration On Football In Ghana

football: the nation's passion

Choose to call it lesser known sports, but I refer it as the least financed sporting disciplines in Ghana. As the name even suggests, (lesser known sports), it will forever attract few people to participate in such sporting events such as boxing, tennis, volleyball, handball, just to mention a few.

The management practice and process in sports in the country has maligned and relegated such lucrative sporting disciplines from the surface of Ghana sports whiles adequate attention is always paid to football. Names like Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams and even our own boxing living legend Azumah Nelson would not have been on top of world sports if the games themselves are not known.

Sports managements officials together with other stake holders have concentrated only on football leaving other sporting disciplines, where many countries are benefiting from, to heading towards premature death. This is unfair. Not all people have the talents, skills and the zeal to play football.

Some other people also have equally good skills and potentials in other sporting events and it will be appropriate for various stakeholders to pay much attention to and utilize it properly. The result: not only for the athletes, but for the whole nation.

There is no doubt that football fuels the nation’s passion. However, it should not be “ordained” as the only sporting discipline in the country where, if one is not in; the person can never bring out what his potentials are. Our first president Dr. Kwame saw the importance of sports and used it to champion his vision of African Unity and Pan-Africanism on the African continent. Examples of such sporting events he used included boxing and hockey.

Just as in the first and second cycle institutions are serious about football and always select the best players for matches, similar attention is not paid to other sporting disciplines just because the interest is not there. Therefore, students are handpicked just to occupy or fill-in the spaces allotted for other sporting events. At the end, we do not see the required talents because even at times, some students are forced to take part in some sporting events they cannot expose their potentials.

The over-concentration on football, even though it has brought our nations some honours, but has also deeply rooted other sporting events to the “corner”. One important thing to note is that even at the Ohene Djan Stadium, there are no titan tracks to hold athletics and even the one at the El-Wak stadium is fast deteriorating. How can we even develop athletics in our national capital where majority of them could be basing due to proximity?

It is never bad to concentrate on football, but all the sporting events must be given a similar playing ground for all sporting disciplines to develop and unearth their full potentials. The nine athletes who represented the nation in the last Olympics in London failed to win a single medal. It was therefore not surprising to hear of the sudden change in nationality of long jumper Ignatius Gaisah.

Even with football, the last time the Black Stars won the continental trophy was in 1982 and only our junior national teams on few occasions have made us proud. It is too late to adequately prepare for Sochi 2014, as the year is almost ending. But we can be proactive by “catching them young”, nurturing them and concentrate on each and everyone’s potentials so we can get good results when they are sent for future tourneys like Rio 2016.

Football should not be seen as the only sports driving the nation. Boxing, handball, volleyball, athletics and other disciplines must be seen as events which can nurture many talents in the country. Much attention must be paid towards them and never must we refer them as lesser known sports.