The sporting world is quite interesting. Of course the main essence of sports, competitive or otherwise is to provide excitement. And that is why in case of upsets, disappointments and even calamities, the popular refrain is that ‘it is all in the game'.

It is this kind of spirit that has made sports such an important part of national life and all countries seriously include sports programmes in their national agenda.

It is with this background that one should view the reaction of Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan who has announced the suspension of his national football team from international competitions for two years because they flopped at the ongoing the FIFA World Cup. You may call it a rash decision or unconstitutional tinged with military coup undertones but I would say it is all in the game. It however looks like Mr. Goodluck has not quite considered the serious implications of his decision and he may need to revisit the subject.

This reminds me of another President, Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy of France who has pledged to personally lead an investigation into the poor performance of the French team in South Africa. Even though FIFA boss Sepp Blatter is not amused and has fired warning shots that Mr. Sarkozy might be guilty of political interference if he involved himself in football matters, I plead Blatter should learn to be a bit flexible. After all it’s all in the game.

I think it is time this so called political interference in football was clearly defined. The other day, Togo was accused of political interference when the government ordered the national football team to return home from the Africa Nations Cup in Angola. The team had been attacked by bandits resulting in two deaths and several injuries. Reports said the entire team had been traumatized but Issa Hayatou and his CAF executive had little pity for them. They called it political interference and banned Togo from the Nations Cup which decision was later reversed.   A friend remarked that perhaps if the entire Togolese team had been killed, CAF would have asked the Togo Football Association to fly in a new set of players.

This vexed question of political interference makes me wonder whether the visit of my country’s President to the camp of the national team, Black Stars, before their crucial match against USA could be termed political interference. President John Mills actually prayed with the team and urged them to make the nation proud which they did.  I am sure if he had done otherwise by warning that he would dissolve the team if they failed to reach the quarter finals it would have been termed political interference. This is a strange world.

Well it is good that Blatter now does not regard video technology as interference in the work of referees. It is hoped his apology to the English team for the wicked denial of that perfect goal against Germany, was not meant to canvass votes for him to extend his already long stay in office. With advent of special balls and all that, it is obvious the game is becoming too fast for the ordinary human eyes to be hundred percent accurate and technology should come in handy.

It is a fair guess to suggest that if the England’s equalizer against Germany had been allowed, the face of the game could have changed. As it turned out England were completely dispirited and found it unnecessary to score any more goals.

Luckily, the Black Stars of Ghana have not yet encountered any referee who has disallowed any of their goals in the four matches played so far against Serbia, Australia, Germany and the USA.  As Africa’s sole survivor in South Africa 2010, Asamoah Gyan and Co must be able keep up their heads and face squarely Uruguay, their first South American opposition.

The added attraction to this encounter is that Uruguay were the first World Cup champions in 1930 and a victory for Ghana would make her the first African country to reach the semi finals of the World Cup.

What an exciting fixture.

Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.