A new initiative for sports fans especially radio callers to be part of rewarding sports perfomers and sports sponsors has been launched by Happy 98.9 FM at the Media Center of the Acra Sports Stadium on Monday. Charles Osei Asibey, a senior presenter at Happy FM who a subsidiary of Global Media Alliance (GMA) said the new programme is to make sports fans feel they are important and their views and suggestions can be taken into consideration in making policies. He called on sports fans to tune in t o Happy FM, the best sports radio station in Ghana to be part of the show.
Dr. Owusu Ansah former Chief Executive of the National Sports Authority and Director at the Ministry of Youth and Sports advised that there must not be duplication of Awards and the prayed that the Happy FM Sports Awards would be unique and special in its own way. He noted that sports fans must take advantage to make their views known as they make positive contribution to the development of sports.
Ben Nunoo-Mensah, Chairman of the Ghana Weight Lifters Association and an executive of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) said sports is an industry that Ghana can reap many benefits but things are not done rightly often, that is why so many people do not know that a weight lifter has singlely won most medals (8) in a single international competition. He urged the media not to concentrate on football alone but report on the lesser known sports loke cricket, weight lifting, judo, tennis, handball and others. He also appealed to the press to project companied that support sports men and women as well as sport activities in the country. Kwame Amponfi Jnr.
Chairman of the Greater Accra Sports said he was impressed with the new initiative coming from Happy FM and hoped that the programme would stay for a long time like the SWAG Awards.
He said it is about time that sports journalists are respected and put on the executive committees of sports associations as he has observed that many sports media men and women have ideas that can push Ghana Sports forward and make the nation better. Augustine Arhinful, a former professional footballer suggested that scholarship schemes should be made available for young sports men and women to encourage them give off their best for the nation.
He said most sports people fall out of school due to lack of financial support and the best way to encourage the youth who have chosen sports as careers is to support them with scholarships. Most media personnel who graced the launch said it was a laudable idea for the fans to pick up their best sports personalities ans best footballer as well as athletes of the year. The awards gala, scheduled for Friday December 27, is hinged on 100 per cent voting by spectators in five various categories fashioned out by a 10-member committee for the maiden event set to assume an annual character.
Charles Osei Asibey, an ace Sports Journalist at Happy FM “Without the spectators, sports will not be what it is. Their opinion and support are part of the reason they are primary stakeholders in the industry. This awards, a novelty is to give the supporters a voice to tell the world who their best performers over a period are. The period under review is from January to December each year.”
He said supporters will vote for their favourites in five various categories with a technical committee which has Dr Emmanuel Owusu Ansah as the chairman deciding on seven others based on their technicalities. Asibey mentioned the Footballer of the Year – local and foreign, Sports Personality of the Year, beach soccer, weightlifting and boxing as among the categories for the event.
