NSC to look at membership of associations

Accra, Jan 17, GNA - The National Sport Council (NSC) has been urged to consider appointing "people who live and breathe particular sport disciplines' on Boards of those disciplines in place of the present system where people with no love for such disciplines find their way unto the Boards.

Mr Albert Frimpong, a baseball enthusiast and one time captain of the national Baseball team, in an interview with the GNA Sports said most of the lesser known sports in the country are not developing and making in-roads because a lot of 91round holes have been put into square holes' in terms of memberships of the Associations. "Aside the Ghana Football Association and a few others, most of the associations appear to be in perpetual hibernation only to resurrect weeks to major events for such officials to travel to get per diems and out of station allowances.

"Clearly this attitude is not the type that wins medals or help in the development of any sport".

Mr Frimpong added, "How does one expect to be dormant for about eight months only to resurrect for three months and expect to compete favorably with someone who has been in competition all year round".

He said that the no money excuse given on most occasions as the reason for the boards being dormant, is not good enough because when one lives and breathes a particular sport, there is no way that person will sit back and watch issues deteriorate to the levels that we find ourselves in.

"A clear example of a way out is the case of Mr John Clifford Aboagye, Chairman of the Weightlifters Association, whom he said has on his own borrowed money from the banks to keep the weightlifters in the gym throughout the year and the results achieved at the last Commonwealth Games was a clear manifestation of his individual hard work".

"These are the type of people that I am pleading with the NSC to look for and place at the helm of most of the associations if we want the lesser known sports to win laurels internationally". He said a sport like baseball in Ghana is thriving because of the hard work of individuals who have the game at heart without much central control from the baseball association.

Mr Frimpong said without such central control support from the mother association, most of them tend to fold up easily when obstacles appear, because the members will not like to go through much hassle when those mandated to do so sit back watching from the side lines.

He also tasked the NSC not to sit back for the tenure of such boards to elapse before non-performing ones are replaced.

"There should be a frank yearly evaluation of all boards to ascertain whether they are living up to the task given them by the NSC so that those put at the helm of affairs will not rest on their oars during their tenure of office".

Mr Frimpong concluded that as the country celebrates its 50th Independence anneversary, there is the need for frank evaluation of how far 91we have come as a country in terms of sports development to be able to put proper structures in place to ensure Ghana competes favorably with the best of the world.