My colleague Ebo Quansah, former President of the Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) is obviously worried that despite all the recent sports successes achieved by Ghana this year is not reflected in the media. I have a sneaky feeling that the current generation of sports journalists may be more interested in fault finding than lauding any achievements.

In football which is national pastime, the National Under-21 team, the Black Satellites emerged winners of the maiden West African Football Union (WAFU) tournament to add to their qualification for the impending African Youth Championships in Rwanda.

Coach Sellas Tetteh, who was the architect of this double victory, was only mentioned in dispatches as compared to the heavy doses of criticism levelled against him when he failed to shine during his brief attachment to the senior national team Black Stars.

Black Stars Serbian Coach, Milovan has been hitting the headlines for the wrong reasons. He has been the subject of media attacks because of his inability to express himself well in English with the players. He is reported to be using the sign language which the critics say is not effective enough. The Serbian has acknowledged this handicap and he is busily perfecting his English, saying that with time there would be perfect understanding between him and the players.

The able way the Serbian steered the home based Black Stars to eliminate perennial rivals Nigeria from the maiden African Nations Championships, speaks volumes about the credentials of the coach but that doesn’t seem to be good news in the view of the sporting media. With the first leg in Accra ending in a tricky 3-2 win for Ghana, Nigeria needed only a goal to carry the day, but the Serbian tactician worked a strategy that repulsed all the menacing attacks by the ferocious looking Nigerians and the scores remained barren thus sailing Ghana into the novelty championships in Cote d’Ivoire next year.

The first leg in Accra was quite frightening as Nigeria took a commanding 2-0 lead, but the Stars ability to fight back to win 3-2 confirms veteran coach and football administrator Ben Koufie’s verdict that Milovan is a good coach .“I have seen him working and after speaking with him a couple of times I can tell he is a very good coach, a very good developer. If he manages to break that language barrier, Ghana will benefit a lot from his experience” said Ben Koufie. This should be good news because we have a tough World Cup qualifying schedule ahead.

My observation is that, the media is putting too much premium on the Serbian’s inability to express himself well in English. What most people have lost sight of is that, his assistant Kwasi Appiah is such an intelligent chap that he has been able to master the Serbian’s sign language cum the broken English and the pair is right on course to deliver the goods.

Talking about sports journalists’ penchant for fault finding with coaches brings to mind the alleged derogatory comments by the chairman of the Black Starlets Management Awuah Nyamekye about Coach Kwasi Afranie. The Black Starlets are Ghana’s Under- 17 team, which got eliminated by Gambia in the Africa U-17 championships. Ghana had won the first leg at home 3-1 but lost the return 2-0 and Mr. Nyamekye who was chairman of the Football Association from 1990-1992 ,was reported in the Graphic Sports to have questioned the technical competence of Coach Afranie . He is alleged to have suggested that the coach must not be made to handle any national team again because he had passed his prime.

The children of coach Afranie have threatened legal action against the Starlets Chairman and the newspaper that made the publication. In a quick reaction, the former FA Chairman has denied granting any such interview or making any such comments but in an in interesting twist the paper is arguing that even if Nyamekye did not make those comments, it was no crime if he did that. The caution is that, if you take too much liberty in the passion for football you may end up being accused of character assassination.

Much as it is an accepted convention that coaches always take the blame for defeats, it would be stretching the matter too far if a coach is banned from handling any national team because of one defeat.

If coaches were to be sacked for every single defeat there won’t be any more coaches left on the benches, the inimitable Alex Ferguson of Manchester United included.

May I suggest to my colleague sports journalists that in dealing with coaches in all sports disciplines, one should be generous in praise and slow to criticize.

Cheers and keep loving sports.

In my capacity as an ardent supporter of Manchester United Football Club, I am going to consult a lawyer and find out whether I have the capacity to sue Real Madrid Football Club at the International Court of Justice for willfully and consistently harassing Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United.

Just before the last European championships, Real Madrid started their ambush of the young man with a reported world record transfer fee and the young man actually became dazzled and confused. He started contradicting himself in the media every now and then. He was not himself and this eventually affected his output on the field of play. Thanks to the sagacity of manager of the century Alex Ferguson, the young man was guided to take a firm decision to stay put at Old Trafford. He lost a bit of his sharpness and even though he scored the curtain raiser in the champions’ league cup final against Chelsea he missed his kick in the penalty shoot-out. United won the cup eventually thanks to goalie Van der Saar.

