Long Leave of Absence

Since my return from the 2006 FIFA World cup in Germany it has become a bit difficult for me to write for my column on the website.

My inability was in the main due to my busy schedule.

I had earlier explained and promised to ensure that the column became a regular feature on the website.

Please accept my apologies.

I will endeavour to provide you with regular features on programs of the FA as well as explanations and commentaries on some of our policies and decisions.

In the recent past the FA has been engaged in the execution of very important tasks that are intended to assist in the pursuit of its mandate.

These include but not limited to implementation of our Business and Development Plan, Camping and preparation of the national teams, the FIFA Goal project, the appointment of a coach for the senior national team, the black stars, the domestic league, and the conquest of Asia by the Black Stars, among others.


1. Implementation of the Business and Development Plan

The FA has set unto itself a giant and perhaps an ambitious plan and agenda to move the frontiers of the development of the game to another level.

This Initiative dubbed the 4 year Business and Development Plan is our development blueprint for football in Ghana for the period 2006 to 2010. The highlights of the plan as already stated in an earlier publication are:-

 To lay a strong foundation for the sustainable development of football in Ghana.
 To develop and train coaches, referees, sports medical personnel, and sports administrators.
 To build the Football Association into a robust self sustaining and self financing outfit.
 To develop Women’s football
 To build a strong and competitive domestic league in Ghana
 To ensure that our national teams qualify and participate in their respective international competitions.
 To ensure that the Black Stars is ranked among the top 5 teams in Africa and the top 20 in the world.
 To build a national school of excellence that will be made up of the best players for three age categories namely, under 12, under 15, and under 17 for boys and under 13, under 16, and under19 for girls.
 To restructure and build a strong secretariat for the FA.
 To provide the FA with modern ICT facilities.
 To market the FA and ensure that it generates average annual revenues of US$8m, among others.

In pursuance of these objectives, regional clinics are billed to be held for youth football, women’s football, coaching, refereeing, sports administration, and sports medicine.

These clinics are for the training of the technical personnel for the game and the laying of structures for youth football. We have already held sessions in Cape Coast, Takoradi, Ho and Koforidua.

The team will be in the other regions. We expect to cover the entire country by January 2007. The resource persons for the project are:-

o Mr. Ben Koufie - Former Chairman of the GFA. He is a CAF and FIFA
Instructor. He is the Director of Operations.
o Mr. Francis Oti Akenteng - Director of Coaching
o Mr. Kuuku Dadzie - Asst. Director of coaching
o Mr. Albert Agbovi - Referees Instructor
o Mr. Allen Akaba - Physiotherapist
o Dr. Fodjuor - Medical Doctor
o Mr. G. Dasoberi - Administrator

The team of seasoned and experienced professionals is the fulcrum on which implementation of the key component of the plan rests.

At the end of a week’s session in each regional capital, a team of personnel will be trained to carry on with the agenda at the districts.

Each region has a pair of development coaches who will carry the mantle thereafter.

Other aspects of the plan such as development of ICT and the media outlook of the FA are on course.

We are equally engaged in certain drives to rake in the sponsorship and other revenues needed to back the financing of our programs.

The stakeholders, namely the clubs, coaches, referees, players, media and the public at large are hereby invited to show interest in the development plan.

The plan is intended to provide a one stop solution to all problems and developmental issues in football.

We have extended an invitation to a number of corporate bodies, foreign missions and football associations to join hands with us to raise the needed resources to prosecute the plan.

I am quite optimistic that we shall receive some favourable responses.

The plan provides the key to Ghana’s sustainable qualification to future world cups.

2. National Teams Programs - Camping and Preparation

We have a set of national teams each for men and women. Each of the teams has its assignments to pursue in Africa and the world level. The men’s teams are;-

 The senior national team, the black stars - Preparing for the 2008 CAN

 The national under 23 team (the Olympic team) the black meteors – Preparing for the All Africa Games in Algeria in 2007, and the Olympic Games in China in 2008.

 The national under 20 team, the black satellites - Preparing for the African Youth Championship in Congo in 2007, and the World Youth Championship in Canada in 2007

 The national under 17 team, the black starlets - Preparing for the African Under 17 Competition in Togo in 2007 and the World under 17 Competition in South Korea in 2007

For the women, we have the following:-

 The senior national team, the black queens - Preparing for the African Women’s Championship in Nigeria in 2006, All Africa Games in Algeria in 2007, the World Women’s Cup in China in 2007 and the Olympic Games in China in 2008.

 The national under 20 team, the black princess - Preparing for the Women’s youth world cup in Chile in 2008.

 The national under 17. The first ever World cup in New Zealand in 2007.

The condensed calendar for the national teams calls for a swift and responsive program to ensure that they prepare adequately well for their respective assignments.

Of late the Black Stars have been busy playing some friendly matches as part of the preparations for the 2008 Cup of African Nations.

