How can Ghana honour her sports heroes quintessentially?

The Black Stars that  played in Ghana's first ever senior World Cup in Germany 2006 were honored by the then President Kufour after making it to the second stage of the competition

Last Sunday, December 1, 2013 was exactly 50 years since Ghana won the first of her four African Cup of Nations trophies and the solemn remembrance of such an epoch occasion has reignited the debate as to how our heroes in general and our sports heroes in particular be recognized by the state.

In the final of the 1963 edition of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) African Cup of Nations in Ghana, the Black Stars led by Aggrey-Fyn defeated Sudan 3-0 to clinch the continental diadem for the first time.

Even before that feat, Ghana had already won the West African Championship on three occasions and  the Stars' first ever ascendancy on the continental throne, after that 3-0 thrashing of Sudan in the finals, was a perfect icing on the cake.

According to Kumasi based Metro FM researcher, Thomas Freeman Yeboah, the likes of Dodoo Ankrah, Evans Oblitey,Ben Acheampong former Ben Simmons, Franklin Crentsil, Kwame Adarkwa, Kofi Pare, Wilberforce Mfum, Agyemang Gyau, Leonard Acquah, E.E Degraft and Osei Kofi who are still alive combined effectively with Addo Odametey, Edward Acquah, Mohammed Salisu, Aggrey Fyn,  Ofei Dodoo,  Joe Aikens and  Atta Kwame;  all deceased  to snatch the trophy.

So it is believed that those players, at that time, were playing for the nation for pride and not for any other commercial gains like in recent times.

And that some of these old stars are bitter because they are  living in abject poverty because promises made to most of these heroes were not honoured due to reasons including coup d’état.

According to Rev. Osei Kofi, the 1965 AFCON winning team were promised an estate house, but never materialized because Dr, Nkrumah was overthrown on February, 1966. 

Also,it is believed that I.K Acheampong promised the 1978 triumphant winning team an estate house each but was again not to be realized due to another coup d’état.

In 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Ghana came close to qualifying to the semis but were eliminated by Uruguay but when they returned, the then President, Late J. E. A. Mills honoured them

During the regime of former president John Agyekum Kufuor, some sports facilities were named after some sporting personalities in order to immortalized them but that was the beginning of a whole controversy that has lived with us till now.

At least, President Kufuor meant no harm but his positive plans to immortalized our sporting heroes was marred by series of vehement political and ethnic disagreements.

For instance, it is alleged that President Kufuor's initial intention to name the Kumasi Stadium after Ghana's greatest sporting personality C. K. Gyamfi was vehemently challenged by some people within his government, hence the decision to name the Kumasi Stadium after Baba Yara. 

At least, the allegations were that  those who disagreed with Kufuor at that time cited the fact that C. K. Gyamfi once had a problem with Kotoko during his playing days and was, therefore, not worthy to be honoured with the Kumasi Stadium. Once again, it is an allegation and I can't prove it oh! 

C. K. Gyamfi was therefore, compensated or let's say,  honoured with the ailing Winneba Sports Collage at that time.

Then after years of naming the  Accra Sports Stadium after Ohene Djan, the first Director of Sports who led Ghana to two Nations Cups, our Ga brethren, through the help of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and the current government managed to deny the late Ohene Gyan that honour with funny flimsy excuses. May be, I am threading on dangerous grounds but let's not forget that C.K. Gyamfi is a half Ga and the Ga people may have acted in solidarity. Depending on where you stand,  this is entirely my own harebrained or plausible opinion oh! 

Thank God another attempt to do same to the Theodosia Oko Hockey pitch for some other funny reasons did not materialized because Ghanaians rejected that in unison.

At least, some of President Kufuor's decisions were never contested. For instance, the shabby Cape Coast Stadium was named after Robert Mensah, the goalkeeper of the Black Stars in the 1968 and 1970 African Cup of Nations, while Ghana's Boxing legend Professor Barimah Azumah Nelson had the honour of being named after the dilapidated  Kaneshie Complex.

I am sure nobody had tried to change those decisions concerning the Cape Coast Stadium and the Kaneshie Sports Complex because we all admit these are decaying sporting edifices.

In 2008 when H.E John Agyekum Kufuor was getting ready to exit the presidency, he organised a national awards day to honour himself and other notable Ghanaians in several walks of live including deserving sports men and women.

I remember Grand Medals were awarded to the likes of Coach E.K. Afranie,  Miss Adjoa Bayor and Miss Alberta Sackey of  Black Queens fame; female athlete, Miss Vida Anim, Alhaji Grusah and  the late Alhaji Sly Tetteh, both football administrators.

Other sporting personalities that were recognized on that day were  Mr. Joseph Agbeko, a professional  boxer;  Mr. Opoku Nti and  Mr. Kwasi Appiah, former players for the Black Stars.

Of course there were people who thought some personalities did not deserve such recognition at that time while other school of thoughts were of the opinion that lot of deserving personalities were left out of President Kufuor's honorees.

The crux of the matter is that, if succeeding administrations had sustained President Kufuor's laudable decision to at least, make the ceremony an annual one, a lot of deserving sports heroes might have been recognized in every small way to make them happy for the rest of their lives.

Now come the question as to how can Ghana honour her sports heroes perfectly?

Who deserves a state honour, how do we determine our sporting heroes, when and how should we honour them what are befitting  honours that we can bestow on our sporting heroes - a car, a house, a cash amount, a grand medal or a facility named after them?

Do we believe in the saying that 'a nation that does not honour its heroes are not worth dying for' or we see that statement as just one of many mantras.

We lost one of the world's best long jumper Ignatius Gaisah to the Netherlands because we just failed as a nation to recognize him and his needs or was he asking for too much?

Why do we want to wait to see our sporting heroes die before we rush to their funerals to make tiny donations?

What is the essence of a posthumous honour to someone who needs more help when he or she is alive?

It is no secret that a lot of our old sporting heroes are living in abject poverty all in their bid to willingly defend the flag of Ghana. A lot of them like those who won Ghana's first ever Nations Cup trophy are livid and have regretted ever serving mother Ghana.

Worse of all, they have been neglected all these while for their selfless act that put the nation on the global scene while the current breeds of Black Stars players have been rewarded several times for playing second fiddle in most competition. How ironic!

The Golden generation of the 1963, 1965, 1978 and 1982 groups of the Black Stars have nothing to show in terms of state honour

The Golden generation of the 1963, 1965, 1978 and 1982 groups of the Black Stars have nothing to show in terms of state honour