Years back – some three or more decades ago, domestic football was a sheer delight – drawing thousands to fill the stands on match days.

Quality abound – and even though the players performed their act on relatively pitiably despicable pitches, some tantalizing football freely oozed out from the feet, carving out pretty patterns even to the blind eye.

Those were days when most of the players remained on home soil, not really enthusiastic on joining the ‘exodus bandwagon’ to seek greener pastures.

However, with the Ghanaian economy hitting a slump, especially in the 1980s, players began to file away in droves in the ‘90s as clubs could no longer afford the allowances and salaries of the playing body.

The domestic league was now beginning to suffer from quality play – and by extension poor patronage as empty seats stared in faces of the scanty fans around.

The already harsh situation was made even worse by the fans’ affection for foreign football to the detriment of the local game. None can totally blame the fans who have continuously explained off their decision to quality football in the English, Spanish, German and other elite games in Europe.

Lack of marquee, quality players has also culminated in Ghanaian clubs failing to win laurels in continental football for a long time.

Indeed, the last time a Ghanaian side annexed an African trophy was in 2004 when Hearts of Oak upstaged sworn rivals and fellow compatriots Asante Kotoko to win the CAF Confederation Cup. Kotoko themselves have not tasted African glory since 1983 – some 38 years ago, when they beat Al Ahly of Egypt to lift the African Clubs Championship crown (now CAF Champions League) for the second time.  

Year-in-year-out, our players leave their clubs in midstream to clubs in less-endowed football countries that could only pay a notch higher than what they were taking back home.

Some elite clubs in Ghana pay as low as GH¢700 to GH¢2,000 to their top stars who would not shilly-shally to fly out abroad at the slightest opportunity.

President of the Sports Writers Association of Ghana [SWAG], Kwabena Yeboah, is not enthused about the wages of Ghanaian local players.

According to him, the base salary for Asante Kotoko player in the year 2021, for example, should be US$2,000 and not the range of GH¢1,000 to GH¢2,000.

In an interview with Accra-based Starr FM, the veteran broadcaster said the club needed to build the team and sustain the players for a period of five to six years and also attract players from outside the jurisdiction of Ghana, describing the salaries of the club’s players as ‘slave wages’ which must be improved.

“If you really want to attract the best material, you must pay very well. What we pay players right now in Ghana, for me in blunt language, are slave wages.

“You cannot pay a Kotoko player you want to make a mark in Africa, and consistently wins matches for you a GH¢1,000, GH¢2,000. It’s a joke. The least any Kotoko player deserves, especially the starting players, is US$2,000 because you have your players leaving for Benin, to other parts of Africa because they’ve been cajoled and lured by US$1,000 a month because they cannot receive that kind of money here; so they will definitely leave.

“If you want to compete, I’m saying that the starting base [salary] should be US$2,000 as you look to improving the amount. Until we start doing that, our players will continue to leave in numbers – and we’ll continue to mark time.”

The SWAG President’s assertion might sound unrealistic and impracticable to some club owners, but looking more intently, that is plain talk from the iconic broadcaster. Rather, he is being super realistic. Truth is that, things have changed and we cannot afford to do run affairs of our clubs the way we were doing some decades back.

Our local players have howled for far too long and it is high time club owners put their act together and see how best to plant some smiles on the faces of these actors as regards their remunerations and allowances.

Until that is done, expect our players to head off in droves – at the slightest opportunity – as they yearn for better living condition.