Football analyst, Christopher Opoku, has described as complete waste of time a two-day forum to discuss the future of Ghana football.
The forum was organised by the Ghana Football Association (GFA) in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth and Sports on Friday and Saturday.
About 60 football administrators engaged each other in a discussion about how to fix emerging problems plaguing the country’s football.
“I think we are all aware of the problems bedeviling Ghana football…we had failed in preparation. We were so arrogant that we thought that since we had made it to the second round [of the tournament] in Germany and to the quarter-finals four years later [in South Africa] we had the divine right to make it to the semi-finals [in Brazil] so we went to sleep and we did not prepare,” said Christopher Opoku.
Christopher Opoku is also a notable football commentator and Editor of an online sports news web portal.
In his view, “the lesson is simply to prepare. It did not need 60 people to gather…seriously speaking…in my opinion this whole conference was totally unnecessary and a waste of everybody’s time and money.”
A key recommendation by the group of eminent football administrators at the end of the forum was the need to modify the football constitution to limit the terms of the president of Ghana Football Association to two-terms, currently held by Kwesi Nyantakyi.
The constitution allows the sitting president to contest for re-election once the four-year-term expires.
But Christopher said “if the recommendation has to do with the term of office of the Ghana Football Association President, then I think we are missing the point. The real issue has to do with developing our football at the grassroots level.”
The country’s football has come under the spotlight following a disastrous campaign at the ongoing World Cup tournament in Brazil.
The Black Stars demanded their appearance fees be paid them in cash before their final group stages game with Portugal, compelling the government to airlift $3 million dollars in cash to Brazil.
This caused a stir among many football pundits who said the decision taken by the government was inappropriate and humiliating.
There were also some reports about player indiscipline in camp which led to the dismissal of striker Kevin Prince Boateng and midfielder Sulley Ali Muntari.The administrators have proposed major changes to the country’s football management, including increasing the tenure of the GFA president from four to an eight-year fixed term.
The recommendations at the two-day forum are expected to be forwarded to the GFA for deliberation and possible approval.