It is strange to lose a football match by three goals to one and still claim to have played the better game.  But that is the story of Ghana’s Black Meteors, the national Under- 23 team, that lost to their Nigerian counterparts at Benin City in the first leg of the qualifying series for the upcoming Africa Games in Maputo.

Both the handlers and players of the Meteors say the score line did not reflect the trend of play and are convinced of a resounding victory in the second leg in Ghana on July 9. Having taken a first half lead in Benin the Meteors suddenly slumped to what some observers claim to be partisan officiating.

They are therefore fully determined to overcome whatever hit them in the second half that let in three goals and make it a sweet revenge that would see them among the budding football stars in the 9^th Africa Games in Mozambique.

The footballers are anxious to join the athletes, boxers, weightlifters, swimmers and the rest for this great continental sports festival.

At this juncture, it would be appropriate to recall the history of the All Africa Games and Ghana’s participation so far.

From the maiden Brazzaville Games in 1965, Lagos 1973, Algiers 1978, Cairo 1991, Harare 1995, Johannesburg 1999, Abuja 2003, Algiers 2007, the national flag of Ghana has been effectively paraded.

This is not only in keeping with the political stature of Ghana as an apostle of African Unity but it also affords the country’s budding sportsmen and sportswomen the opportunity to rub shoulders with the best on the continent.

The Africa Games is a transformation of the then Friendship Games held bi-annually among French speaking countries in Africa which began in 1958 It is on record that France successfully used the Friendship Games  as an effective instrument for holding together  her “colonial empire” in Africa.

At the third Friendship Games in Dakar 1963 it was decided to invite a few countries outside the French “colonial empire”. Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and the United Arab Republic (now Egypt) had that special invitation to compete with their French speaking neighbours.

Ghana sent a token team of six athletes and two boxers. Sprints queen Rose Hart won gold in the women’s 80 metres hurdles, light- middleweight boxer Joe Darkey won gold in boxing and the men’s sprints quartet of B.K.Mends, Mike Ahey, M.F.Okantey and Bukari Bashiru won bronze.

It was quite a successful tournament and the general feeling was that the games should be expanded to cover the entire continent. In early 1965 a conference of Ministers of Youth and Sports in Africa was held in Dakar to discuss the formation of an All Africa Games.

After a fruitful meeting it was unanimously agreed that an All Africa Games should be instituted to bring the youth of the continent together in a healthy sports rivalry. A Supreme Council for Sports in Africa (SCSA) was formed to control activities.

Brazzaville was chosen to host the first Games from July 18th -25th 1965