A good call for companies to support sports
A call has gone to producers of tobacco and alcoholic beverages in the country to go to the aid of sports development in the country.
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The call by the President of the Ghana Hockey Association, Mr Richard Akpokavie, may not be the first by any sports personality, but we must say it is one worth repeating a thousand and one times.
This is because of the debilitating impact those products have on human health and the role that sports plays to maintain the health of humans generally (see story on back page).
The call is also not to suggest that alcoholic beverages and soft drinks producers, as well as tobacco companies, are not in the business of financially supporting sports development in Ghana.
Perhaps it must have come as a wake-up call for some of these institutions whose support for Ghana sports appears to be waning, at a time when sports development in the country needs their backing most.
As the GHA president noted, sports development is primarily the role of the state or the government, for that matter, but support from companies whose products directly impact our health must be a sine qua non.
Indeed, the state has responsibility for sports infrastructural development, such as the refurbishment or building of stadia, the training of athletes and coaches, among others, but it is also true that the state has often been partnered or assisted by some other institutions to carry out some of these functions.
We cannot fail to mention the role that Guinness Ghana Breweries Company continues to play in the life of the national soccer team, the Black Stars, as a headline sponsor, aside from the government’s responsibility as the major financial mainstay of the team.
But, without doubt, the Black Stars have hardly lacked the attraction as to make companies shy away from them, as do the lesser-known sports in the country.
It is the reason sports disciplines such as hockey, weightlifting, ping-pong, taekwondo, among others, which are in dire straits, would have to make some noise before they are heard.
Significantly, all these are disciplines for the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio in August, but strange to relate, they are all bereft of the needed financial dose to undertake any training towards the world event.
The prospects as to whether or not our teams will make it to the Olympics in August look dim because of the reported cash-strapped situation of the overseeing ministry following its lean budget for the year.
So the cry by the Ghana hockey boss for tobacco and alcoholic beverages producers to contribute financially to sports development has a basis.
And we fully identify with Mr Akpokavie and his other colleagues in their desperate situations!