The Following information is being provided as a result of inquiries by interested individuals about what the Ghana Olympic Committee stands for. I suspect this information is being sought as a result of the rumpus in the current Ghana Olympic Committee which has two factions.

The Ghana Olympic Committee is a non-governmental organization working in conjunction with the National Sports Council and the Ministry of Youth and Sports to promote and develop sports in Ghana. The Committee was originally set up in 1952 with the following objectives.

1. To disseminate the aims and ideals of the Olympic Movement and to ensure Ghana’s representation at the Olympic Games and other international Games within the Olympic movement.

2. To see the healthy development of sports in Ghana, free from political, religious, racial and commercial interference.

3. To assist in raising funds through public appeals to support Ghana’s participation in Olympic Games and other international games and to supervise the utilization and disbursement of such funds to supervise the utilization and disbursement of such funds in the interest of these Games.

4. To co-operate with sports associations in Ghana towards the development of the various sports disciplines in the country.

MEMBERSHIP OF THE GOC
The membership of the GOC is made up of representatives of the various sports associations under the auspices of the National Sports Council.

There are also representatives from the security services sports associations, the Ghana Armed Forces Police, Fire Service, Customs Excise and Preventive Service, Internal Revenue Service, and the Ghana Education Service.

The constitution provides for a general assembly which meets once in four years after each Olympic Games There should be an Executive Board that carries out the working of the GOC and a full time secretariat.

I have this sneaky feeling that some sports loving people are perhaps unconsciously, trying to toy with Ghana’s international reputation as a strong sporting nation and by extension a democratic country that respects the rule of law.

The world’s two most powerful sports authorities; FIFA and the IOC have stringent rules and regulations that bind all nations on the planet. It is therefore strange that certain people in my part of the world would want to act in a manner that would make Ghana a laughing stock among the comity of sporting nations worldwide. Let me refer here to the subtle manner by which a division one football club, Medeama from the Western region that had failed to gain promotion into the Premier division, quickly bought a Premier club Kessben ,renamed it Medeama and readied itself to compete in the Premiership in the upcoming season. This is unheard of.

FIFA Regulations on promotion and relegations clearly state that “a club’s entitlement to take part in a domestic league championship shall depend principally on sporting merit. A club shall qualify for a domestic league championship by remaining in a certain division or by being promoted or relegated to another at the end of a season”

In simple language, a club could only attain a particular status through competition rather than sale or purchase of some other team’s slot. Thankfully, the Ghana Football Association has invoked the relevant clause and as far as the FA is concerned Kessben and not Medeama is the bona fide Premier club for the upcoming season that opens this weekend.

It is obvious that the business transaction between Kwabena Kesse of Kessben and Moses Armah of Medeama did not consider the rules governing football as a sport.  As things stand now, Medeama will take part in the league as Kessben. The FA has been flexible enough to allow them to use Sekondi as the home venue instead of Abramkese in Ashanti. The next few months will see how the two clubs will sort themselves out as far as the business transaction goes.

It is good for the game that wealthy businessmen are getting involved in football but it would be appreciated if they learn to play the game according to the rules. As things stand now, an unnecessary messy situation has been created just as we have in the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC).  The revered Olympic Committee incredibly has two sets of officials, one faction recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the other government sponsored.  Former Prisons Officer B.T.Baba heads the original GOC and former national athlete Dr Francis Dodoo is leader of the government faction.

The factions came about following elections to elect a new GOC which the incumbent Baba administration failed to recognize. According to him, the procedure for the polls was flawed and the IOC was duly informed. From all indications, the IOC still recognises the Baba administration and this has led to a clumsy situation where GOC correspondences are mishandled since there is a break in communication between the National Sports Council and the Francis Dodoo GOC and the Baba GOC on the other side.

This is real clumsy situation and Ghana may miss the upcoming Commonwealth Games in India since there is a power struggle as to who should handle the accreditation for the contingent. This same power struggle has led to Ghana’s inability to decide whether to attend the 2011 Africa Games in Mozambique. This is not funny.

If you ask me, I would say that in the national interest, the Baba faction should give in. In my considered opinion, the former Prisons officer has succeeded to establish the point that political interference does not pay in the administration of sports. He has actually upheld the Olympic charter that says that the GOC should see to “the healthy development of sports in Ghana, free from political, religious, racial and commercial interference”. He has been part of the Olympic family since the 1988 Seoul Olympics when I was the press attaché to the Ghana contingent, I am sure in the spirit of Olympism he would offer the olive  branch to stop the mess that is seriously threatening to give Ghana  a bad image  in international sporting circles.

