Sports
When the preacher man uses football for effect
At long last, the Ghana Premier League (GPL) roars off today after more than a year of inactivity. It is a great moment to relish again.
The aforesaid statement was not from a football administrator, nor one of the key actors of the domestic game. They were opening remarks of Rev. Father Emmanuel Duku of the St. Anthony Catholic Church in Nungua – a suburb of Accra.
It must be emphasised strongly that his statement was made way back before the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic that hit the globe somewhere in March, this year.
But as has been his fashion, Rev. Duku blends his homily with pieces of thrilling, comical football news to the admiration of the congregation – especially the youth, who usually respond with tumultuous applause and cheers amid laughter.
He has a way of doing it and his absence is always felt by the youth especially – whenever he goes to a different parish to preach.
A dyed-in-the-wool fan of English side Manchester United and local side Asante Kotoko, the man of God says, employing football during the sermon is a way of catching the attention of the congregation.
“Sometimes, even before you start preaching, you look at the faces of the congregation and realise that they do not look bright – maybe out of tiredness, fatigue or some kind of stress. So, along the way, you try to poke some fun around football and suddenly everybody starts laughing and screaming in ecstasy,” he told me.
Indeed, football is the passion of the nation, and it is teasingly said that the 30 million Ghanaian population are all coaches! This is drawn from the fact that during games involving the national teams – especially the Black Stars, everybody interviewed can say one or two things that culminated in the victory, defeat or draw.
It is so deep, intricately plain-woven! That is the Ghanaian for you!
Perhaps, this COVID-19 moments will call for a more profound, tactful and maybe humorous way of keeping the congregation spell-bound during the homily.
Truth is that, the pandemic has dealt a fatal blow to many homes, and according to a senior pastor of the Church of the Messiah, at Swedru in the Central Region, Eric Buabeng, church members would have to be handled with sagacity and discernment.
“I love sports and use lots of football anecdotes to keep them engrossed on the message,” he said, adding that “you’ll need loads of cognitive content and tactfulness to handle the congregation today.”
According to him, the economic activities of many families have been seriously affected. Indeed, some of these ‘victims’ have come to church with their brains ‘scattered’ and looking for quick solutions to their predicament.
“And, of course you need to be smart. You do not feed such ‘feeble’ people with hard message. It wouldn’t just sink.”
So, before delivering his sermon at the New Covenant Ministry in Abeka Lapaz, an Accra suburb, Pastor Daniel Opuni screamed out: “Football is back!”
He was referring to the return of European top flight leagues: German Bundesliga, English Premier League and the Spanish La Liga. The leagues are being played in empty stadia; but never mind! Ghanaians have some bang-up affection for foreign football too.
Interestingly, the response from the nearly 100 Sunday morning worshipers was a thunderous appellation of “Pastor Opuni and his football,” as they burst into prolonged laughter.
A member of the church, who only identified himself as Alex, still had smiles emblazoned all over his face, after the one-hour permitted service.
“I admire the way Pastor Opuni interlaces his sermon with football. His illustrations with football and sports in general is simply apt,” he observed.
For Pastor Opuni, this has been a style he sculptured long ago when he was at pastoral school.
“Yes, that for me is a perfect way of grabbing their attention. It was a style I learned way back in school. We’re in difficult times and once I know they love the game, I always employ it to my advantage and luckily for me, it is working effectively,” he told the writer.
In the course of preaching, Pastor Opuni would illustrate to the congregation how they need to run away from the COVID-19 pandemic with the flight of Usain Bolt.
“It is very important for you to be equipped with the word of God, but you need to have the finest pair of feet like Usain Bolt to avoid catching the virus by adhering to the safety protocols of wearing the face mask, washing your hands with running water and soap as well as the use of alcohol-based sanitisers.”
Bolt is a Jamaican former sprinter and widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. He hanged his spikes in 2017 and was a world record holder in the 100m, 200m and 4×100 metres.
Religion and sports they say serve different purposes. Religion is meant to provide people with spiritual well-being, while sport serves aesthetic needs and entertainment.
Indeed, for those who believe football and religion have something in common, or are intrinsically linked – maybe, they are right!
PlainTalk with JOHN VIGAH
Sports
Medeama dare Chelsea in Golden City Park …Hearts, Kotoko locked up in tough battles away
A blockbuster clash is expected at the Golden City Park at Berekum tomorrow, when former league champions, Medeama SC and Berekum Chelsea, cross swords in a top match day 17 Ghana Premier League fixture.
Games between the two sides have left fans at the edges of their seats, and tomorrow’s clash is expected to follow the status quo.
More so, Medeama will be coming up against their former technical head, Samuel Boadu, who, since leaving the club, has been a thorn in their flesh anytime he comes up against them.
