Premier League referee dies while on fitness test
Education Minister presents jersey to Aworowa Youngsters
Player Indiscipline - who is to blame?
Accra (Greater Accra) 23 April 2002 - An intended fitness test for a number of Ghanaian referees on Saturday turned sour when class one referee P.S. Okai collapsed during the exercise (Cooper Test) at the Accra Stadium and later died at the nation’s Police Hospital.
Referee Okai, in his 40s and a Premier League referee for over five years, was among 50 people who attended a refresher course at the Winneba Sports College at the weekend and were to run off with the Cooper Test at the Accra Sports Stadium. However, in the course of the physical fitness test, Okai collapsed and died later at the hospital.
Later, the Chairman of the Referees Appointment Committee, Mr Ken Jonfia, said the late P.S. Okai, who was among the first batch of referees to under the Cooper Test last Saturday hardly showed any sing of ailment and as he was aware did not even complain he wasn’t well.
Thus, he took part in the 12-minute run and were all waiting while the measurements were being taken when suddenly he complained of dizziness. But realising that he was having difficulty in breathing, he was rushed on a stretcher while being fanned to the Stadium Clinic where oxygen was administered to him as first aid treatment. Then he was sent straight to the Police Hospital but sadly, he died rather after a short-while, Mr Jonfia lamented.
GRi…/
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Accra (Greater Accra) 23 April 2002 - Accra Great Olympics turned 48 years on Saturday 21 April 2002. This marks a period of turbulent existence, perhaps more than any other club in Ghana since the club was formed in 1954. Through all these uncertainties however, the "wonder club" has survived and continues to grow in total defiance of the sceptics and professors of doom.
These were contained in a release issued by Oseadeeyo Nana Addo-Danquah II, Okuapemhene and Chief Patron of Accra Great Olympics Football Club. "On this great occasion as we march towards our golden 50th anniversary we take this opportunity to salute the founding fathers, the council of Patrons, the Directorate, executives, playing body, the supporters and all sympathisers," it said.
It said the motto of the club, "unity", is at its peak once more and added that there is absolute calm in the ranks of “Olympicians" after the storms of the pervious season. The release urged members to be steadfast in their commitment to the club and "fight the good fight this season to recapture our glorious past".
It said the history of Ghana football could not be written without the mention of Accra Great Olympics and wished all club members and sympathisers a happy anniversary of great achievement.
GRi…/
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Aworowa (Brong Ahafo) 23 April 2002 - Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, Minister of Education, has presented a set of jerseys and two footballs, valued at ¢1.2 million to Aworowa Youngsters Football club, a second division team in the Techiman District.
The Minister presented the items in fulfilment of a promise he made at the inauguration of the club at Aworowa. Mr Isaac Osei-Antwi, District Chief Executive (DCE), who made the presentation on behalf of the Minister, asked the players to lead morally upright lives and to avoid social vices. "Sports has now become the passion of the nation," he said and urged them to use "sports as an instrument of development".
The DCE advised the players to take their training seriously to enable Club to gain promotion to the First Division. Mr Osei-Antwi cautioned them against hooliganism, which he said could soil the name of the Club. Mrs Mary Osei-Antwi, wife of the DCE also presented a football, worth 250,000 cedis to the Club as her contribution towards the development of sports in the area. Mr Owusu Asamoah, Assemblyman for Tuobodom-Addaikrom-Aworowa and Chairman of the Club, thanked the donors for "boosting our morale".
GRi…/
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Player Indiscipline - who is to blame?
By Veronica Commey of GNA Sports
Accra (Greater Accra) 23 April 2002 - That, player indiscipline has come to stay is a truism. It has been domineering since time immemorial and many will concede that this has affected the beauty of the game in adverse ways. Virtually everyone, right from players to administrators, has come face to face with this canker in enormous circumstances with loads of accusing fingers being pointed at the main associates of the global leather, the players.
The truth of the matter is yet to be told. If we claim player misconduct is rampant, then the little, little issues that box up to indiscipline must not been ignored. "If you say education is expensive, try ignorance", so the saying goes. Education is a relevant omen in all aspect of the rules and regulation of the game hence the need to use that as a basic tool to discipline.
It is glaring that most players do not even understand the right frame of things that contribute to discipline and since most of them are found wanting when is comes to reading and writing, would it not be fair to the game that all trainers and officials interpret rules to the ignorant?
As a matter of fact blaming players as the icon of indiscipline is wrong since administrators themselves have ignored the fact that instilling discipline is a collective responsibility of the football fraternity. Since players are groomed and natured by coaches and the sort, they have the upper hand to teach the players the right things to do to enhance their future carries.
Have we as a nation ever taken the pain to study the temperaments of our players in order to know where their weaknesses lie and correct them for the betterment of our game. If players would be made to understand that basic rules of the game are for their own good they would try to understand and operate within the rules without infringing them.
Are the so-called overseers of the game abreast with the laws for them to educate players? Could our dream as a nation to cut down indiscipline in sports be fulfilled if players are made to believe that rules are being impose on them rather than analysing the reality on the ground for the sake of understanding.
And for how well do we invest in terms of discipline to expect so much in return. If an European club could invest hundred of dollars on the temperament of a player with the intention of minimising the weaknesses and maximising his potentials, then it is clear we are not doing enough to arrest the issue of player misconduct.
Has Ghana ever cared to trace the roots of our players with the aim of critically having in mind where the individuals are coming from, be it on the streets, broken homes and perhaps enquiring what their idea of discipline is all about? Has it ever bordered us to find out the perception of indiscipline among players?
Coming to terms with the fact that players are not the only ones responsible for their unruly acts, we must start by uprooting indiscipline among admirers of the game and among its administrators to be able to curb this canker.
GRi…/
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