Sports
Hope it will be Sports, and not Football Fund?
For many years, Ghanaians have been witnesses to the establishment of a number of Sports Endowment Funds.
The funds were designed to bring relief and succour to old, underprivileged sportsmen and women – most of whom have paid their due to national development.
Sadly, these funds, which most often have no legal backing, were terribly managed and no wonder frittered away with the flight with which they stormed into being.
Indeed, the alacrity with which some of these funds were put together and the high-profile personalities that patronised such events, created the impression that they were going serve as permanent panacea to the pecuniary problems of our sports men and women.
As a matter of fact, one has lost count of the number of outdooring ceremonies for these ‘wishy-washy’ funds which were often held with all the pomp and pageantry to complement the occasion.
By now, we all know that such funds were not properly handled and that ultimately led to their collapse.
Point is that, it is high time we as a nation established a Sports Development Fund that can take care of the challenges we face – especially with regard to the poor conditions of our older athletes as well as our development agenda.
On December 15, 2017, a forum was held at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) that brought together stakeholders in the sports industry to deliberate and dialogue on raising funds for sports development in the country.
The forum was also aimed at removing the bottlenecks that come with funding sporting activities in the country and to accelerate the growth of sports in the country.
Noticeably, the powers-that-be were aware that the proposed Sports Fund was long overdue.
In 2016, Parliament passed the Sports Act 934, charging the National Sports Authority (NSA) to provide, develop and manage sports in the country.
It included providing financial assistance to sports promotion in Ghana and finding ways to nurture the talents that abound in the country. Truth is that the funds that are allocated to the NSA cannot cater for all the mandate of the authority, thus the consultative forum to find other avenues to get more funds for sports and also to make reforms in sports investments.
In that forum, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Isaac Kwame Asiamah, said it was one of the responsibilities of the sports ministry to promote, nurture talents and to inculcate values of honesty, perseverance, volunteerism and patriotism into the youth, thus, the consultation with stakeholders to get a lasting solution to sports development in the country.
He said the government was keen on leaving a lasting legacy in sports, hence the sports funding, which was captured in the 2018 budget read by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Attah.
“In 2018, the Ministry would continue the process of passing the Legislative Instruments of the National Youth and Sports Act, pursue the enactment of the draft National Sports College Bill and create a Sports Fund to improve sports development in the country.
Unfortunately, we are three years into that forum and are still struggling to put together the Sports Fund.
As we wait for the day such fund would be brought into fruition, let us sound a note of caution to government not to turn it into a Football Fund!
We are told more than 70 per cent of government’s budget allocation to the ministry is spent on football and football-related activities. Though football, admittedly, is the passion of the nation, that is not the best.
The Sports Ministry’s priorities and budget allocation must be revisited for various sports disciplines, aside soccer, to get attention. Let us not forget we have more than 30 relevant sporting disciplines all begging for support. Are we not ashamed tagging disciplines outside football as ‘lesser-known’ sports?
Indeed, athletics, weightlifting, boxing, table-tennis, tennis, handball and many others, could also be transformed into cash cows if we invest in them properly.
For areas where there are gaps in funding, the government could even play a facilitation role to attract the private sector to get involved, much so when companies that support sports are given some tax reliefs.
We need the Sports Fund now!
PlainTalk with JOHN VIGAH
Sports
Gaging sports gains in 2024
In 10 days’ time, the year 2024 will pass as one of the most eventful years for sports as a nation.
It may be so due to the myriad of sports activities that got the various national teams and individual clubs busy with international competitions.
But one may also be right in asking what is there to show for those adventures.
Truthfully, one would prefer to walk from Accra to Tema than attempting to answer such a question.
Although there were a few gains to celebrate, the weight of failure clearly overshadows it and leaves sports fanatics in wonder land; uncertain about the direction of sports in Ghana.
Taking stock of the country’s fortunes regarding sports is more or less an annual ritual that usually provide similar answers years in and out; and this year will be no exception.
On our sports calendar, football has been the busiest with the Black Stars involved in FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFCON 2025 qualifiers.
The latter left Ghanaians heartbroken with an unprecedented outcome.
In a group that had Angola, Sudan and Niger, the Black Stars failed to register a single win; losing three games and drawing the same number to finish at the rock bottom of the table with three points.
Eventually, the group was won by Angola’s Palencas Negras and Kwesi Appiah’s Sudan.
The USA, Canada and Mexico World Cup 2026 qualifiers, however, appears to be going well for the Stars with Ghana in second position behind Comoros with the same number of points – nine, out of four matches.
Other countries in Ghana’s group (Group I) include Madagascar, Mali, Central African Republic and Chad, the whipping boys in the group.
The Stars started the qualifers well, chalking a 1-0 home win over Madagascar but was pegged back by Comoros which beat Ghana 1-0.
The team, however, bounced back from that disappointment to beat Mali 2-1 in Bamako in one of the team’s finest performances in the year under review and recorded a 4-3 victory over the Central African Republic (CAF).
At the centre of the Black Stars performance storm was Head Coach Otto Addo who came under an avalanche of criticism for the team’s poor performance.