After a stunning recovery from a slow start this season that has seen him winning the European footballer of the year title and in the midst of the knock-out stages of this year’s champions’ league, Real Madrid have started their harassment again. They have changed the tactics this time. It is no longer direct talks with the player but with management.

One of Real Madrid’s directors, Pedro Traporte has been quoted as saying an agreement had been reached with United regarding a summer sale of Ronaldo. This is a brazen effort to unsettle Ronaldo who might begin to entertain doubts as to his future with United. Luckily the smart Alex has seen through this and his retort that he “would not sign a contract with that mob and not sell even a virus to Real Madrid” is quite loaded.

I believe Ferguson’s statement that there is absolutely no agreement at all between the clubs but for Real Madrid’s deliberate harassment of Ronaldo .I would like to seek an injunction to debar them from pestering the life of my idol player in the name of football.

The brilliant show by the home based Black Stars of Ghana that has earned them qualification for the maiden African Nations Championships, has given the nation some hope that the much talked about rebuilding exercise for World Cup 2010 is on course.

The Black Stars held their Nigerian counterparts, the Super Green Eagles, to a pulsating goalless draw in the second leg qualifier in Calabar and this was enough to see them through to the finals. The Stars had won the first leg in Accra 3-2 and Nigeria needed only a goal to qualify, but Ghana put up a terrific show and in the end Nigeria was even lucky to escape defeat, as the Black Stars came close to scoring in the dying minutes.

Nigeria, who had reached the final qualifying stages by eliminating Burkina Faso, took Accra by storm in their match against Ghana and took a commanding 2-0 lead by the half hour mark. Ghana had to fight to reduce the deficit just before the recess and in a blistering second half performance scored twice to carry the day.

With two away goals to their credit, Nigeria were highly favoured to advance for the finals slated for Cote d’Ivoire next February but the Black Stars rose to the occasion and won admiration for their excellent football skills and bravery.

The Nigerian quartet of Henry Uche, Olawale Cletus, Bello Musa and Musa Kabiru, who nearly caused havoc in Accra were effectively held in check by the Black Stars strong rearguard of Habib Mohammed, Ofosu Appiah, Daniel Yeboah, and Edmund Owusu Ansah backed in the post by Philemon McCarthy who was really tops.

This victory has really vindicated Serbian Coach.Milovan Romaic, who had promised to deliver if given more time to survey the terrain for more hidden talents. There is no doubt that inclusion of McCarthy, a product of Gomoa Fetteh Feyenoord, gave the defence a solid protection and Ghana was not afraid to attack.

The general observation is that, this home-based Black Stars is quite a promising team but the fear is whether they would continue to be home- based long enough to give the coach ample room for team building. The rush by these youngsters for the so- called greener pastures abroad has disturbed a progressive team building. The snag is that most of them end up warming benches abroad and the resultant frustration disturbs their forward march to stardom. The nation is ultimately the loser.

It is my considered opinion that, it is time these teenagers were properly counseled about the need to mature properly for the high demands of a true professional player. Club officials should also consider the future of these youngsters and resist the temptation of the small benefits accruing from the percentage of transfer fees at the expense of these innocent young players, most of them from rather poor backgrounds

It is strange that goal king Eric Bekoe of Asante Kotoko fame was in such a wild haste to play abroad when the home based Black Stars of which he was an integral part were in such a crucial match .It is good that the coach was able to vary his tactics and the absence of Bekoe was not felt much as Alex Asamoah, Kojo Poku, Yaw Antwi, Francis Coffie, Agyemang Badu and others rose to the occasion. Now that Eric is no longer home- based and can’t play in the novelty African Nations Championships, it is hoped he would maintain his form and merit inclusion when the full Black Stars is assembled for the World Cup matches.

This victory by the Black Stars is another of the sporting successes that should help dilute the political tension in the country as a result of the forthcoming Presidential run-off.

It is hoped that this week’s exciting pairings in the premier league will help further lower the high political temperature in the country.

Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.

The purists say politics and sports don’t mix, even though they are unable to explain why national anthems are played for both sporting success and for political heads of state.

