Sports
Let’s get the tartan tracks back!
• The Accra Sports Stadium without the tracks
In August 2002, former Youth and Sports Minister – Edward Osei Kwaku, promised to replace the tartan tracks at the Accra Sports Stadium with an ultra-modern one. Many celebrated the move.
The tracks were last relayed in 1978 when Ghana hosted the African Cup of Nations that year.
The former sports minister had said a German company was expected in the country by the end of that month (August 2002) to firm up talks with the sector ministry to replace the tracks.
Sadly, that was not to be. The Minister’s assurance evaporated into thin air – and five years later, instead of being fixed, the tracks were rather removed to make way for the expansion of the stadium’s seating capacity ahead of the hosting of the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament.
It was an unpopular decision as many Ghanaians bickered against it. But as it is always the case, the powers- that-be managed to bludgeon their way through. Mr Osei-Kwaku himself did not live (died in 2005) to work his dream out.
Today, twenty-one years on since that promise, the Accra stadium is still without tartan tracks, a pathetic state that has gravely affected the development of athletics in Ghana and ultimately the nation’s less-inspiring performances at major international games.
Truth is that our athletes have limited options to train and compete. The tracks at the El-Wak stadium, which athletes in Accra have depended on for some time now, is also in shambles.
On December 10, 2019, a former president of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC), B.T. Baba, asserted that removal of the tartan tracks from the Accra stadium was the beginning of the woes of athletics in the country. He cannot be far from right.
“The athletes that used to train at the Accra Sports Stadium do not train here again because there is no track at the stadium. The National Sports Authority’s idea of taking the track field from the stadium has really affected athletics because they don’t get a place to train,” he bewailed.
Decades back, one saw the likes of John and Leonard Myles Mills (Babylonia), Edwin Amugi, Michael Coffie (Akoo Yomo), Edwin Tagoe (Tee Gosh) blossom into revered house-hold names during the Inter Schools and Colleges (InterCo) athletics on the Accra tracks.
John Myles Mills would go ahead to represent Ghana at the 1988 Seoul Olympics in South Korea and the Barcelona 1992 Olympics, being the country’s flag-bearer on both occasions. His brother Leonard ran a personal best of 9.98 seconds for the event in 1998, becoming the first Ghanaian to break the 10-second barrier. His best of 6.45 seconds for the 60 metres is an African record. Leo twice represented his country at the Summer Olympics and also at the Commonwealth Games.
There were the likes of Grace Ofori, Doris Frema Wiredu, Veronica Bawuah, Martha Appiah, Emmanuel Tuffour and Albert Amonu – to name but a few, who made huge headlines in their heyday in the late 80s and 90s, especially.
Indeed, the InterCo was Ghana’s primary source of getting the best of athletes to represent the country in international competitions – and the removal of the tracks had hindered the success of the nation in athletics – and ultimately the cause of the country not amassing medals at major international events.
Are we saying we do not know that absence of the tracks is having a debilitating impact on the development of athletics in the country? For how long can we continue to play the ostrich?
During his recent visit to the country, former 100m world record holder, Asafa Powell, expressed disappointment in the lack of investment in athletics infrastructure in Ghana. He said Ghana had excellent sprinters in the past, and he was disappointed to see the absence of professional tracks.
“I’m very, very, very disappointed, honestly, coming here and not seeing real professional tracks is very disappointing because what if I wanted to go for a workout while being here? So I think that is where Ghana needs to improve,” Powell stormed.
It is a big shame for us to sit aloof all these years only to have the Jamaican sprinter come to tell us how bad it is for not having the tartan tracks fixed.
You expect the leadership of the present Ghana Athletics Association (GAA) to decant some pressure on government with regard to athletics infrastructure, but they do not seem bothered by the rot.
Had the plethora of calls to have the tracks replaced been heeded to, it was obviously going to minimise the headache we are going through at the moment as regards infrastructure with the impending Accra 2023 Games, next year.
The truth is that we have never been serious as a nation. We pretend to be a nation doing sports when we know the attention has been football, football and football. We give little or no attention to the other sport disciplines, yet we expect them to bring us haul of medals. How do we reap where we had not sown?
Our leaders have paid lip services to lots of things they knew they would not carry out. They know they are playing to the gallery, yet care less.
What kind of country is this? Let us be serious for once – and do the right thing.
