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.

When an African- American football fanatic of mine visited Ghana in the early sixties, he was so fascinated with Agona Swedru All Blacks Football Club that he predicted that the team would in future be the greatest club in Ghana. He was so sentimental about the name All Blacks. I tried in vain to impress upon him that there were certain powerful clubs in the country with such a strong support base, that it would be almost unthinkable to surpass them. He stood his grounds and simply asked me to mark his prediction on the wall.

A year after his return home, I wrote to inform him that All Blacks had been relegated from the top division and to make matters worse, the club has been revamped with a new name Agona Fankobaa. He was not amused at all but said he still had the gut feeling that All Blacks shall rise again. Yes, All Blacks did return to the national league in 1970, but went in and out of the competition till 1978 when together with Fankobaa, the two Swedru clubs lost top division status.

Fankobaa managed to spring back in 1980 but it was brief. A year later the national league was renamed the premier league and since then, Swedru had not been represented till three seasons ago when All Blacks gained admission into this elite division. It is unfortunate that my America friend did not live long enough to witness this spectacular feat by All Blacks but he would even be happier to hear from his grave that All Blacks have scored a spectacular first in the annals of Ghana’s football club history.

Affectionately called the “Black Magicians”, All Blacks is the first traditional Ghanaian club to be bought by a foreign business tycoon, in the style of famous English clubs like Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City, etc.

Japanese business tycoon and politician Toshihiro Iwasa has bought 70% shares in All Blacks and appointed his Korean partner Kwon Il Han Chief Executive. He is going to run the club like a business entity and employ his playing staff, technicians and board members. Veteran coach Fred Osam Duodu has been appointed head coach, former chairman George Afriyie who now owns 20% shares is deputy CEO and ace football commentator Dan Kwaku Yeboah of Peace FM fame is Communications Director.

This is quite a strong backroom staff and the football public is looking up to the Japanese businessmen to see how successful this novelty business run football club administration in Ghana would be. Agona Swedru, the home ground of All Blacks is a fertile catchment area of football enthusiasts and many are dreaming to see the day when at least half the size of Arsenals Emirates Stadium will be constructed at Agona Swedru.

At the moment, the Swedru Stadium has been declared unsuitable for premier league football and All Blacks would in the meantime use the Cape Coast Robert Mensah Stadium as home grounds.

On their first visit to their adopted home on Sunday Nov 23, All Blacks were quite impressive in the start of the 2008/2009 league with a pulsating 1-1 draw with Tema Youth. All Blacks led all the way, till a last minute penalty in favour of Tema Youth robbed “the Black Magicians” of the maximum points.

Supporters of Asante Kotoko and Accra Hearts of Oak always pride themselves to be pacesetters in Ghana football but this time round All Blacks have beaten them to it. Club ownership is now the modern concept, Kotoko and Hearts cannot therefore afford to be left behind It is hoped that with their massive crowd support , these two great traditional clubs would think of running the club on business lines and they could start in a big way by floating shares. In the case of Kotoko, Manhyia could be the majority shareholders and officials would have no alternative but to account properly to shareholders.

I believe strongly that Kotoko and Hearts could take advantage of the greatly expanded stadia in Accra and Kumasi and maximize the gate intakes with proper management. What do you think?

Meanwhile the start of the 2008/2009 premier league on Sunday produced exciting results with Obuasi Ashgold under the new management of Herbert Mensah topping the scoring charts with a 4-1 home win over Real Tamale United. New entrants Bechem Chelsea scored a brilliant away victory over Liberty Professional at the Ohene Djan Stadium in Accra.

Defending champions, Kumasi Asante Kotoko drew nil-nil with King Faisal Babies in their local derby at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium. In other matches Berekum Arsenal beat Heart of Lions 1-0, Kessben beat Sekondi Eleven Wise 2-0 at Abramkese and Hasaacas drew goalless with Wa Stars in Sekondi.

Accra Hearts of Oak will meet new entrants St. Mirren at the Ohene Djan Stadium in an outstanding match on Monday Nov 24.

There are murmurs that the league fixtures had been arranged to favour certain top clubs who have been given perceived cheap opponents to boost their confidence with victories at the early stages of the competition. However the shocking defeat of Liberty Professionals at home by new comers Bechem Chelsea does not justify the accusation of favouritism by the organizers. Let’s not forget that there is no logic in football. Look at what is happening in the English premiership. All the four top clubs failed to score at the weekend with Arsenal confounding matters by conceding three goals to Manchester City two weeks after beating Manchester United.

The sporting world is exciting, keep loving sports.

The writing was clearly on the wall. The days of Coach Bashiru Hayford with Kumasi Asante Kotoko as coach were numbered. The events following Kotoko’s unexpected 2-2 draw in the CAF Confederation Cup match at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium that effectively ended the club’s championship dreams in October, were an indication that danger was ominously looming in the horizon.

Fans rioted at the end of the match in question. The Beninois referee was unsportingly heckled and Coach Bashiru Hayford’s life was threatened by irate Kotoko fans. And to add confusion to disbelief, the coach unceremoniously abandoned post and left Kumasi for his home town Tema, the harbour city nearly 200 kilometres from Kumasi. For days, there were no contacts between him and the Kotoko management.