In the midst of the tension surrounding the national elections in Ghana, the Football Association (FA) wisely decided to start the premier league in an attempt to shift attention from the raging political inferno, knowing very well that Ghana is a football loving country. The trick worked to some extent. Crowd pullers, Kumasi Asante Kotoko sold a pulsating goalless draw with city rivals King Faisal Babies and new entrants Berekum Arsenal beat Liberty Professionals 3-2 in Accra and these results became the talking point for some time.

When Asante Kotoko whipped Obuasi Ashgold 3-1 in Kumasi and fellow crowd pullers Accra Hearts of Oak scored two late goals to sink newcomers Sporting Mirren, the vociferous fans of these two leading clubs as usual made a lot of noise and people began to talk football alongside the national elections. It was a healthy diversion from politics.

The third week’s premier league matches also recorded exciting results with Kotoko scoring a brilliant way win at the expense of Sekondi Hasaacas and Berekum Arsenal snatching their third straight victory with a neat 2-0 victory over veteran league campaigners Hearts of Oak to top the table.

These remarkable league results were beginning to receive wide media attention when the chairman of the Electoral Commission, Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan, told the nation to get ready for a run –off of the presidential polls because none of the contenders could obtain the statutory 50% plus one. This time round, it would be by simple majority. In sporting jargon one would call it penalty shoot-out between Nana Akufo- Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP)and Prof John Atta-Mills of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The figures released by the Electoral Commission showed Nana Akufo Addo in the lead by a little over 100,000 votes and the permutation by NPP supporters is that their man needed only a little over 50,000 votes to carry the day. The NDC sees it otherwise. Their argument is that if one adds the figures of the parties contesting the NPP, it means that nearly 51% voted against Nana Akufo-Addo.

This calls to mind the description of the contents in a bottle as either being half- full or half- empty. It depends on where you are coming from. It also reminds me of a football match report on the same match by two sports writers, when there was a penalty miss. One report said the player who took the kick, shot the ball straight into the hands of the goalkeeper and the other report said the goalkeeper made a brilliant anticipation.

What I have observed in football matches is that a team that comes from a 2-0 deficit and scores a goal suddenly gets much more inspiration to fight for at least a draw but if that fails the team could receive a heavier tally in the end. The NDC is coming from two straight electoral defeats and their victory in the parliamentary polls has given them the belief that they can catch up with the leaders, who are really determined to retain their title just like Joseph Agbeko did on Thursday night by whipping William Gonzalez of Nicaragua to retain his International Boxing Federation (IBF) world bantamweight title.

Sports fans may feel sad that this run-off has eclipsed the recent sporting feats being achieved by Ghana. On the eve of Agbeko’s triumph, the national Under- 20 football team, Black Satellites won the maiden West African Football Union (WAFU) competition in Cote d’Ivoire, beating Senegal on penalty shoot-outs and the home- based Black Stars are in contention to qualify for the maiden African Championships with a crucial away match against Nigeria in Calabar this weekend.

Well, if all these sports competitions are being held alongside the heated political elections, then sports and politics can mix after all. I doff my hat to the sporting fraternity and say cheers and keep loving sports.

When the history of the 50 year old national football league of Ghana is written,two names that would feature prominently would be the late John Ackah Blay Miezah of Sekondi Eleven Wise fame and Herbert Mensah formerly of Kumasi Asante Kotoko and currently chief executive of Obuasi Ashgold . These two gentlemen with their flamboyant style in football administration put a lot of life into the league and were always the toast of the media.

It was Blay Miezah who in 1983, put the league on a high pedestal with his catchy “akarakachii” slogan and filled the airwaves and newspapers with heavy advertisements on league matches involving Eleven Wise. It was an exciting innovation which caught up well with the football public and no wonder all matches involving Eleven Wise became a sell out.

Blay Miezah went a step further. His player motivation was first class and he was able to strengthen the team with a number of talented players including almost all the top stars who had deserted the club spearheaded by John Bannerman, the wizard dribbler who created Asante Kotoko’s winning goal by Opoku Nti in the historic 1983 Africa Cup triumph over Al Ahly of Egypt in Kumasi.

Following Eleven Wise’s rather unimpressive show in the 1983 Africa Cup Winners Cup that saw them bowing out quite early via Agaza of Togo, Blay Miezah pumped in more money. He took the entire registered players of 35 and their technicians on a three week expensive tour of Brazil, home of football to tune them up for the 1984 league. No wonder they put up a splendid performance to earn a respectable second spot behind Accra Hearts of Oak who bagged 28 pts with Wise collecting 25 pts.

