On October 9, people in the Upper East region could not hide their joy when for the first time in their history, a football team from the region made a triumphant entry into the country’s elite league. “Finally, God had breath some breathe of professional football into the region,” I thought, been optimistic of a change in how football is run here.
Forgetting our shortcomings, worries and the responsibilities that lie ahead, it was all funfair and show of pomp when the team arrived from Tamale where they had sealed their qualification. Fans boogied to ‘Mahama Paper’ and other current songs spiced up with some brass band music; a clear indication that their childhood dream had materialized. They beamed with optimism and were hopeful of a good run in the premier league.
“This is a morale booster for footballers in the region,” an astute football person said, adding that “well our economy will also be boosted because if other football clubs come here for a match, it will bring people who will not only buy but will also visit our tourist sites so we can rake enough revenue from them.”
Like Hon. Mahama Ayariga during his tenure as sports Minister came to promise in 2015 that “the President is going to build a stadium in the region but until he does that there is the need for us to develop sports in the region. We will start by grassing the football field and provide the infrastructure absent in the stadium,” the Regional Minister, Albert Abongo formed a high-powered committee made up of members including himself, Abuga Pele and other ‘big men’ in the region and promised to ensure that the stadium was prepared for the Premier League.
This week the Premier League Board announced that the start of the Premier League had been scheduled for Dec 18. This announcement dawned on me the reality that the much-awaited date was here and the dreams of the people of Upper East region to enjoy Premier League football was finally going to happen in our own backyard.
Regardless of the committee formed, no work has been done on the pitch making people skeptical about having to enjoy premier league football as they envisaged.
I was tickled to reality when a directive from the Ghana Football Association directed clubs to get licensed according to FIFA regulations which does not only focus on administrative structures but also quality of infrastructure. A section of this regulation stipulates “matches may be played on natural or artificial surfaces, according to rules of the competition. The color of artificial surface must be green.”
The Bolgatanga sports stadium is not a sight to behold. The stadium apart from being grassless has a dwarflike inner perimeter which is not of a higher standard and with the least provocation, fans can jump over onto the pitch. The little grass at the edges of the football field serves as grazing grounds for cattle which are brought to the stadium to graze by their owners. What is described as a dressing room is a structure which construction ended at its preliminary stages and therefore exposes players to the mercy of the sun. Unlike other football stadia that have place of convenience, players, match officials and spectators will have to resort to the bush or ease themselves into their pants if they are pressed and would want to attend to natures call. Under the scorch in Bolgatanga football loving fans have to stand throughout ninety minutes of football posing a health risk to them.
The FIFA regulation automatically disqualifies the Bolgatanga stadium as a venue for Premier League football and confirms what Hon. Mahama Ayariga, a Member of Parliament and Minister who could have helped realize the dream of playing in the upper east region said in 2015 when he visited the stadium during his visit to the regional capital that “It is unfortunate that we have not after all these years been able to develop the infrastructure for sports in the region.”
Since the Ghana Premier started in the country, every region apart from the upper east region in the country have had representation and have had to play in their various regions. The upper east region has struggled over the years to make a representation in the country’s elite league. For years without support from institutions and astute leaders, individuals have invested their private cash into ensuring that the region enjoys the opportunity of professional football in order to open the region to the world.
The trials came to a successful end after Bolgatanga All Stars sealed qualification for the elite league. Although they have qualified, their chances of playing on their home soil and creating a great avenue for employment for the teeming unemployed youth in the region hangs in a balance because the region cannot boast of a single ‘standard’ football pitch. Bolgatanga All Stars will have to play home away from home and this comes at a cost and could blur the chances of the team staying in the league as expected.
Although the youth were promised a prepared stadium after they fought with their resources to qualify for the league, they have been stabbed in the back by leaders in the region. Like the failure of leaders to lobby for roads in the region, they have left the youth to their fate and have failed to do that one thing that makes them happy!!!
By: Offei-Akoto Ayeh/A1RADIOONLINE.COM/GHANA
