Overhaul football administration — Nyaho-Tamakloe
One global event many Ghanaians would like to forget in a hurry is the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. In spite of much hype, promise and expectations, Ghana's campaign in Brazil 2014 ended in a comedy of indiscipline, scandals and errors.
Even more bizarre was the strange decision by the government to fly $3 million to Brazil to pay the appearance fee of the Black Stars players because they had threatened to boycott their final game against Portugal.
Lack of patriotism among the playing body has also been mentioned as the cause of the myriad of problems facing the national team.
Brazil 2014 has already left in its wake a bitter lesson for the country and Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, a former Chairman of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), advocates a multi-faceted approach to reverse the trend as he shares his thoughts on the way forward in an exclusive interview with Kobby Asmah, the Political Editor of the Daily Graphic. Below are excerpts of the interview.
Kobby Asmah (KA):
What in your view accounts for the problems facing the management of the Black Stars.
Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe (NN-T):
We have simply allowed superstar prima donna players to take the centre stage in our football policy, rather than promoting nationalistic and disciplined players to the world stage.
I have always championed the need to handsomely reward our players. But it is untenable when in these harsh economic times, players hold the nation to ransom over US$100,000 appearance fee each.
This clearly shows that our footballers do not know why they are even called into the Black Stars. To be selected to the national side is in itself an honour and a patriotic assignment that radically increases a players value at the club level and even at the global stage.
Indeed, players from some other nations don’t even demand such appearance fees much more hold a country to ransom. Our boys were simply not tuned to nationalistic programmes and did not consider themselves as envoys/ambassadors of the country, hence their shameful behaviour even if they were provoked by the presence of the large GFA delegation.
KA: For the third consecutive time, the Black Stars failed to live up to expectation in a major tournament such as the World Cup. Do you support President John Dramani Mahama’s call for inquiry into the shambolic performance of the Black Stars?
NN-T: President Mahama’s call for an inquiry is in the right direction. The practice of spending the tax payer’s cedis to flying supporters overseas to cheer the Black Stars in my view is archaic, financially inappropriate and subject to abuse by politicians. The players see some of these things and develop a false sense of the true state of the economy. I think a non-partisan public inquiry will unravel all the knots that need to be untied.
KA: Joseph Yamin and his boss Elvis Afriyie Ankrah have been reassigned from the Sports Ministry after the Black Stars failed to progress to the round of 16 in the World Cup. What is your view about the change of guards at the Sports Ministry?
NN-T: It is a clear sign that the President is not happy with the performance of the two ministers at the sports ministry, hence their re-assignment. In my view their reassignment is a form of demotion. I also believe that for political reasons the President may not like to go deeper by sidelining them entirely. I think that when the Football Association (FA) and the Black Stars management team are functioning properly and effectively, there is no need for a Minister of Sports to leave his post to follow the Black Stars around. Anytime this happens, unfortunately it fails.
KA: Going forward, what must we do to prevent such agitations in the camp of future Black Stars?
NN-T: Football has become a multi-billion dollar business, bringing policy matters to the core principles of self discipline, sportsmanship and patriotism.
We must develop a strong cohesive team with significant quota of local players, even if in the short-term we lose matches. We can do this by having a clearly defined road map policy direction. Going forward, the selection into the Black Stars must be conditional based on nationalism, patriotism and discipline, among other values and virtues.
I also think that beyond the problem of player indiscipline, “we need a reassessment of our football policy and return it to a more nationalistic policy orientation.”
It is not only a question of the playing body but of leadership, hence the need for a structural change. A future GFA must entrust the management of the Black Stars into experienced hands, rather than cronies of executives. As a former boss of the GFA, I personally excused myself from team management, ceding my place to Fred Pappoe, who did a marvelous job.
All of these will require political will in terms of the ministry, the GFA and even the presidency.
KA: Do you blame the coach?
NN-T: Yes, a coach must be really tough and technically knowledgeable. The coach must also stamp his authority and eliminate any player who excludes himself from training or qualifying matches for tournaments. Without this, there will be no team cohesion or discipline. I want to think that Coach Kwesi Appiah was totally overwhelmed by the events. His demeanour from the touchline showed clearly that the burden was very heavy, and he consistently showed and displayed enormous complex.
KA: Why are GFA issues the cause of all the troubles that confront most Ministers assigned to the Ministry of Youth and Sports?
NN-T: Football issues under the Sports Ministry is tougher than even the Finance Ministry because all Ghanaians are themselves football policy specialists, and that is why you have a high turnover of Sports ministers.
This also makes the ministers timid when it comes to taking the tough decisions
KA: Do you also think that the GFA match fixing scandal affected the psyche of the players?
NN-T: With what we know now, the players must have also been affected by the GFA match fixing allegations. The allegation caused player mistrust and low team morale.
