Ghana’s golden age of sports, 1962-70
On page 11 of the March 4-5, 2015 edition of the Graphic Sports, is a story with the headline, “Ex-athlete appeals to government.”
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In it, the athlete, a former national star, Habiba Attah, and founder of Kumasi-based Fabulous Ladies FC, made a passionate appeal to the government to sponsor athletes who participated in and won medals at the inaugural All-African Games held in Brazzaville 50 years ago, to witness this year’s games, also to be held in Brazzaville.
Habiba Attah, a product of T.I Ahmadiya Secondary School in Kumasi ,and her younger sister, Adisaah Attah, also a sprinter and high jumper of class, belong to the Golden Age of Ghana Sports that I believe lasted from 1962 to 1970.
Among the notable athletes who won medals at the Games in 1965 were Mike Ahey, B. Bashiru, S.F Okantey, J.A Addy, J.A Antwi, Eddy Blay, Sulley Shittu, Rose Hart and little Alice Anum.
Then in the very next issue of the Graphic Sports, March 6-8, on page three, the paper carried an editorial titled, “Schools and Colleges athletics need revival.”
The first two paragraphs of the editorial runs like this:
“Last week, the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi was filled with enthusiastic students who had converged to support their schools compete in the Ashanti regional super zonal athletic competition. For keen followers of athletics in Ghana, the massive turnout may not have come as a surprise as the region (i.e. Ashanti) has a reputation for not only producing top athletes but also a fanatical following, especially at the second-cycle institutions.
“Many decades ago, schools like T.I Ahmadiyya, Prempeh College and Osei Kyeretwie competed fiercely at the regional level just as schools such as Accra Academy, Achimota and West Africa Secondary School (WASS) vied for supremacy in the Greater Accra Region and produced outstanding athletes who later represented Ghana and brought glory to the nation.”
Then in the Letter to the Editor column in the same issue of the Graphic Sports (March 6-8, 2015) there is a letter from a reader, Irene Koleki of Sukura, Accra, titled “Revive the National Unity Games” and I quote:
“The late Professor John Evans Atta Mills revived the defunct National Unity Games some years ago with a view to sustaining the development of the so-called least financed sporting disciplines in the country which were gradually dying with time.
“However, after his demise little has been heard of the National Unity Games, a situation which suggests that the late President died with his ideas.
“The National Unity Games taps talents for the nation, hones the skills of these talents and above all, unites the nation with sports.
“Not only that, it also provides the platform for athletes to showcase their talents to sports fans in the country.
“In the interest of accelerated sports development the Unity Games must be revived this year.”
Let me now start with the Graphic Sports Editorial calling for the revival of Schools and Colleges Sports.
The Schools and Colleges Sports have been going on for years, at least at the regional level. One always reads about the zonal athletic competitions in the regions that lead to the super zonals where the best schools compete for who-is-who in the region.
But what has been lacking in recent times is how to organise the Schools and Colleges athletics competition at the national level to unearth talents that could compete with the best at the continental and global levels.
The same thing can be said of football, which can be organised from the zonal level, regional level and national level.
After the School and Colleges competitions we can then have the National Sports Festival as we used to have in the past or under the new name National Unity Games as named by our late president, Professor Atta Mills, himself, a great sportsman and administrator.
It is at this stage, that the schools and colleges, known as Academicals compete with the regions or be part of the regional teams to compete against the security agencies such as the Ghana Armed Forces, Police, Prisons, Fire Service, the Immigration and any other identifiable groups.
This was what pertained after Ghana attained a republican status in 1960 with Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah as the first president. Visionary as he was, he saw sports as a tool to be used to make Ghana a strong and respectable country in the comity of nations.
That was why he set up the Central Organisation of Sports (COS) and found in Ohene Djan a willing apostle to translate into reality, his dream of transforming Ghana into a powerful nation through sports.
Ghana definitely had the potential to become a great sporting nation. For example at the 1958 Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, Wales, the young Bob Kotei (later Major–General Robert Kotei), a lieutenant in the Ghana Army, won bronze for Ghana, a year after independence.
But all that was to change when Nkrumah set in motion his grand agenda to turn Ghana into a great sporting nation.
At the 1962 Commonwealth Games in Perth, Australia, Ghana won a total of nine medals, three of them gold, five silver and a solitary bronze medal. The star performer for Ghana was Mike Ahey, who set a Ghana record in the long jump and was part of the 110 x 4 relay team that also shattered the Games record.
Ghana’s greatest moment at the Commonwealth Games was in Kingston, Jamaica in 1966 when she also won a total of nine medals with five of them gold, two silver and two bronze.
Stan Allotey, a product of the schools and colleges sports and who competed for Odorgonno and Prempeh College, set the tracts ablaze with a vintage performance in the 220 yards where he set a new Games record and also anchored the relay team featuring E.C.O Addy, J.A Addy and Mike Ahey to also set a new Games record in the relay.
In fact , Stan Allotey was among the favourites for the 200 metres gold medal at the Mexico Olympics Games in 1968 alongside Tommie Smith and John Carlos but Ghana boycotted the games and deprived Stan Allotey of probably winning an Olympic gold.
In both 1962 and 1966 Commonwealth Games , Ghana was one of the leading boxing nations winning gold, silver and bronze through Clement Quartey, Joe Darkey and Sulley Shittu.
One cannot forget Sam Bugri, an old Achimotan, who was also tipped for honours in the 400 metres at the Mexico Olympic Games in 1968.
After the Kingston Commonwealth Games in 1966, Nkrumah was overthrown and the decline in sports started. But that did not stop Ghana from winning seven medals at the Edinburgh Games in 1970 and nine medals at the 1974 Christ Church Games in 1974.
But certainly the period 1962 to 1970 was the Golden Age of Ghana sports. That was the time Ghanaians were filled with joy at any sporting competition and it was a pride to be a Ghanaian.
In an earlier piece, I wrote about the Black Stars winning the AFCON in 1963 and 1965 and placing second in 1968 and 1970.
How do we recapture those days of glory? It needs proper planning and reviving the national sports festival and encouraging schools and colleges to be part of the national programme.
