Irrelevance, triviality dominating football discussions in today’s media - Lucy Quist

There’s a lot to be worried about if sports or football talk remains as ‘trivial and irrelevant’ as it has become today, Vice President of the Normalisation Committee, Lucy Quist has said.

For someone who claims to have monitored football discourses over the period, she noted that platforms which ideally are to focus on extensive issues that will drive change and progress football are now dominated by ‘small talks’ that do very little but make the headlines today.

Her statements were made during a press conference held by the Normalisation Committee Wednesday. According to the former Airtel boss, Ghanaian sports journalists have now reduced conversations about football to the basics, a situation she believes does not auger well for the development of the game.

“The bigger issue which goes beyond the committee to all of us and beyond all of us to the country is that as the President intimated is what do we really want football to mean in this country. I won’t comment on the things that I hear in the media but I have heard many of you. The fact that I won’t comment doesn’t mean I haven’t heard. We’ve reduced our conversations to very basic things. We hardly talk about the core of football which is the player, she said.

Lucy Quist added; “I don’t remember the last time I heard an in-depth debate about a player skill, ability and anticipation of his or her future. When we are talking about the in-depth of where Ghana football is going, the conversation tends to be muddy. How many times do we even share the stats”.

Background

The Normalization Committee that was set up by the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) in September to run Ghana football on Wednesday, October, 9 held its maiden interaction with the media.

The press conference was marred by an altercation between lawyer Dua Adoteng, a member of the committee and veteran sports journalist Ekow Asmah who openly chided the lawyer for arriving almost an hour after the conference has started.

That instant was not the only time the committee or member of the committee displayed his or her discontent or resentment towards the media. The President of the Committee, Dr. Kofi Amoah at some point warned that members of the committee will be forced to debate their life achievements with journalists if the latter ‘insult’ any member on the committee.