Ghana’s Premier League Standard Is Rising

A prophet is not recognized in his own home, so says the good old book – the bible – and this aptly describes the Ghana Premier league, which is currently on going.

Ghanaians have become so obsessed with the European leagues, especially the English premiership, to the extent that the interest in the domestic league has been relegated to the background.

Interestingly, the Ghana premier league is becoming attractive week after week, but because it is not well advertised as the top European leagues, supporters do not even bother to visit the league centres to watch the games.

One would have been accused of trying to be over ambitious, if one had predicted that Cape Coast Mysterious Ebusua Dwarfs would thump Kumasi Asante Kotoko by four solid goals to one; but it did happen at the Robert Mensah Sports Stadium on Wednesday.

The annihilation did not mean Kotoko is not a good side – the fabulous team is still a great side; the results of the match only show the high standard of the league.

In Accra, the league leaders, Accra Hearts of Oak, who had been beaten twice by the Oseikrom lads, struggled before overpowering an obstinate Berekum Chelsea by a goal to nil. This development would not have happened in the 1980s and 90s, when both Hearts and Kotoko were dictating the pace.

The Ghanaian league has come this far because individuals have decided to invest heavily in the development of the globular leather. In time past, only Kotoko and Hearts of Oak were attracting the best players in the country, but today the story is not the same.

The fact that the Sadick Adams, Yahaya Mohammeds, Stephens Adams, Latif Blessings, Evans Mensahs and Baba Mahamas among other great players are playing for teams other than Hearts and Kotoko, show the level of investment and competition in the local game.

Hitherto, it was unheard of for local teams, apart from Kotoko and Hearts to hire expatriate coaches, but now, that is the order of the day. Bechem United, Aduana Stars and other so called small teams have expatriate coaches managing them.

It is, therefore, not surprising that the dominance of Hearts and Kotoko in the premier league has dwindled in recent years. It is, however, regrettable that, despite the success that has been chalked, the current league still has no sponsors.

In our side of the world, running a football club without sponsors is a herculean task, but we assume that football is a business that must be left in the hands of business people to run them. In the recent past, both Glo and First Capital Plus came to help, but they all left under strange circumstances.

The Chronicle concedes that football clubs playing the premier league belong to individuals and should, therefore, not bother Ghanaians if the league does not have sponsors.

But if we look at the other side of the coin that, it is these same clubs that produce the players for the senior national soccer team, the Black Stars, then the issue goes beyond the private ownership of the clubs.

The Chronicle is, therefore, appealing to corporate bodies and individuals who are in the position to help to come in immediately to lift the standard of our league to that of the Europeans.

A bird has whispered into our ears that the Ministry of Youth and Sports is working around the clock to get sponsors for the league. Surely that is good news and we hope very soon an announcement will be made that sponsorships have been secured for the league.

Dwarfs supporters in Cape Coast are revelling over their defeat of Kotoko, but if the players are not properly catered for, such splendid performance will elude the team in future. This is the reason why the premier league must secure sponsorship at all cost.