The Black Meteors will be playing against Ivory Coast in Ghana on 17th December 2006 in the first leg of the All Africa Games qualifying matches.

The Black Satellites will be playing host to Burkina Faso in the last qualifying match for the African Youth Championship in Sunyani.

The Black Starlets will be travelling to Guinea to honour the return leg of the African Under 17 qualifying match.

The Black Queens are currently in California, USA preparing for the African Women’s championship scheduled to take place in Nigeria later this month.

The Under 20 and under 17 teams for the women will later this year start their preparations for the next assignments that lie ahead of them.

A hectic national team program definitely requires a huge financial support.

For the first time in the history of the FA our junior national teams have been camped at our technical centre in Prampram saving the Government thousands of dollars that would have been paid as hotel bills.

That underlies the urgent need for an enhanced support for the FA.


3. The FIFA Goal Project

The FIFA Goal project is the development initiative of his Excellency President Sepp Blatter to assist football Associations in the third world to acquire technical centres, office premises and other infrastructural support for their programs.

Under the project FIFA provides support of US$400,000 towards the financing of a given facility.

Ghana has benefited twice through this initiative.

The first project was the construction of a technical centre at Prampram which has become the camping venue for our national teams.

It also serves as the centre for training of referees, coaches, sports medical personnel and administrators.

The centre has added a lot of value to the development of the game in Ghana.

The second goal project is the construction of our head office premises in Accra.

It is an ultra modern facility that will facilitate the work of the FA.

Having returned from a successful campaign at the 2006 FIFA World Cup Ghana now ranks among the elite of world football.

The new head office premises will accord us the status commensurate with our exploits at the world level.

It will also provide room for increased efficiency in the work of the FA.

Construction of the office has just been completed and it is expected to be formally handed over by October 2006.

We have demonstrated beyond doubt that we are a judicious user of scarce resources engendering a lot of confidence from the international football world hence FIFA’s decision to award Ghana the second gold project.

On account of our record we are most likely to enjoy future projects from FIFA such as the construction of a new artificial playing turf, support for the domestic league and the special project for Africa.

At the current pace of development of the game, I will not be surprised if Ghana soon assumes its rightful place as the beacon of hope for African football.

We are gradually establishing ourselves as the force that can lay a claim to excelling at the 2010 World cup in Africa.


4. The Conquest of Asia by the Black Stars

Our five-star performance at the 2006 World Cup has ignited a flame of love in Asia for the Black stars.

Accordingly, we received invitations from Japan and South Korea to honour friendly matches with their respective teams.

The performance of the Black stars in Asia has garnered enormous support and interest in Ghana from Asia than ever.

The young ambassadors of Ghana (Black Stars) descended the Asian peninsula and left in their trail two (2) memorable but equally deserving score lines.

We beat Japan 1-0 and beat South Korea 3-1.

The performance of the black stars in Asia was very remarkable.

I saw a sharp rise in the commitment of the players and the best practical demonstration yet of team work, unity, and tenacity of purpose and a high confidence profile of the boys.

Our next friendly match will be played in Europe on 15th November 2006.

I wish to thank the players, the technical and management teams for a good work done.

I believe that if the current spirit of team work demonstrated is sustained, the sky shall be the limit for the team.

I will like to thank Kamsport of England and FootElite of France for their roles in organising the matches in Asia.

I will also like to thank the Football Associations of Japan and Korea for their kind receptions for the team.

The Ghana Embassies in Japan and Korea were very supportive of the team’s stay in Japan and Korea.

We are grateful to all the staff particularly H.E. Ahmed Hassan, Mr. Issifu Issaka, H.E. K.A. Sarpong, H.E. Essilfie, Mr. Bosco Dery and the rest.

One-man-supporter and his men were in the far east with the team. I thank all of them.

Another person who deserves our gratitude is a gentleman called Sly (not Sly Tetteh) who has attended black stars matches at his own expense to support the team.


5. Appointment of Claude Le Roy

Following the sudden and unexpected resignation of Mr. Dujkovic it became imperative to search for a new coach for the Black Stars.

After a careful scrutiny of the 54 candidates the mantle fell on Mr. Claude Le Roy.

He is well known in Africa having successfully coached Cameroon, Senegal, and Congo DR with startling feats chalked over his two decades stint with the black continent.

Mr. Le Roy won the job ahead of his competitors for very cogent reasons. They are:-

A proven track record as a coach
A wide, purposeful and relevant experience as a coach
Good interpersonal skills and attitude to work
An excellent knowledge of the African football terrain
A good networking abilities
A good command of the English language. He also speaks French.
A competitive remuneration and compensation package
A self motivated personality with a drive to succeed
Demonstration of a good rapport with players, the media, among others.

His first assignment was an encounter with the Asian football tigers of Japan and South Korea.

His conquest of Asia is a matter well documented now in the archives of global soccer.

