The Hypocrisy by most people who just hate everything about football in the country stinks.
Just about 4 years ago when Ghana Football was going through normalization, the ‘agenda’ people who became default advisors to the Normalization Committee (NC) actually convinced them to set a criteria that require those who wanted to run for the FA presidency to have at least Master’s degree, the General Secretary position should have masters degree while those who wanted to run for Exco positions to have a minimum of first degree.
Today, the same people are hailing Stephen Appiah for saying running football is not about grammar. Funny. Isn’t it?
Journalism in our part of the world is becoming a problem because those who are supposed to read, know and educate their followers, most often than not, do not know and are not interested in finding the facts.
- Football all over the world is ran by people who have equipped themselves with relevant skills and experience in the football ecosystem and not necessarily footballers.
- Football is multi-sectorial and its administration cannot be the preserve of footballers alone who are just a fraction of the ecosystem. Everyone within the sector must and should have equal opportunities to get to the top.
- We must recognize the roles played by each group within the ecosystem because there cannot be football if each group fails to do its part. For instance, without referees, a football game can’t happen. Without medics, security, et al, there won’t be association football. If someone is a masseur and discharges his duty with competence and constantly upgrades himself, he should be able to get to the top level of football administration. If someone entered football administration as a security officer, legal or finance officer, player, psychologist, there should be opportunity for him to get to the top once he is competent and constantly upgrades himself.
- The club licensing regime requires one to have a certain level of educational certificate to be able to occupy certain positions, so yes, football administration is about grammar.
No one is stopping ex footballers from taking over football administration. When positions are declared vacant, they should apply. The two biggest clubs in the country have in the past years declared vacant their CEO positions. How many ex footballers applied? Or they want to be called and gifted the positions?
The hatred for football administrators should not lead people to validate everything that appears to take a swipe at football administrators. It can never be true that by merely being a footballer, one becomes better placed to run football better than anyone. People should position themselves well by adding value to themselves to prepare them for the kind of positions they want to occupy in football administration.
Source:Anyaba Kwasi Paul