It is said that when two elephants fight, it is the soil that suffers. In this case, the sports practitioners will toil in vain if this power struggle is allowed to continue.

Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.

I predicted the other day that the English Premiership would be the same old story this season with the traditional top four of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool calling the shots. Whilst I still stick to my forecast, little did I know that there would be an elite class that would perfect in the art of scoring six goals per match.

Chelsea and Arsenal have formed the nucleus of that elite class punctuating the act with hat-tricks by their top goal merchants. Not forgetting Newcastle United also thrashed Aston Villa 6-0 on Sunday with Andy Carroll grabbing his first hat-trick for Newcastle United. Defending goal king Didier Drogba’s hat-trick in Chelsea’s 6-0 mauling of West Bromwich and the one by Theo Walcott of Arsenal against Blackpool, have really set new standards in the league. It may be too early in the day but if they continue with this trend the league title could be decided well in advance of the concluding fixtures.

Chelsea’s 12 goal haul in two matches is reminiscent of their stormy finish last season that won them the cup with one point on the last day of the marathon race. Perhaps one would say The Blues want to set the records straight right from the beginning and avoid that harrowing experience of Manchester United breathing menacingly on their necks during the home stretch.

It is such characteristics that make the English Premier League the most exciting in the world. The snag however is that the best league does not make England the best football nation in the world and this is why the national concern to develop home grown talent must be taken seriously.

My favourite manager, Alex Ferguson, has said several times that investing in younger players is of more benefit in the long run. “Young players develop if you are looking after them properly. They do have a loyalty because they appreciate the education you give them as coaches”, says Sir Alex.

It may not be easy to wait for the home talent to grow when you are used to seeing the best players in action in the Premiership. The influx of wealthy owners who have become part of English football clubs may have to be critically analysed for whatever its worth. Sir Alex says these owners go on a “kamikaze” effort to spend their money.

I must confess I had to consult my dictionary to look for the meaning of “kamikaze”. It says in World War II, a member of the Japanese Air Force who volunteered to crash an aircraft laden with explosives suicidally on a target; an aircraft used in such an attack.

In the country where I hail from, many interpretations could be given to Alex Fergusons’s words, so your understanding of the usage of kamikaze is as good as mine. Currently in my country there is a heated national debate on the meaning of the popular phrase” so many ways of killing a cat”. 
Ferguson’s ominous prediction is that this kind of spending is not going to stop suddenly. It could go on for two or three years until such time as “they understand you can’t necessarily achieve all the time by spending”.

Well said Sir Alex, I didn’t know the veteran football manager could be so diplomatic at times. No offense intended I am simply impressed at the way he couched his message. The man has not mentioned any names but those who have spent millions on huge signings but are still found wanting in the European Cup know themselves.

How I wish my long standing friend Alhaji Abdul Karim Grunsah, founder of Ghana Premier Division club, King Faisal, would also be a bit diplomatic at times.

The fiery football administrator is noted for his plain talk but I am afraid his recent allegation of an existence of secret agents who collude with referees to determine the results of Premier league matches could throw Ghana football into turmoil. National security can even come in for good measure.

Hear him “some referees take cattle, sheep and goats plus cash. Most of the clubs are swimming in debts because of these things”. What an indictment. In what appeared to be a sober reflection, he appealed to his fellow club officials to stop contacting referees for favours. He ended by calling on the Football Association to review the membership of the Referees Appointing Committee.

It would be interesting to get the official reaction from the Referees Association to Grusah’s allegation. Incidentally Grunsah has a cattle ranch and the next league season starts on September 5th.

Cheers everybody and keep loving sports. 

I don’t subscribe to the notion that because the FIFA World Cup produced a brand new Champion, the English Premier League would see a departure from the old faces of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.  To my mind, nothing dramatic has happened to the structures of these perennial winners and it is going to be the same old story.

The only change I can envisage is that my favourite team, Manchester United, are most likely to make a flying start for a change and would, true to their familiar tradition, win the Cup with more to spare. I don’t expect a repetition of that nail biting close finish that saw the champions being declared on the last day of the tournament.

United’s youngsters, led by the Mexican prodigy Hernandez are extremely anxious to make an impact as was seen in the Charity Shield match against Chelsea.  Backed by the inimitable veteran Paul Scholes who has refused to grow old, United are my favourites to repeat their all conquering form that saw them winning the treble 11 years ago.

