Football historians will tell you that Ghana has for a long time had problems with certain visiting teams from northern Africa both at the national and club level as far as discipline and good sportsmanship is concerned.

Thirty years ago, 1978 to be precise, when Ghana hosted CAN 78, the Moroccans who were not too impressive on the field of play decided to vent their spleen on facilities at the then Kumasi City Hotel, by destroying telephones, electrical fittings and dining plates.

The City Hotel had just seen some renovation works for the Cup of Nations and the legendary Ghanaian hospitality was severely put to test. In the end the Moroccans were only told to take their troubles away and Ghana had to bear the cost of repairs to the vandalized hotel.

In 2000, it was hell at the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium when Ghana’s champion club Accra Hearts of Oak hosted Esperance Club from Tunisia in the final of the CAF champion clubs league. Hearts had brilliantly recovered from a first half goal deficit and were banging in the goals with amazing rapidity in the second half when the visitors started their pranks by playing it rough, challenging referee’s decisions, feinting injury at the least body contact and generally trying as much as possible to disrupt the run of play. They managed to create several holdups and in one fierce scuffle with match officials, security men had to intervene.

It was my first experience of coming in contact with teargas as the commodity was freely used to bring sanity to the packed stadium. It was a nightmarish experience and you are advised not to get near any teargas.

When peace appeared to have been restored, the Esperance goalkeeper rushed to the match officials with blood oozing from his forehead. He claimed he had been attacked by a football fan, obviously a home fan but it was later detected that it was a self inflicted wound and the goalkeeper was ultimately sanctioned by CAF.

Hearts won the match 3-1 to become Africa champions but the riotous behaviour by the visiting team spoiled the beauty of the occasion.

On August 27 this year, Kumasi Asante Kotoko beat Ittihad of Libya 3-1 in the CAF Confederations Cup at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi and the reaction of the Libyan players was to destroy electrical fittings and a television set in the dressing room.

The legendary Ghanaian hospitality was once again put to the test and luckily the visitors decided to pay for the damage caused.

Memories of this unsporting behaviour by some visiting teams from North Africa had begun to fade when last Saturday Oct 4 at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi, Etoile du Sahel from Tunisia almost re-enacted the nasty scene involving their home

country club Esperance and Accra Hearts of Oak eight years ago at the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium in Accra.

This CAF Confederation Cup match between Etoile and Kotoko was cruising to a hectic 1-1 affair when Kotoko earned a penalty after top striker Eric Bekoe, in firm control of the ball, had been violently pushed in the box. It was a clear penalty but the Tunisians, led by fist clenching goalkeeper Methlouthi, made a meal of it by protesting wildly holding proceedings for nearly 10 minutes .When sanity prevailed Eric Bekoe scored from the spot to give Kotoko a 2-1 lead but from then it was no football. Wild kicking of legs was the order of the day. Referee Coffie Bonsventure from Benin had a tough time controlling tempers both on the field of play and on the bench. Eventually he had to sack one Etoile player Mohammed Sacko for consistent rough play and as if to atone for this decision he gave the Tunisians a penalty that brought the scores level at 2-2.

Despite their rather poor sportsmanship, the Tunisians appeared tactically superior to Asante Kotoko whose young players may need a lot more exposure in order to play with much more confidence when faced with tricky situations such as posed by Etoile du Sahel. With the loss of two valuable home points the chances of Kotoko reaching the final is dangerously slim and the last match against Merreikh of Sudan may be just for the records.
As the thousands of Kotoko supporters left the stadium with sadness, the topic for discussion was how to deal with unfriendly visitors to the stadium in future. It was obvious that the Tunisians by their behaviour turned an otherwise exciting continental club match into a bizarre and unsporting affair.