Eleven Wise continued to be a strong force and placed third in the 1985 league with 30pts. Hearts retained the cup with 38 pts followed by Asante Kotoko with 33 pts. The exit of Blay Miezah from the football scene naturally affected the fortunes of Eleven Wise as they struggled to survive in top division football till the club was relegated at the end of the 1990/91 season alongside Bofoakwa Tano, Upper West Heroes and Foso Soccer Missionaries.

After a lot of up and downs Eleven Wise are back in the top division football. There will be more of this later. Let’s talk about the other legendary figure who breathed a lot of life into the national league- Herbert Mensah.

Herbert Mensah, a professional public relations man who did a marvellous job in promoting the South African digital satellite TV network M-Net in Ghana, burst onto the football scene in 1999 when he was made chairman of Kumasi Asante Kotoko. The club was gradually losing its trademark firepower and Herbert actually utilized his public relations skills to the full and exploited the popularity of Kotoko to useful advantage. He made the numerous supporters feel a sense of belonging and supporters realised the need to make contributions to the running of the club and especially the upkeep of the players who were dearly motivated.

Matches involving Kotoko consistently pulled heavy gates and on some occasions special cash donations dubbed “yibima” were collected in specially designed boxes. Despite all this the team was strangely not performing all that well. It is to the credit of the supporters that they sportingly accepted Herbert Mensah’s oft repeated explanation that he was on a team building exercise and continued to back him. Unfortunately somewhere along the line Herbert’s abrasive style of administration and his extrovert nature did not go down too well with officialdom and there were many instances of clash of personalities. To make matters worse a lot of matches involving Kotoko were surrounded in disputes and crowd violence and this was unfortunately blamed on Herbert’s leadership. It is sad that the worst football disaster in Ghana’s football history happened during Herbert’s tenure when 126 fans were killed in a stampede after a league match between Kotoko and Hearts at Accra Sports Stadium on May 9, 2001.

Wholly unconnected with this disaster, Herbert was removed as chairman of Kotoko in 2003 after he had narrowly missed the chance to win the Africa Cup Winners Cup in December 2002. A year after Herbert left office, Kotoko won the league under the new management of Sylvester Asare Owusu and many analysts were prepared to surmise that the new managers might have profited from the foundation laid by Herbert.

Perhaps eager to prove a point, Herbert started some romance with Kotoko’s city rivals King Faisal Babies but it was short lived. After some long spell, Herbert is back to club administration and now he is fully in charge of Obuasi Ashgold where he has started hitting the headlines again.

Herbert put a big price tag of $50,000 on Ashgold’s top striker Alex Asamoah, who wanted to transfer to Kotoko. In addition to the fee, Herbert wanted a friendly match between Ashgold and Kotoko with the Obuasi team taking a lion’s share of the gate takings. Kotoko paid the fee all right but when they appeared to be dragging their feet on the friendly match, Herbert justifiably raised an objection and lodged an official complaint to the Football Association. Kotoko had no option but quickly honour the match. That is Herbert for you.

This scenario expectedly created some tension around the second- week league fixture between Kotoko and Ashgold in Kumasi on Wednesday Dec 3 and the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi was filled to capacity. The teams did not disappoint the thick crowd. The controversial marksman Alex Asamoah stole the show by scoring the curtain raiser for Kotoko and creating the second before the recess.

Ashgold’s second half goal increased the tension but Kotoko lived up to expectation and got a third to win handsomely 3-1. The result of this match has set the stage for an intense rivalry between the two clubs .It is my considered opinion that if this healthy rivalry is well managed, the two clubs will stand to gain financially in the end.

Herbert may have his faults but he is a good organizer who can sniff money from afar. If the present management of Kotoko can sportingly forget about the bitter past and opt for a useful co-operation with Ashgold, the two teams will hit gold without necessarily going to the bowels of the earth at Obuasi.

I am convinced that with Herbert around, this year’s league will be colourful and exciting and it is my prayer that crowd violence will be a thing of the past.

Meanwhile as far as bragging rights are concerned, Asante Kotoko supporters have the upperhand over Ashgold but there should be no acrimony. Let the fun continue for a merry heart is good medicine with no bad effects.