By Theodore K. Viwotor
Football has moved away from a pastime or recreation to a means of livelihood for many young men and women. The sport has raised many people from the doldrums and made them great stars, who, otherwise, would have become a burden on society.
As a result of the prospects football has for the nation, many individuals and groups have taken it upon themselves to train young talents to take the places of current players in the world as they grow into retirement.
It is in that direction that managers of Darmang Manchester F/C recruited some young talents in the country to play as a team in the Eastern Regional Division Two League. From a humble beginning in 2007 and under the tutelage of Coach Aziz Arday, younger brother of Coach Sam Arday of Starlets 1995 fame, who took over the reins of leadership in 2010, Darmang Manchester F/C kept on improving till the team won the Eastern Regional Division Two League in the same year, thereby qualifying for to play in the middle league.
However, due to financial reasons, the team could not win the Middle League to qualify into the First Division stream. Unperturbed by that, Coach, assisted by Coach Yeboah, started the 2011 Division Two league again with vigour and occupied a respectable second (2nd). They were gearing up to overtake the league leaders when the man who was supporting them financially withdrew his support. Darmang F/C were, therefore, compelled to withdraw from the league in order to concentrate on player recruitment and grooming, with the hope of transferring them to local clubs, other European and Asian countries where they expect to get some money to help run the de facto academy.
This is also proving difficult since cost of transportation and allowances cannot be taken care of for lack of sponsorship. In an exclusive interview, Coach Aziz Arday lamented that but for lack of sponsorship, the team would have been competing with some of the greatest clubs in the country.
He appealed to individuals, philanthropists and corporate bodies to come to the aid of the club as they groom players to feed the various national teams and other clubs, as a way of giving meaning to their lives.
The club currently has great players like Richard Cudjoe, Shadrack Adams, Paul Papa Djangmah, Abdulatif Abdul Karim, Abdul Rasheed Jibril, among others.