The coach did not bother to make any reports to the Kotoko management about his plight and the management also did not care to look for their head coach, even though the club had a pending CAF Confederation Cup match against El Merreikh of Sudan.
When Coach Hayford resurfaced in Kumasi a few days to the trip to Sudan, he described his sudden disappearance from Kumasi as a “tactical retreat” since his life was in danger and he was conscious of the fact that he had lost his wife not too long ago.

The Kotoko management was obviously not amused by Hayford’s demeanour and they flew the team to Sudan without him. Assistant coach, Johnson Smith was in charge when Kotoko lost the match 2-1 to place an uncharacteristic bottom of the group table behind Etoile du Sahel of Tunisia, El Merreikh of Sudan and JSK Algiers.

On return from the ill fated trip to Sudan, tension appeared to be in camp but the club summoned enough courage to face Liberty Professionals in the final of The GHALCA Top Four at the Baba Yara Stadium but lost narrowly 1-0 after their trade mark litany of missed chances.

As fans were gearing up for the next season and anxious to hear of recruitments to strengthen the team, came the sudden announcement that Kotoko were planning to sign on a new foreign coach. Within 48 hours of the news outbreak, the deal had been completed and now Asante Kotoko has unveiled a new coach in the person of Maurice Cooreman from Belgium who is on a two-year contract. In fact he has started work.

The Belgian has an interesting background. He has more than 10 years of experience in African football having been based in Nigeria for most part of his career on the continent.

Apart from being technical director for two time African champions Eyimba, until his appointment he had been in charge of Bendel Insurance, Lobi Stars and Gabros International. Typical of most expatriate coaches in Africa, the Belgian is hot tempered. In April this year, he was banned for five matches for attacking a referee during a titanic clash.

In 2006, he was fired by his club, Ocean Boys and re-appointed after just two weeks in a move that made wild headlines in Nigeria.

If the Belgian is familiar with wild headlines, then he would be very much at home with Asante Kotoko arguably the biggest club in Ghana, which makes the headlines every second whether for good or bad .It is only unfortunate that the gentleman he is coming to replace did not appear to be managed properly by management.

Bashiru Hayford had been complaining for the past two years that he only had a “verbal contract” with Kotoko and that his emoluments had continued to be a subject of controversy.
Now his fate seems to be in the balance. In the words of Kotoko’s spokesman Baah Nuako, “Hayford has been offered the opportunity by the new coach to work with him”. It is not clear in what capacity Bashiru is expected to work, but what seems clear is that management does not need his services.

This episode will revive the perennial debate on Ghanaian coaches and contracts. I will treat this topic in full in future, but in the meantime readers are encouraged to send their comments to me to generate a discussion.

For those who are interested in records this is the third foreign coach in recent times to train Kotoko- Ralph Zumdick (Germany), Dietar Schmidt (Germany) and Selat Uzum (Turkey).

The two-match home ban slapped on Ghana’s champion club Kumasi Asante Kotoko by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for crowd violence after the recent Confederation Cup match against Etoile du Sahel of Tunisia, could be described as quite a reasonable punishment.

Never mind the fact that there is an additional fine of 15,000 dollars. To my mind, the punishment could have been worse. Kotoko supporters lost their patience a little too quickly in that ill-fated match played at the Baba Yara sports stadium in Kumasi. The 2-2 draw that effectively ended Kotoko’s championship dreams, was most unexpected if you want to base it on the trend of play. It is painful if you cannot make use of home grounds, but then it is most unsporting to attack a referee after a match no matter his strange decisions during the match.

It has to be admitted that Beninois referee Coffie Codja was not at his best form on the day. The penalty against Kotoko was controversial but that was no excuse for him to be heckled in any way. If anything, the Kotoko supporters should have been rather stern on their own players who at certain stages, played as if there was not much at stake. Build up was slow. It took them too long a time to launch an attack and when they did, they carelessly threw away good chances.

Collectively, Kotoko did not appear to have prepared in harmony for that crucial match. The rigmarole surrounding the position of head coach Bashiru Hayford, who was on the touchline apparently as an ordinary spectator did not enhance team spirit and comradeship.

Much as referees are expected to be as neutral as possible, as humans, an excellent hospitality especially decent accommodation could unconsciously sway him to give the home team the benefit of the doubt in a dicey situation. This, most fans believe should be the responsibility of the club’s Director of Operations. It is difficult to perceive that the referee might have been antagonized by the home team before kick off because he hardly gave Kotoko the benefit of the doubt in any 50-50 situation. Kotoko’s Director of Operations, Jerry Asare was naturally unamused and he could not sincerely flatter the referee who accused Jerry of inciting the crowd to attack him.

Of course this accusation could not be substantiated and Jerry escaped any CAF ban, leaving Kotoko to their fate. Unfortunately, it is the typical Kumasi-based fans who would feel the pinch in the two match home ban. Instead of the usual bus fare from home to the Baba Yara stadium in Kumasi, it would be a long journey to Accra, which would be the most likely new home ground and considering the expenditure involved this is not funny.

It is hoped Kotoko fans would learn a lesson from the temporary home ban for next year’s champions league and comport themselves well during the start of the premier league. This may even earn them a reprieve by CAF, who knows.