As you are no doubt aware, Ghana football has suffered tremendous hardships in three broad areas of disciplines that needed to be addressed in the last two decades or so but for a simple apathy and improper coordination between leaders, administrators and perhaps, our technical crew-men, these cancers of diseases have been lingering on till date. That is the lack of education, the cheating in ages, and the lack of attention of the youth in overseas. I'll call them issues. No need going through the side effects of the hardships so far evolved for want of space.
As at now, those of us who follow the sport closely may have noticed the effects of these issues hold on the sport and the nation. Therefore, the goal for this article could be an attempt at finding a lasting solution most respectively.
On Education, traditionally, core players have had to place more emphasis on the game with little or no seriousness on schooling. Forgetting that, getting education is the fundamental prerequisite for a more meaningful life in the ensuing future. In the western world, grades and points averages are inter-connected with playing any kind of sport. If a student is unable to better his or her grades, he/she does not enter into any practice squad at every level of education. These respective students are encouraged to make the grades and are discouraged to rely on their sporting skills alone.
The situation is evidenced in most players who plies the profession abroad, as majority of them cannot read nor write. Those who could read and write lacked the aptitude to discern salient points in the contract offered them; in the street jargon, "they are not smart". They become disillusioned, and losers in the end when employers are dissatisfied or attempt to re-evaluate their work habits and performance. The youth who become the ambassadors of Ghana thru sports must pass thru the mill of education so that they are better positioned to understand and be conversant with their scope of operation in their chosen fields.
Allow me to down-tone into conversational level so that each reader could benefit from the article.
Before a player signs a contract, even though, a manager, or a lawyer, or an agent, who represents the player is given an ample time to read the contract thoroughly, the player in question must as well do the same by going through copies of the contract. Often, a copy of the written contract is handed to the player to review. In many cases, players ignore this right for lack of education; I mean the ability to comprehend the blue prints. Most often than not, it is that time the agent or the lawyer or the manager becomes aware of his client’s inadequacy. This tells why everyone needs to encourage the young ones to, at least, familiarize themselves with education.
Age fabrication, and, or discrepancies is another delicate issue which has been hindering the country for a while now. The following facts of our football history are not to dig wounds but rather to make a point. During the 2008 African Cup of Nations in our own backyard, we fell face flat just because most of our regular players were on injury list even before the tournament began. Due to that, Ex Black Stars coach, Le Roy had no choice but to include them anyway and hope they get better whilst the competition advances. The team’s last coach, Milovan, went though the same predicament but took a different option by filling the squad with eight youths.
Why is it that when there is an important tournament, most of the team’s core players are not healthy enough to take part? African Cup of Nations 2006, for example, Stephen Appiah was the only core player who was able to participate and even played through pains throughout the tournament. We may go on and on with this issue, however, nothing good could come out of it. The solution to solve the issue is the only way and it is on its way.
There is no apparatus to detect age cheaters. It makes it hard to either defend or condemn the one involved for the simple fact that there is no proof. A number of people including Fifa media have been mentioning couple of machines needed to detect the ages of the youth coming into this area of sport. On the contrary, none has been successfully accurate.
Here are some examples. The proceeded research is included in this article because majority have recommended MRI scanner to detect the ages without knowing its functions. With this in mind, let us educate ourselves in this area. MRI is not capable of detecting bone ages. According to our research, when evaluating bone tissues, the x-ray taken from MRI scanner appears darker which makes the image even difficult to read. In short, a physician has to be able to see and to read, before determines the outcome. A procedure, which fifa previously used to determine an age thru one’s teeth, has also been put on hold because it wasn’t as accurate as fifa expected.
Through the research, it was discovered that the most widely used technique to measure bone density in order to aid in finding out one’s age is a test that uses a DEXA scanner. DEXA is a bone densitometer that is an acronym for Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry. Some newer diagnostic tests are becoming widely available, including advanced ultrasound bone densitometry. However, none of them is made for age detecting because their functions are to detect bone density in older people from 30yr. and above but not below.
It is true that pediatric (Children) densitometers have as well been discovered, yet teenage bone detective machines which GFA, CAF and Fifa need have not been discovered. What fifa is searching for is a densitometer that could distinguish the difference between a fifteen year old bone and a twenty-five year old bone.
This allows a player to beat the system by playing for the U20 level or even U17 level whilst his age is actually between 25 and 28. Basically, all these machines are unable to detect the real ages. Hence, at the moment, nothing concrete has been discovered.
Until we diagnose the root of our troubles, we cannot get healed. The conclusion of this article contains the last problem the country has encountered for ages, more examples, and the solution to solve these cancers. Therefore, read on…….
“In all thing, Get Understanding, Get Wisdom”
Ransford Frempong Peprah (Football Analyst)
Rnsfdpeprah@yahoo.com