A fellow United supporter has whispered into my ears that the organizers have deliberately pushed the club’s opening match to Monday to avoid the monotony of seeing them on top at that early stage. So as things stand we would have to contend with some unfamiliar faces on top this weekend till the masters’ return to their natural habitat after Monday’s match against returnees Newcastle.

In the absence of United on the opening day, the defending champions Chelsea could give West Bromwich Albion a baptism of fire at Stamford Bridge and shoot to the top. Michael Essien has missed a lot of action because of injury and he would be anxious to recapture his brilliant combative form. Didier Drogba  would also love to defend his  top scorer crown and West Bromwich would have to stand firm especially when  Chelsea are smarting under  the 3-1 defeat to United in the Charity Shield.

The Liverpool v Arsenal encounter is definitely the pick of the day. England skipper Gerrard would have to prove that Benitez was responsible for the team’s woes. If his form in England’s last friendly match against Hungary last Wednesday is anything to go by, then he could give   Arsene Wenger’s teenagers a tough time.  Arsenal are traditional pace setters and they will be difficult to dismiss at the beginning of this marathon contest.

The remaining fixtures all have their peculiar attractions. Tottenham Hotspurs against Manchester City at White Hart Lane for example should be exciting. Tottenham were quite impressive at the closing stages of last season and it would be interesting to see how they would fare against the millionaire club desperately wishing to translate their millions into good cup winning football.

Aston Villa should be able to collect maximum points at home at the expense of West Ham; Everton may get a point at Blackburn; Bolton may drop home points to Fulham and Sunderland must beat Birmingham at home.Wigan Athletic and Blackpool could go either way but Wolves are tipped to beat Stoke at home.

It is quite admirable the way the English league sticks to their calendar. My home country Ghana sometime ago decided to copy the English and boldly pronounced that they were going to tie the Ghana season with the English. The plan failed for obvious reasons. Provisionally, the Ghana season will start in September but it is still being debated whether to have a 20 club league or not.

Indecision and failure to adhere to principles seem to be the bane of Ghana football.  After the fine show at the recent World Cup, it is being debated whether the nation should maintain the foreign coach who directed affairs or recruit a local coach.

It was in the midst of the debate about the coach and hot public discussion about the calibre of players to form the national team that Ghana sent a hurriedly assembled team to face South Africa in a friendly match and lost 1-0 in a lack lustre show.

That is Ghana football for you. The experts are too many for comfort. Cheers everybody and keep loving sports

Ghana’s heptathlon star Margaret Simpson-Senya is a fine encouragement to women who entertain the sad notion that competitive sports could make them infertile. The versatile athlete of seven disciplines broke her athletics career in 2006 to have a baby and her brilliant winning form in the just ended Africa Athletics championships in Kenya should be good news for all sportswomen, especially those in my part of the world, to shun the superstition that sports would deny them the chance of having babies.

Since Margaret hit the headlines in 2002 with a bronze at the Manchester Commonwealth Games, her first major international tournament, it had been a sick joke that with her seemingly masculine features she could have problems having a child.  I am therefore particularly happy that she has proved the skeptics wrong, just like the way my favourite South African athlete Caster Semanya has done about her so called gender status.

Margaret has quite a remarkable athletics record. She was the only Ghanaian medalist at the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002.  The Sportswriters Association of Ghana (SWAG), of which I was then an influential member, honoured her as Sports Personality of the year with a prediction that she would really go places.
Indeed in the following year, 2003 to be precise, she won gold at the 8th Africa Games held in Abuja, Nigeria.  In 2004, Margaret met a tough opposition at the Athens Olympic Games but her 9th position was regarded as quite encouraging. She was back in winning form in 2005 at the World Athletics championships in Helsinki, Finland with a bronze medal.

It was after this achievement that she decided to raise a family. She returned briefly after two years but a slight injury disrupted her progress until her remarkable return to action early in the year to make such a stunning presence at the just ended Nairobi Games.

Margaret, who is maturing like old wine, promises to make it big at the upcoming Commonwealth Games in India. She is really impressed with the performance of budding women sprinters like Rosina Amenebede, Elizabeth Amolofo, Beatrice Gyaman and Fling Owusu Agyepong at the Nairobi Games and expects a similar show at the Commonwealth Games.

These lady sprinters won bronze in the 4x100m relay in Nairobi and there is the general hope in Ghanaian sporting circles that women’s interest in athletics is back and we could soon reach the days of the Christiana Boatengs, Alice Anums, Rose Harts and Hannah Afriyies.

Who says Ghana is only interested in football? Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.