Our joy has been resurrected
The managers of our football and the clubs and even the courts of law should be told that the animal named football is part and parcel of the Ghanaian life and custom.
Our football is our passion, our joy and our business.
This could easily be seen last week-end when Match Day One finally dawned on us; and with very interesting pairings.
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With the Sogakope encounter between sensational WAFA and evergreen Kotoko beamed to our homes on television, the week-end gave some of us a real revival.
More especially because of the quality of football exhibited by players from both teams.
Even though the home team revealed some very young and new players, the WAFA magic worked just as how the traditional craft of Kotoko came on display.
Indeed, the sterling performance of young referee Charles Bulu was the icing on the cake. He was fast, quick thinking and exhibited fitness to the optimum.
My only advice to him is that he should not forget the offence of simulation in his future matches.
That happened at least twice in the match. Kotoko players and fans, including Coach Fabian, believed that they were denied at least a penalty kick award.
They were wrong and the referee was right. Using a slight contact to fall down amounts to trying to deceive the referee. Most players simulate as a strategy, especially when they have become frustrated at their inability to score goals.
The start of the new football season has clearly shown that the general condemnation and running down of our football leagues are misplaced.
As a matter of fact, it appeared to me that those few, and loud critics rather welcomed the arrival of Match Day One of the 2017/2018 more than anybody.
Indeed if we could count the number of fans who trooped to the various playing grounds, the number of players and football officials engaged over the week-end, nobody would think of putting an injunction on our football as a means of seeking even a justifiable redress and wrong.
Football is business.
Not only that. It is a big business.
That is why we need our governments to invest in it and other forms of sporting activities.
Indeed, apart from agriculture, health and education, sports should receive the highest attention and budgetary allocation.
We have got a large portion of our population made up of many unemployed youth to the extent that they are becoming an army of security threat.
Investment in sports can easily help us curb the threat.
As a young man I decided to become a referee so as to occupy myself at the weekends through refereeing training and handling matches.
It worked well for me and it can work well for others. Football especially produces customers for food venders, transporters, hoteliers and many other varied businesses.
Indeed, the positive contribution of sports to our economic and social development cannot be quantified.
Its contribution to our GDP should be immense if our economists and statistician would care to find out.
It therefore places a huge responsibility on the managers and the sportsmen themselves to make good use of the many sporting discipline available to us.
Our referees for example have a lot of responsibilities placed on them anytime they are called upon to officiate in matches.
They should not forget that they are to handle their matches through the correct application of the Laws of the Game. They are also to protect the image of the game and retain his authority, dignity and the respect for his role as an ARBITER or JUDGE.
Additionally, his recognition and punishment of offences must be done in a way to establish a benchmark to discourage those players who may wish to repeat such offences.
The 2017/2018 season has just started with some initial hiccups.
Most of us, including referees, felt empty and unoccupied when it was not starting.
This shows how much we need the season and all that go with it.
We should therefore embrace it and play our assigned roles diligently and effectively to ensure its success.
The euphoria that greeted the beginning of the season should make it clear that our football leagues have become part of our joy, entertainment and business.
What gladdened my heart most was the display put up by the twenty-two players of WAFA and Kotoko in their match.
We can only but support and appreciate our football.