The need to rebuild our national game is paramount

Right, amidst the pain, the frustration, and the pure anger at the disjointed and non-performing national soccer team, The Black Stars. I urge all of you, mansa musa included to temper all these negative feelings about our football on international stages with measured and appropriate, acceptable responses.

Let us not waste energy in insults on either players, the coaches, or managers. The fault lies with everyone involved in football in Ghana, and this has been the case for the past 30 years or so. In my day, a young footballer finds satisfaction in a carrier ending in the top echelons of the game locally. A player in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and in the 90s took pride and appreciation in just being able to play for Accra Hearts of Oak FC, in Asante Kotoko FC, in Accra Great Olympics, in Secondi Hassacas, Eleven Wise, in Ebusua Dwarfs, in Dumas FC, and even playing for SS74(my Burma Camp clun) was regarded as good enough.

The Ghana local football league was competitive. It was fears. Selections into the national team were mostly based on merit. The ability to play football was the main qualification or criteria. In those days, Ghana and Ghanaians had pride in our style of play. The ability to do a suuuliya was as important as scoring or passing accurately.

For now, the pride and the sense of belonging have shifted. The local soccer league is nothing worthy of discussion. Our players, just like players from other continents and countries, trade their stuff in rich faraway leagues in Europe. So, the meaning of this is that in previous times when the graduation into a league 1 club in Ghana was enough.

Today, that appreciation comes about when a player plies his trade at a higher echelons of football in Europe. And there lies our predicament. How many of our current footballers find themselves and play with or against top class footballers in Europe? Many of our players find themselves with mionr clubs in the lower leagues in Europe and elsewhere.

The solution is two-fold. We have to build the local soccer league with meritocracy as its core criteria. This will, in time, produce high calibre, high-quality footballers who will compete or can compete at the higher echelons of the game in Europe. As it stands, and with almost all Africans, including their rulers, all supporting and worshipping their clubs in Europe but doing very little to promote the game at home, here lies the problem. Where do we go from here.

For now, we can shout and berate all we can at the players and managers all we want. Nothing is gonna change unless change to our perspective on the game itself happens at home. If we can bring back our style of skilful play together with the European accuracy and discipline style of play, we can start to recover and reclaim our former status of greatness. Thank you