Ghana Football Association president, Kurt Okraku was also not spared of the backlash as his resignation became the clarion call on the lips of many.
But the two have shown they have very thick skin or might have developed a ‘dead goat’ syndrome, granting them the immunity to withstand the fiery darts of their critics.
On the continental level, FC Samartex and Nsoatreman FC made attempts to rescue Ghana’s free fall but that failed to materialise as their challenges in the CAF Champions League and Confederations Cup competitions collapsed before the league stages.
But there was success for Ghana in football following gold medal performances from the male and female teams in the African Games football competition.
It appears some successes were chalked at the sub-continental level with Kurt Okraku reaping a few results from the WAFU B level.
The Golden Arms, the national armwrestling team was obviously the best team having snatched a total of 41 medals at the African Games consisting of eight gold, 19 silver and 14 bronze medals.
Boxing recorded seven medals, athletics had six, weightlifting had three medals, hockey had two, and taekwondo recorded two medals while swimming had two and volleyball, one.
At the Paris Olympic Games, it was more of participation and acting as tourists than winning medals as Ghana fell short in all the disciplines competed.
But once again, it exposed the issues about poor preparation of athletes and lack of proper facilities back home to help local athletes.
Perhaps, one of the biggest shocks was the failure of the national boxing team, the Black Bombers to qualify for the Olympics.
Generally, it was not an encouraging performance from sports in the year. It actually marked a dip in performance as professional boxing failed to produce a world champion just like athletics, taekwondo, handball, badminton, table tennis, tennis and the others failed in their respective bids.
With a new government set to assume the reins of power and sports development to be championed by a new Sports Minister, it will be incumbent on the responsible agencies for sports development and promotion like the National Sports Authority (NSA) and the various sports federations to put their act together and work towards reviving Ghana sports to its past status.
By Andrew Nortey
Sports
Resetting Ghana sports
In a few weeks’ time, returnee president, John DramaniMahama, will assume the reins of governance after taking his Oath of Office on January 7, 2025.
This follows the National Democratic Congress (NDC) historic feat in the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections held on December 7.
That ended the eight-year reign of President Nana AddoDankwaAkufo- Addo and his vice, DrMahamuduBawumia, of the New Patriotic Party.
It’s been less than a week after JDM’s declaration by the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission who doubles as the Returning Officer of the presidential poll, Mrs Jean Mensa, but several calls and suggestions have been flying across the corridors of power.
For bitter NDC faithful, top NPP officials who were alleged to have been involved in shoddy deals should be whisked away by the police or the respective agency in charge of investigation.
Others have urged the new team to hit the ground running in a bid to alleviate the pain and difficulties in which Ghanaians find themselves.
Followers of sports are not left out in this regard. They want to see a lot of changes as part of a mammoth agenda to RESET the nation.
This may be coming on the back of the reality that Ghana sports in the past few years have been on a backward trajectory.
At the last Olympic Games in Paris, members of Team Ghana were mere passengers and tourists. The only excitement seen on the faces of Ghanaians was not as a result of a medal won but the sight of watching members fly Ghana flags during the opening ceremony.
The celebration was about the projection of Ghana as active and regular participants at the games but always far away from the medal podium.
The height of the disappointment was the Black Stars’ failure to qualify for the 2025 AFCON – the first miss in 20 years.
In a qualifying group that had Angola, Sudan and Niger, the Black Stars under Coach Otto Addo ended the qualifiers winless – drawing three and lost same.
That is not to suggest that the other national teams are performing any better.
Apart from the national U-20 team, the Black Satellites, that triumphed in the football event of the last edition of the African Games hosted in Accra, Ghana’s success in football has been in minor competitions in the West Africa Football Union (WAFU) B region.
It has been so with many or all of the sports disciplines operating under the National Sports Authority (NSA). Athletics, boxing (both pro and amateur), handball, volleyball, basketball, taekwondo, kickboxing, tennis, table tennis, cycling etc. are experiencing similar fate.
Maybe, the only shining light is the sport of arm-wrestling, Ghana’s Messiah at the African Games.
Obviously, this is not a good record for a country that considers herself as a sports nation and clearly remains one of the first and foremost sectors that needs resetting.
What is of paramount interest to Ghanaians at the moment are the qualifiers for the USA, Canada and Mexico 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Fortunately, the Black Stars languish in second spot with an important away victory over Mali doing the magic.
Under the upcoming administration, fans must see a new composure and attitude reset to meet the challenges to qualify for the World Cup.
Football on the local scene must also see an improvement in teams’ performances and administration.
The brains administering the game must also be reset to understand and admit that the local players are capable of delivering the same results from the foreign legion at a much cheaper cost.
The other disciplines would also need massive push to come up but in all of this, sports with comparative advantages must get the nod over those that should be reduced to recreational sports.
Above all, the sector will need a supervisor with a good knowledge about the area to lead the resetting agenda in order not to lose focus or fall to the conspiracytheories of the sophisticated administrators.
By Andrew Nortey
