Sports
When the sports journalist becomes enemy of the game
At his victory speech, the just-crowned Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) 2019 Journalist of the Year, Samson Lardy Anyenini, made a momentous statement on the need to protect journalists.
“During the elections, when for some reason someone asks you to bring your recorder for it to be destroyed, do not give it to them. Let them know that if you are in the wrong, then they should report you to the police,” he stressed.
Though he was speaking with regard to the protection of journalists, especially during the forthcoming national elections, it still sinks into the issue at stake for discussion.
In a matter of two weeks, the 2020-21 Ghana Premier League (GPL) season will roar off at the various centres, football-crazy Ghanaians having to wait for about eight months to have their beloved game back – due to the COVID-19 outburst.
Good news is that on November 13, the GPL will kick-start at the respective centres. It had been put on ice since March, this year.
Indeed, Ghana was not the only country fatally hit by the pandemic. The virus swallowed up the world. Luckily, like many countries, Ghana appears to have waltzed out of danger (though not out of the woods yet) and it is the reason the government has lifted the ban on the nation’s most passionate game – albeit only 25 per cent of a stadium’s fan capacity will be permitted on match days.
Such safety protocols is understandable since COVID-19 is still on the rampage and cannot be taken for granted.
Anyway, the import of this piece is to caution the hoodlums and hooligans and sometimes club officials to desist from attacking sports journalists who come to cover the games, as it occurred in the past seasons. The simple message too is that – just like the national elections, no reporter should be cowed to hand over their recorders and cameras because they made critical remarks against a club, players or officials.
For such miscreants, the sports journalist does not have an opinion; they do not have a voice, and therefore become major targets during games. Such journalists may have reported on incidents that the affected parties wanted ‘hidden’ and it is enough ground for all kinds of physical and verbal onslaughts.
They do not care a hoot that through their skill and dexterity, sports journalists visually bring the game home to those who could not be present physically – and ultimately giving the fan some sense of relief and conviviality.
Again, for such goons, the sports journalist should only have a voice if their submissions are favourable to their clubs, players and officials. Anything less than pandering to their whims and caprices, is not tolerable!
There are a panoply of cases to buttress the aforementioned assertions.
Last year, maybe two seasons ago, we were horrified and disgusted at two sad developments during the domestic Premier League. The first one was the frequent attacks on sports journalists covering football games and two, the loud silence by the Ghana Football Association (GFA) on these vicious happenings.
The other time, it was the leading female camerawoman Senyuiedjorm Adadevoh, who was prevented by some hoodlums from covering a Premier League game involving Accra Great Olympics and Wa All Stars fifth week game.
What was Senyuiedzorm’s crime? The award-winning photographer, who is as harmless as a trash-talking flower, was badgered on and shoved aside by a section of the fans to have sent out off-putting reports about the club during an earlier league game against Bechem United in their 1-3 home defeat.
That incident received wide condemnation from the public and journalists alike. But it ended there, dying a silent agonising death as usual. She felt let-down by the inaction of authorities that should have taken up the matter to its logical conclusion.
A cameraman of Accra Hearts of Oak, Daniel Boakye, was also not spared some brutality during the club’s Presidential Cup game with Kumasi Asante Kotoko at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium, because he was alleged to have taken ‘negative’ shots of fan violence. He got no justice.
Not too long after, it was the turn of Kotoko Express photojournalist Gideon Boakye to face the wrath of misguided fans at Dormaa Ahenkro during a league match against Aduana Stars. Once again, it was the case of taking ‘antagonistic’ photos. This same lad has had the discomfort of being subjected to physical attacks at Obuasi, Tarkwa, Tema and Cape Coast.
The disconcerting aspect of it all is that these dreadful attacks on journalists usually take place in the full glare of security officers, club officials of the home team and even officials of the Ghana Football Association (GFA).
Sadly, after visiting their unprovoked wrath on the harmless journalists (who are only there to do their professional duty by bringing information to the public), they regally walk away scot-free – sometimes amid threats of more terror if anybody dares.
The $64,000-dollar question is, for how long would this barbarism continue while we bury our heads like self-effacing ostriches? Do we not care again about the security of our game? Are we not concerned any longer about the growth and development of our game?
Do our fans know the role journalists or media men play to the expansion and promotion of the game?
President of the Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG), Kwabena Yeboah, and well-meaning big wigs in football, have on umpteenth number of times, condemned the senseless attacks on journalists covering games – but the ugly practice had proceeded unabated.
So, the issue is no more about condemnation. It is no more about denunciation and open disapproval. It is about acting now! It is about arresting these stadium hoodlums, prosecuting them and putting them behind bars. That is the only way our game would be cleansed and respected worldwide.
Henceforth, we expect the GFA and the security services to collaborate to ensure that these rascals masquerading as fans are immediately apprehended and made to face the full rigours of the law when the league resumes from the ‘COVID-19 break.’
Failure to do that, the much-talked-about GFA’s ‘BringBackTheLove’ campaign – aimed at igniting passion for Ghana football, cannot be complete. Would there be any love when sports journalists and cameramen, who are working their fingers to the bone in a bid to project the game to the world, are abused and battered?
Certainly, not!
CAPTION:
Ghanaian fans must see sports journalists as partners in development
Sports
Aduana Stars to benefit from ‘Nsoatreman largesse’
It will be the turn of Aduana Stars to benefit from the three points and three goals without kicking a ball as the Ghana Premier League reaches match day 28 on Sunday.
