Football is supposed to
be a beautiful game that must be used to foster good
relationships, but often times, events and actions of some club
officials at some league centres leave much to be desired.
By the action of some
club operatives and their supporters, some league centres have
gained so much notoriety that some club presidents and chairmen
if they had their own way would love to forfeit playing at some
centres for the safety of their team.
Besides the intimidation
of match officials to skew results to their favour, there have
also been instances when some clubs make their venues so nasty
that as a fan of an opposing team, you dare shout the praise of
your team whilst in the stands.
Others also can insult
their opponents and their supporters to the extent that you
sometime wonder whether the invectives they put on mothers
cannot apply to their mothers as well.
A classical case of a
dangerous and bad league centres are
Berekum Golden City Park and Dormaa Ahenkro’s Agyemang Badu
Park.
For instance at Dormaa,
it is a 'taboo' for say an away team to attempt driving their
bus into the park when their home team, Aduana Stars haven’t
entered first.
Much in the same way,
opposing teams are never allowed onto the pitch for warm up
until Aduana and Arsenal have first entered the inner perimeter.
When Kotoko travelled to
play Aduana FC at Dormaa in the first leg of this season, the
Kotoko team bus was made to wait outside of the park for over
two hours. It was not until the Aduana team’s hired bus had
entered that they allowed Kotoko entry.
The referees for the
match were also highly intimidated at recess that it was not a
surprise that Ref Samuel Gyasi of all people also felt so much
intimidated and gave a poor account of himself in the second
half.
As for the insults and
direct threats one is bound to encounter at Berekum, it is
better left not spoken about.
However, just as the
beautiful lotus flower normally grows in dirty ponds, the Wa
Park and supporters of Wa All Stars stand out for commendation
and praise and therefore give the hope that not all was so lost
with finding a disciplined league centre in Ghana.
The first thing I
observe whenever I travel with Kotoko to the peaceful Wa
township is the warmth of the people.
Yes, Wa All Stars have
their passionate followers but nowhere would one see or hear
them insult their opponents. Driving through town, you can see
them gesture the number of goals they are predicting against
their opponents, but never would you see an insulting gesture.
At the stadium itself,
the fans comport themselves and give all courtesies to their
guests to manifest their tolerance and hospitality.
Having travelled with
Kotoko around the country for over eight years now, I can say
with all passion and power at my disposal that Wa All Stars and
her supporters have won my respect and heart and deserve to win
an important award for their exemplary behaviour.
Kudos to President Kwesi
Nyantakyi, Mr. Oduro Nyarko, Maxwell Konadu and his technical
team and all other management members and supporters of Wa All
Stars. You are truly gentlemen and your attitude is commendable.