By John Vigah
Accra Hearts of Oak and Kumasi Asante Kotoko will seek to bounce back from last week’s defeats when they take on their respective opponents in week 18 of the Ghana Premier League (GPL) games this weekend.
Hearts will trek to the Hohoe Sports Stadium to play as guests of new boys, Hohoe United, today, while Asante Kotoko stay at the Baba Yara Stadium to welcome relegation-threatened Berekum Chelsea.
After a goalless game in their first-round fixture, the Hearts and Hohoe United clash presents a fine opportunity for either side to earn the bragging rights over the other.
For Kotoko, their game against Berekum Chelsea on paper looks relatively easier, with the latter struggling to find their feet in the league this season.
Fourth-placed Aduana FC will look to appease their fans with a win when they take on seventh-placed Karela United at the Nana Agyeman Badu I Park in Dormaa.
The Ogya boys suffered a shocking 1-0 home defeat to Vision FC last week, one that plunged the town of Dormaa in silence.
Romanian tactician, Cioaba Aristica, believes his Aduana side has no excuse not to secure the three points tomorrow, as any other result will jeopardise their title aspirations.
After brushing aside Asante Kotoko at home last Sunday, Swedru All Blacks will look to add visiting Nations FC to their growing list of casualties when they cross swords at the Swedru Stadium tomorrow.
In other games, defending league champions, Bibiani Gold Stars SC, will travel to the Nana Fosu Gyeabour Park to face troubled Bechem United in a must-win game for the latter.
Fresh from their 1-0 victory over Hearts of Oak last week, league leaders, Medeama SC, will hope to keep the winning momentum when they welcome Young Apostles to the TnA Stadium.
Bechem sits a point above the relegation zone, having lost eight games, drawn four, and won five, while the visitors are coming into the game with 10 wins, two draws, and five losses.
The Nsenkyire Sports Arena in Samreboi will come alive when home side Samartex FC welcomes Vision FC while Kpando Heart of Lions engage Dreams FC at the Tuba Astro Turf.
BY RAYMOND ACKUMEY
But for the qualification of the Black Stars to the 2026 FIFA World Cup to be hosted by the USA, Canada and Mexico, the year 2025 would have passed as an incredible one for the least-financed group of sports federations.
It demonstrates why football is considered the biggest sport globally. It attracts the attention of all, including active players or followers of the rivaled disciplines.
So, even when some of these least-financed disciplines were battling hard at several platforms to win medals to boost Ghana’s image on the international sports map, the greater focus was on the qualifiers for the football showpiece.
It may be considered unfair in certain quarters but such is the weight of the sport that potentially gather 100,000 followers together at one place if there is a facility to accommodate them.
That, notwithstanding the achievement of the other disciplines cannot also be swept under the carpet. They must be given the recognition they deserve.
Apart from the World Cup qualification, sports disciplines like armwrestling, badminton, taekwondo, athletics, table tennis and amateur boxing also distinguished themselves in the year under review.
Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) President, Richard Akpokavie, described it in the committee’s end-of-year statement as “a period marked by significant strides and memorable achievements across the breadth of our national sports landscape.”
Under the period, Ghanaian athletes excelled in various championships including the first Africa School Games and the African Youth Games, WAFU Zone B championships for the various age groupings, badminton championships, and others.
Perhaps, the Ghana Olympic Committee’s (GOC) planned launch of a new four-year strategic plan designed to professionalise structures and enhance governance that will build on the success achieved this year.
For the sport of professional boxing, the year 2025 represents one of the most difficult ones with tough challenges that left them with a long journey to navigate.
Few months after a Nigerian boxer died in a Ghanaian ring, another shocking death was recorded.
Ernest Akushey passed on barely two weeks after a fight, throwing the entire boxing fraternity into confusion over the cause of death.
That obviously provided the grounds for which a legitimate management board of the Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA) was put aside, giving way to an interim body that was to end its work in December.
All that said and done, the focus in the New Year must be on what to do to write the wrongs of the past year to make sports better.
Obviously, the Black Stars preparation and participation at the World Cup would be high on the sector’s agenda, knowing the goodies we stand to gain as a nation.
The Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) Senior Athletics Championships is another major championship that would attract athletes from the entire continent of Africa.
The Black Queens would also be engaged in the next AFCON in Morocco.
As usual, it would be another busy year for sports but the approach must switch from mere participation to winning laurels to make Ghana great again.
By Andrew Nortey