In the build up to the Asian games, a disturbing phenomenon crept gradually but dangerously into the camp of the Black Stars.

There was a widespread media publication of the alleged involvement of the coach in player transfers, forgery, and social abuse, among others.

Mr. Le Roy was allegedly detained in Strasbourg to answers questions relating to the above charges.

Without knowing the true facts and/or allowing the investigative process to grind to a halt, a worthless campaign has already started in Ghana to pronounce Mr. Le Roy guilty.

There is a consequential call on the FA to sack Mr. Le Roy. Some have even gathered the impudence to question the propriety, thoroughness and ambit of the due diligence undertaken by the FA on the coach prior to his appointment.

This baseless campaign is championed by the state owned sports newspaper, the Graphic Sports.

I am yet to come to terms with the real motive behind the apparent decision of the state owned newspaper to take a position against the Ghana Football Association.

A diagnostic study and content analysis of the newspaper over the past one year will lead to one irresistible conclusion: the paper has declared a state of belligerency against the GFA for no apparent reason.

The paper is hiding under a fog of sheer malice and hatred to unleash its venom of unnecessary and unproductive criticisms at every major step, policy or decision of the FA. A common trend runs through its modus operandi.

The stories against the GFA are usually written without cross checking the facts with the FA. At best they will make references to an anonymous and a non existent source at the FA.

The stories are usually one sided. When you write criticising and exposing the falsehood in their stories, they will call you all sorts of names including the “insulting President”.

In stated circumstances, they provide space in the paper for people to peddle baseless stories against the FA.

Sometimes the paper peddles falsehood and creates the erroneous impression to the unsuspecting public that they are speaking the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

The latest example of the paper’s campaign of falsehood among others is the publication that the GFA earned US$350,000 from the Japan match when a mere telephone cross check with the FA would have shown that the FA earned US$200,000 from the Japan match and US$150,000 from the South Korea match.

Such publications can only be mischievious. When you write a rejoinder to their prominent front page stories, they will publish your rejoinder at an obscure page.

I am not a journalist but I expect that like any other professionals journalists should be fair to all whose work they have to review.

That expectation will require a journalist to listen to both sides of a story, give a fair and equal representation of all sides of a story to the public, and avoid vindictiveness and a campaign of malice and hatred.

In presenting the case of Mr. Le Roy to the public, the Graphic Sports expectedly slipped into the pitfall of malice by committing the fallacy of hasten conclusion when the case had not been concluded.

The paper and its cohorts and surrogates have found convenience in advocating the baseless position that Mr. Le Roy be sacked when the presiding judge on the case has not yet reached the judgement of guilt, if any.

For the benefit of everyone it is important to note that there are different legal orders for various countries in the world legal community.

Ours is the common law whose criminal jurisprudence is based on the adversarial system of justice.

In every criminal case, the innocence of the accused person is presumed until he is proven guilty.

The standard of proof is proof beyond reasonable doubt. It is therefore strange that without knowing all the surrounding circumstances of the case and allowing the adjudicating process to pronounce all the issues in the case, one can quickly jump to conclusions with such speed and alacrity, or were they just waiting for that moment to come.

I do not possess the full facts of the case except those mentioned to me by Mr Le Roy.

In accordance with the principle that the benefit of the doubt should always be resolved in favour of the accused person Mr. Le Roy should be presumed innocent until otherwise proven guilty.

Mr. Le Roy has told me that he only got to know of the charges against him on 26th September 2006, 17 charges were initially preferred against him ranging from abuses, forgeries and illegal transfers.

After a preliminary investigation, the presiding judge dismissed 16 of the 17 charges against him.

The only surviving charge against him has to do with the transfer of a player from Strasbourg to Denmark.

Mr. Le Roy is suspected to have forged receipts for the transfer of the said player for monies that are suspected not to have been received by the player.

He has since denied the charge and invited the presiding judge to cross check with the player who lives in Denmark and the agent who issued the receipt who also lives in Switzerland.

Since the two key witnesses in the case are still alive the truth can be ascertained with little or no difficulty.

At the moment it is only fair and reasonable for all of us to “wait and see” the outcome of the investigations.

In a further demonstration of his innocence, Mr. Le Roy has caused a writ of summons to be issued against L’Equipe, the biggest newspaper in France for publishing defamatory statements on the case about him.

For the uncritical minds that are ranting over the issues, please hold your breadth for the time being.


6. The Domestic League

The local leagues have started. The premier league has done five weeks. The league is quite competitive.

It is expected that by 30th November 2006 the first four teams will be declared and accordingly entered for CAF’s competitions for 2007.

The National Division One League is in progress with exciting results.

We need to invest more resources in the local leagues to enhance their competitiveness. A strong local league should positively impact on the strength of the national teams.

The Ghana Football Association needs the support of you all to turn around the fortunes of football in the country.

Thank you very much

Cheers!!

11th October 2006