With seven points separating them, Medeama SC lie seventh on the log, three places above their host, and will need to dig deep into their rich reservoir of form and experience to be able to come out of the ‘Golden City’ unscathed.
Premier League leaders, Kpando Heart of Lions, will also lock horns with third place, Nations FC, at the Kpando Sports Stadium.
A point separates both teams on the log, and that has drawn a lot of talking points, going into the game tomorrow.
Nations FC go into the game as one of the two best teams, with four away wins. This record is likely to influence play as leading goal scorer of the campaign, Faisal Charwetey, leads the line for the visitors.
Bottom club, Legon Cities, will stay put at the Legon Stadium to host 14th-placed, Dreams FC, at the University of Ghana Stadium in Legon.
That game is one for strugglers but has what it takes to generate the fireworks as they bid to snatch the points at stake to boost their survival quest.
Accra Hearts of Oak will travel to Samreboi to face Samartex 1996 in another game expected to produce a lot of thrills.
The Phobians have been on a good patch of form in recent times, chalking very important feat to claim a place at the upper part of the league table.
Playing away, they have shown resilience and courage and have not been intimidated at all, a situation that has made it difficult to brush them aside.
The story would not be different this time but the strength of the opposition would make it a more difficult encounter.
Samartex, after an impressive display in African club competition, appear to have taken the foot off the pedal and gradually dropping to the middle and lower ranks of the table.
This dip in performance is what they seek to bib in the bud as they welcome the Phobians in what can be described a do-or-die battle.
Porcupine Warriors Kumasi Asante Kotoko would welcome new boys, Vision FC, to the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi.
The Reds are obvious favourites in this encounter but they have been very inconsistent. That obviously presents a chance in the game as they aim to cause the biggest upset of the event.
In other games, struggling Accra Lions will welcome second-placed, Bibiani Gold Stars FC, at the WAFA Park in Sogakope; Nsoatreman FC will host Karela United at the Nana Konamansah Park in Nsoatre; Basake Holy Stars will return to the Crosby Awuah Memorial (CAM) Park to engage Aduana Stars, while Young Apostles and Bechem United battle each other in a Bono derby at the Wenchi Sports Stadium.
By Raymond Ackumey
Sports
Give us a Sports Minister of substance
It is that time of the political season where ‘Fellow’ Ghanaians will have to show their lobbying skills to catch the attention of a freshly elected and sworn-in president and his vice.
Like it is done in the legislature where ‘Honourables’ must work hard to get the attention of the Speaker, so must fellow Ghanaians scramble for space, swerve every obstacle to submit a Curriculum Vitae (CV).
Usually, one must be well connected to more powerful people closer to those on the corridors of power for a CV to land at the appropriate place.
The scramble at the end of the day is to be favoured and selected for a ministerial role. When one is successful and even cleared by the house of Honourables, the victor is likely to serve as a Minister of the state for a period only God knows.
For some, it is after this that they can beat the chest proudly and state “Yes, I have arrived.”
But it is mesmerising how the efforts of the ambitious ones can be thwarted by comments or suggestions from another set of fellow Ghanaians.
These kind of fellow Ghanaians are the ones that lacks the prerequisite to desire the aspirations of the ambitious group.
At least through various media platforms, they make their voices heard on who should be selected for which ministry and give reasons why.
This happens very often but as to whether it is heard at the corridors of power, it will be difficult to tell.
Happenings in the current political ‘cocoa’ season has been no exception. Certain offices have been inundated with a lot of these CVs that an announcement had to be made for it to stop.
It may have stopped but what will be difficult to stop, may be the lobbying and those offering words of advice on who should be selected and who should be ignored.
Ahead of the announcement of a Minister of Sports and recreation (MoSR), there have been a lot of conversation over who to consider for the post and what the person brings to the table.
Some have called for an abrasive leader, expecting him to be tough and have either a thick skin or develop a dead goat syndrome to deal with perceived ills in the sector.
Some have gone to the extent of choosing such people to specifically deal with some actions or persons at the Ghana Football Association (GFA); as if that is where all the problems of Ghana sports emanates from.
Some have come up with many other suggestions; all in a bid to get someone cut for the role of the Sports Minister.
This is gradually making the role of the Minister of sports and recreation as the most difficult one; and perhaps no longer education, finance and labour etc.
But whatever happens, the selectors must carefully consider the true needs of Ghana sports and have a good knowledge of it as well as it current administration globally.
If we say sports has become a business, the sports minister nominee must fathom what it means and what is required to make it so.
The nominee must know and accept that sports is not just football. Apart from football, Ghana has over 50 sports federations, all depending on the national cake for survival.
The decoupling of the youth from its functions and replaced by recreation should also aid the nominee in categorising these sports disciplines.
By the rule of competitive advantage, the nominee must decipher those with realistic chances of doing well to be pushed. What we need is a Minister of substance and be firm to all but fair.
By Andrew Nortey
