Worthy Winners?
Our first appointment this morning was with a guy named Steven, a colleague of Kwame, who is a member of the planning group for Ghana’s new Youth Parliament. Kwame and I had been discussing possibilities for a Ghanaian delegation to visit this year’s annual meeting of the UK Youth Parliament, known as the Sitting, which is taking place in July – and this was the man who could help make it happen. The previous day Steven had met a government minister and asked about funding for the programme; the answer was positive. That is very good news. Now we can start making preparations for the trip, but things will have to move quickly because there is limited time.
Next on our agenda was a meeting of civil society leaders in Ghana, which Kwame had been invited to attend. Representatives from many NGOs gathered to organise campaigning ideas for the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); one item up for discussion was the creation of a new Youth Platform in the structure of the group. There are already platforms for MDG issues, e.g. Health and Education, but the young people present made a very strong case to have a separate category even though youth is a cross-cutting issue. Lively debate took place and the rest of the committee eventually accepted the proposal, after my friend Emmanuel had made a great speech to convince them. And I got the whole thing on camera as well – could make interesting content for the documentary.
So I guess you could that was the second victory for Ghana’s young people in the space of two days. The next big question was: could the national football team match these historic achievements and overcome Brazil in the World Cup second round? The chair of the civil society meeting hurried it along, trying to get everything covered in time for kickoff. He did a good job and we were out with a couple of hours to spare.
Palpable tension gripped the afternoon air. Accra an atmosphere of great expectancy and nervousness. The streets suddenly became littered with every kind of football merchandise imaginable: items ranged from shirts to lanyards to hats and wristbands. Nearly everyone had purchased something like this – I saw few people not displaying some kind of national icon in support of the Black Stars. Flags were everywhere. Many drivers had decked out their vehicles and others chose to make improvised bandanas or capes.
The match began in a brisk manner. Ghana’s coach had obviously outlined the need to get at Brazil early on and not let the defending champions reach their stride. Then, suddenly, we were hit by a mini disaster: another power cut at Kwame’s place, in the middle of a promising Ghanaian attack. We rushed outside to see if anyone else was watching nearby, but no luck. If we’d been in central Accra it would have been easy, but this was the outskirts. Then, abruptly, we heard a great uproar from a bit further away – had Ghana taken the lead? Kwame ran off to try and find out, shouting questions to the sky and hoping for a positive response. Another minute passed and electricity returned to the house. The TV set flickered once, twice and the match was back on screen. The score: 1-0 to Brazil. Disappointment.
The Black Stars went on to dominate the rest of the first half and much of the second. The team was playing out of this world to keep Brazil at bay and make opportunities for an equaliser. But as the strikers missed chance after chance I felt a distinct sense of impending doom to the possibilities of a Ghana comeback.
This proved to be painfully correct. A combination of outrageous good luck and clinical finishing gave Brazil a final score of 3-0; this result was massively unreflective of the way the game was played. Ghana had superior possession (a stat people could not stop mentioning afterwards) and created more openings to score than the opposition. The key difference between the two sides was that Brazil took their chances and the Black Stars did not.
Many Ghanaians (and indeed others) argue that another main factor in the loss was the referee. It’s true the officiating at this World Cup has been of a horrendous standard, with referees showing blatant bias towards the big teams. Questions marks were also raised about FIFA’s decision to put a Slovakian in charge of this particular clash, after Ghana had previously defeated the Czech Republic. This country and Slovakia used to be the same nation – Czechoslovakia – and the languages, people and cultures are virtually identical. It is also known that, after the match, the ref was seen pleading with Brazilian players for a souvenir shirt. Is that the world football governing body’s idea of being impartial?
All of that said and done, the people of Ghana are still immensely proud of their team’s performance. Africa and African football will gain a lot from the Black Stars’ brave displays. In Accra a few hardcore fanatics were even still celebrating, although somewhat mutedly. I just hope that, for once, people will remember the match itself – not just the result. So many other heroic efforts have been lost in the archives because they ultimately came to nothing and it would be sad to see that happen again in this instance.
Next on our agenda was a meeting of civil society leaders in Ghana, which Kwame had been invited to attend. Representatives from many NGOs gathered to organise campaigning ideas for the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); one item up for discussion was the creation of a new Youth Platform in the structure of the group. There are already platforms for MDG issues, e.g. Health and Education, but the young people present made a very strong case to have a separate category even though youth is a cross-cutting issue. Lively debate took place and the rest of the committee eventually accepted the proposal, after my friend Emmanuel had made a great speech to convince them. And I got the whole thing on camera as well – could make interesting content for the documentary.
So I guess you could that was the second victory for Ghana’s young people in the space of two days. The next big question was: could the national football team match these historic achievements and overcome Brazil in the World Cup second round? The chair of the civil society meeting hurried it along, trying to get everything covered in time for kickoff. He did a good job and we were out with a couple of hours to spare.
Palpable tension gripped the afternoon air. Accra an atmosphere of great expectancy and nervousness. The streets suddenly became littered with every kind of football merchandise imaginable: items ranged from shirts to lanyards to hats and wristbands. Nearly everyone had purchased something like this – I saw few people not displaying some kind of national icon in support of the Black Stars. Flags were everywhere. Many drivers had decked out their vehicles and others chose to make improvised bandanas or capes.
The match began in a brisk manner. Ghana’s coach had obviously outlined the need to get at Brazil early on and not let the defending champions reach their stride. Then, suddenly, we were hit by a mini disaster: another power cut at Kwame’s place, in the middle of a promising Ghanaian attack. We rushed outside to see if anyone else was watching nearby, but no luck. If we’d been in central Accra it would have been easy, but this was the outskirts. Then, abruptly, we heard a great uproar from a bit further away – had Ghana taken the lead? Kwame ran off to try and find out, shouting questions to the sky and hoping for a positive response. Another minute passed and electricity returned to the house. The TV set flickered once, twice and the match was back on screen. The score: 1-0 to Brazil. Disappointment.
The Black Stars went on to dominate the rest of the first half and much of the second. The team was playing out of this world to keep Brazil at bay and make opportunities for an equaliser. But as the strikers missed chance after chance I felt a distinct sense of impending doom to the possibilities of a Ghana comeback.
This proved to be painfully correct. A combination of outrageous good luck and clinical finishing gave Brazil a final score of 3-0; this result was massively unreflective of the way the game was played. Ghana had superior possession (a stat people could not stop mentioning afterwards) and created more openings to score than the opposition. The key difference between the two sides was that Brazil took their chances and the Black Stars did not.
Many Ghanaians (and indeed others) argue that another main factor in the loss was the referee. It’s true the officiating at this World Cup has been of a horrendous standard, with referees showing blatant bias towards the big teams. Questions marks were also raised about FIFA’s decision to put a Slovakian in charge of this particular clash, after Ghana had previously defeated the Czech Republic. This country and Slovakia used to be the same nation – Czechoslovakia – and the languages, people and cultures are virtually identical. It is also known that, after the match, the ref was seen pleading with Brazilian players for a souvenir shirt. Is that the world football governing body’s idea of being impartial?
All of that said and done, the people of Ghana are still immensely proud of their team’s performance. Africa and African football will gain a lot from the Black Stars’ brave displays. In Accra a few hardcore fanatics were even still celebrating, although somewhat mutedly. I just hope that, for once, people will remember the match itself – not just the result. So many other heroic efforts have been lost in the archives because they ultimately came to nothing and it would be sad to see that happen again in this instance.
posted by Frederick at 01:00
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