Pampered bunch  in national colours

News that players of the senior national team, Black Stars, were given US$20,000 each as appearance fee at the just-ended African Cup of Nations (AFCON) continues to ruffle a few feathers.

The Stars were bowled out of the AFCON held in Cameroon, finishing last in Group C with a point. That Ghana lost to minnows Comoros 2-3 in a game they had to win and qualify for the last-16 stage, irritated long-suffering Ghanaians fans the more.

Ghana was expected to break the trophy drought in Cameroon, having gone without the continental coronet since the glory of 1982 in Libya. But a couple of shambolic performances ensured that the Stars produced the nation’s worst output in AFCON history. It was painful and harrowing.

But as Ghanaians were brooding over the ignominious loss, emerge the worrying news that even in their mess; the Stars received US$20,000 each for their presence at the tournament. Such amount splashed on the players and officials for appearing in an AFCON tournament? This is crazy! It is even crazier to think that they did not only come home empty-handed, but with their heads down in chagrin.

Questions are being asked here and there; how was such amount splattered on the Stars when even winners of the tournament – Senegal’s Teranga Lions, walked away with financial rewards and plots of land for their stupendous efforts.

“As testament to our gratitude, and in the name of the nation, the players and other members of the official delegation will each receive a special bonus of 50,000,000 CFA ($87,178), and a 200-square metre plot of land in Dakar,” Senegal Head of State Macky Sall said, in his official address to the players.

“They will each also receive a 500-square metre plot of land in the first district of the new city of Diamniadio (30km from the capital).”

Senegal defeated Egypt 4-2 on penalties following a 0-0 draw at the Stade d’Olembe in Yaounde to finally get their hands on the AFCON title after two previous failed attempts in the final.

As someone jokingly said, we would have built skyscrapers for the Ghana players plus a GH¢1m each had they annexed the crown. We have made money the epicentre of everything to the extent that the players do not even see the need to ‘kill themselves’ for the result, aware that irrespective of the upshot, they would still swagger all the way to the bank. That should not be the case.

What at all are we doing to our national team? What kind of seed are we sowing? Are we probably not reaping from the seed we have sown in the past?

The other time (AFCON 2015), we gave players 30 grand Jeep Cherokee vehicles to the Blacks Stars and the management team for placing second, after losing to Cote d’Ivoire during the lottery of penalty shoot-out.

The vehicles – and US$25,000 each, we understood, formed part of the reward Government promised the senior national team for their ‘do well’ performance at the tournament in Equatorial Guinea.

Each Cherokee vehicle cost $76,000 ($2,280,000) and were supplied by Tannick Automobile, a company located on the Tema motorway. We are told there was no government involvement. But does it really matter? It is still our worship of such run-of-the-mill, garden-variety results.

You see the level of mediocrity in the Black Stars? What would they have offered the team if they had conquered Africa? This is simply unfathomable, to say the least!

By now, our authorities should know that such pampering of the national team players has the propensity to irk the public who want to see some real fight and hard work from them on the pitch. We have got to be very careful not to court further disaffection for the team as we plan to build a more formidable and winsome Black Stars in the years ahead.

PlainTalk with John Vigah