The Ghana Rugby Association (GRA) operating as the Ghana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) appointed Mr. Farouk Tetteh Nettey as PR and Admin Assistant to the Office of the President, Mr. Herbert Mensah.
According to the President the GRFU faces numerous and enormous challenges to take Ghana rugby to become a recognised force in world rugby and one of the challenges is to ensure effective communication with all stakeholders. “The appointment of Mr. Nettey is a small step to ensure that the flow of information is accurate and timely,” Mr. Mensah said.
The GRFU is run by volunteers who do not earn a salary from the work they do. Mr. Nettey’s appointment is another act of passion and love for rugby.
According to Mr. Nettey his involvement in rugby has benefitted his personal development tremendously in terms of health, discipline and team-working skills. “The introduction of rugby at junior level will without doubt help many others to reap the same benefits,” he said.
Mr. Nick Oliver of NMS Infrastructure Limited, a key sponsor of Ghana Rugby, recently mentioned that the feedback from the educational fraternity was that the children involved in the NMS sponsored Tag Rugby programme not only improved their academic performance but also their levels of discipline.
In an interview after the appointment of Mr. Nettey Mr. Herbert Mensah mentioned that the challenges for Ghana Rugby was enormous both on- and off-the field.
“As minority sport Ghana Rugby has received a meagre GHc 14,000 in 2011 from the Government of Ghana – over the past four years this amounts to about GHc 291 per month. This is despite promises of GHc 100,000 for both 2013 and 2014,” Mr. Mensah said.
The newly elected Executive Council has embarked on an assessment of the true state of rugby in Ghana and is expected to produce a revised blueprint and subsequent budget in the foreseeable future.
Mr. Mensah will also soon be visiting potential partners in the UK as part of building an international network of “Friends of Ghana Rugby”.