The Dormaa side are scheduled to play as host to Nsoatreman FC which pulled out of the competition for security reasons, following their involvement in crowd violence when they played Asante Kotoko.
After the decision that forced the FA to enforce its rules, clubs that were yet to play them have enjoyed three points and three goals without kicking the ball.
For the Dormaa side, the gift of match day 28 would go a long way to boost their chances of climbing the table to contest for some of the top of the table slots.
The story would, however, be different for the others including Asante Kotoko who would be engaged in a difficult clash against Nations FC at the Dr Kwame Kyei Stadium.
Kotoko are beginning to feel the pressure that comes from occupying the top position as clubs attempt to dethrone them week in week out.
They have drawn in their last two games against Heart of Lions and Bechem United. The game with Nations FC would be equally tough and would need their men to be in good shape to survive a third scare.
Dreams FC’s inconsistent form would continue at the Tuba Astro Turf where they lock horns with Vision FC just as Holy Stars look set to deepen the woes of Legon Cities in their game at the C.A.M Park in Ainyinase.
Hearts of Oak would have to show character to secure all three points against Karela United at the Accra Sports Stadium while Goldstars and Medeama SC slug it out at the Bibiani DUN’s Park.
The Kpando Stadium would host the battle of the Lions as host, Heart of Lions, oblige relegation threatened Accra Lions in a potentially explosive encounter.
At the Wenchi Stadium, Young Apostles will face Samartex FC while Bechem United host Berekum Chelsea at the Nana Fosu Gyeabour Park.
Sports
Ayekoo, Police Ladies
Participation of Ghana’s security services in sports is seen more as a recreation or a creation for officers to be actively involved in play or physical exercise.
This reflects their absence on the honours boards of some of the major sports events, especially football.
But it is not so with other sports like athletics, boxing, handball, volleyball, basketball, mass sports and many others.
In these sports, they are dominated by players or athletes from the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), comprising the Army, Air Force and Navy, the Ghana Police Service, Ghana Revenue Authority, previously referred to as the Customs Excise and Preventive Service, Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) and the Ghana Prisons Service (GPS).
Fact is, they have been credited with some of the major honours achieved in sports as a nation.
For instance, the Prisons service’s role in the career of the boxing professor, Azumah Nelson, has always been recognised as he started his career affiliated to the service.
GRA was considered a household name in the active days of basketball with years of dominance by the Brave’s team that stretched their dominance across Africa.
In volleyball and handball, Police, Fire and Prisons have created tensed and thrilling atmospheres that attracted hundreds of fans to the Prisons Sports Courts in Cantonment.
The Armed Forces have been strong in boxing and the marathons.
What is, however, making the services shy away from the honours list in football may perhaps be the belief that they may be in a disadvantaged position to keep pace with the professional clubs.
For the professionals, they eat and drink the game, but athletes or players with the services would have other duties to perform the moment they leave the field or their respective training venues.
Secondly, their conditions of service would not allow them to ‘poach’ or sign on players at exorbitant amounts. This means the services would find it difficult to attract good footballers to compete with the likes of Hearts’, Kotokos, Great Olympics and others.
However, the Police Ladies football team rendered this analogy gibberish over the weekend with a historic triumph in the Southern Zone of the Women’s Premier League (WPL).
After an 18-week run, the Police Ladies team that has campaigned under the shadows of top women club sides in the competition emerged from those dark shades, setting an enviable record other sister agencies would target to emulate.
The women in blue-and-white were crowned Southern Zone of the Malta Guinness Women’s Premier League champions, unseating the regular winners, Hasaacas Ladies.
It was a hard-fought victory for the police women and the joy that greeted the final whistle was incredible as they cartwheeled in unending joy to mark a feat never achieved in their history.
That was understandable because it came over Hasaacas Ladies, an experienced side that made marks in their maiden participation in the CAF Women’s Champions League competition.
However, going into the final game with 36 points, same as their opponents Hasaacas Ladies, the scale tilted in favour of Hasaacas Ladies.
But while the police women managed a 2-0 victory over FC Epiphany Warriors at the Adjiriganor Astro Turf in Accra, Hasaacas Ladies dropped two vital points after being held to a 1-1 draw encounter against Jonina Ladies.
Police Ladies, thus, finished the season with 11 wins, six draws, and one defeat, accruing 39 points would now face Northern Zonal Champions, Ampem Darkoa, in the playoff finale in May.
In congratulating Police Ladies, one would wish to present the feat as a challenge to the other security agencies to begin to focus on the business aspect of sports.
In some part of Africa, police teams feature regularly in their male elite leagues just as it remain a common feature in the francophone regions where Douanes (Customs teams) feature in their elite competition.
Sadly in Ghana, no team, as of now, from any of the security agencies have come close to even the national Division One League (DOL), indicating a very low desire to recruit very good players to make them competitive.
But reaching the very top in sports is not something beyond them. The feat by Police Ladies clearly shows that when the recruits are groomed well, they can become top professionals and compete at the highest level.
Maybe in their future recruitment, they can place special emphasis on signing people with special talents to give them competitive advantage. That will also put their players who are not staff of the service the chance to be considered.
As we wait to hear when any of the security agencies would sell their first player, we say a big ‘ayekoo’ to the Police Ladies team for doing a yeoman’s job.
By Andrew Nortey
