The plight of local football commentators

A group of local language commentators at work

Like or loathe them, local football commentators in Ghana are a different breed. I mean the radio commentators who travel across the country every season to bring live radio commentary on the Ghana Premier League to us are just special! They are special because despite all the difficulties they face on regularly basis and the continuous harsh criticism often leveled against them for the quality of their delivery, they go about their work simply undaunted.

I have not been around for a longer period but for the near-decade experience I have had in this profession; I have made interesting observations relative to local football commentary and the guys who run them. Today, on this platform I would share some of those observations. They may not be new to keen local football fans. I may also not treat the subject exhaustively which means some time soon, I will return to it.

At the Kpando Park on Sunday where Kotoko lost 0-2 to Heart of Lions in the 2013/2014 Premier League, there were commentators from different radio stations in the country. A greater number of them were from Accra and Kumasi. When the game started I counted 31 commentators at the Park. That was not surprising. Kotoko receive massive coverage in the league. That means if Heart of Lions were playing another side apart from Kotoko, there would have been the likelihood of counting far less that number of commentators at the Kpnado Park.

Thus the first observation is that most of the local football commentators love to be where Kotoko play. The reasons are not difficult to find. Kotoko is the biggest football club in Ghana. With the club’s pedigree and huge support base, practically everything on Kotoko makes news. Apart from commentators preferring to be at Kotoko matches, another observation deals with the hardships they encounter to get their work done.

Supersport commentators Ridwan Ibrahim and Benjamin W. Graham

After traveling long distances in public transport and usually on bad roads, local football commentators come face to face with the ordeal of arguing with macho men at the gates of league centres. It does not matter whether or not one has media accreditation. These macho men in their needless show of power harass and intimidate commentators perceived to be bias and they normally do that with the tacit approval of club officials.

Something like that was witnessed at Kpando on Sunday when journalists argued with security men at gate two because Heart of Lions’ communications manager had left an order that entry shouldn’t be granted to journalists with last season’s Globacom media accreditation cards. The same cards have been used since the season commenced because a circular by the FA’s communications outfit to media houses directed that those cards are used until further notice.

Why the Heart of Lions communications manager would disrespect the FA’s order was amazing. Fact is, local football commentators are neither respected by clubs nor spectators who they usually share the same stands with at centres like Kpando where commentators, in order to have a good view of the game are always forced to climb to the roof of a structure at the Park.

Neither coaches nor their players also respect local commentators. While some coaches give sometimes very outrageous excuses not to grant interviews, some of their players simply shy way. This unprofessional attitude impacts negatively on the work of commentators and the development of the game at the same time.

Local football commentators are ill-resourced whether it has to do with their media houses’ inability to provide them with the right equipment for their work or the commentators’ failure to adequately resource themselves. A mobile phone with a good battery strength, sufficient airtime, team sheets, a bottle of water and the energy to talk and most often to shout, are all what local football commentators need to run non-stop commentary especially on radio.

Akan or in fact, Twi commentators make the most noise. They shout. They overelaborate. They also exaggerate. Their colleagues who use the English language are calmer. They don’t shout. They hardly exaggerate. They rarely over-elaborate too. Why? Answers from various commentators I have interviewed on this subject point to an interesting thing, which is that, because English isn’t our mother-tongue, it is virtually impossible for commentators to shout unnecessarily while using the Queen’s language. 

There is also the view that the shouting by local football commentators is as a result of ignorance. Some also say it is as a result of poor journalistic training. Foreign football commentators do not shout and often "wet" themselves as some do here. They have perfect understanding of the job. It's difficult to disagree with that opinion yet it doesn’t rubbish everything our football commentators do. 

I have listened to some good local commentators both in Twi and English although I will quickly point out that I prefer English commentaries to that of Twi. Questions can be asked over the preparation our local commentators do before they go live on air; the quality of information they give, descriptions of events on the field and so on but I insist that we can't rubbish everything they do. There are challenges but there is no denial that our guys are doing great work. The next article will look at some of the good things done by our local commentators and of course how to address the challenges the face.

Reconsider your stance on kickoff times, PLB!

Premier League Board Chairman, Abra Appiah

It seems anything is acceptable in the Ghana Premier League. Otherwise, why is there the situation where a club with an untenable reason, can ask for the re-adjustment of the kickoff time for its midweek matches and easily, the Premier League Board (PLB) grants it?

On two occasions this season, Accra Hearts of Oak have had their midweek matches, first against Sekondi Hasaacas and then, against Liberty Professionals, moved from 3pm to 3:30pm following a request sent to the league organizers by managers of the club. Let me say that this article is not borne out of malice or merely because it involves Hearts, Kotoko’s arch rival.

Rather, my commentary has been warranted by the seeming ridiculousness of the reason Hearts gives and on which basis the PLB and the Ghana Football Association (GFA) for that matter have been granting their request. From what I read, kickoff times for the Hearts-Hasaacas and Hearts-Liberty matches were altered upon their appeal to the PLB that such ‘alterations’ would give their fans in Accra, who are workers the chance to show up because with the original 3pm time, most of them would be at their work places.

And this why I think Hearts’ case is weak. What we have is a nationwide league. All the 16 participating clubs have supporters at their respective home venues who are also workers either in private or governmental institutions. It is thus unacceptable that the PLB will see wisdom in the fact of Hearts’ fans being workers and because they cannot be at the stadium as early as 3pm, due to their work demands, they will have kickoff times for midweek matches in at the Ohene Djan Stadium changed.

Yes, other clubs may not have made such requests. They don’t need to. The argument is not about other clubs making similar requests. It is about the rationality of the reason offered by Hearts and which is supported by the league body. What happens when Sekondi Hasaacas come forward with a similar reason and ask that kickoff time for their midweek games be moved to 4pm? Or what happens when Ashantigold, thriving on the same course, also demand that their midweek matches at the Len Clay Stadium should start at 5pm?

What about Kumasi Asante Kotoko also travelling on the same wavelength to ask for 6pm? What happens to the other clubs whose venues by their current state, cannot host matches which begin a little later than 3pm? Will we be fair to them? We could have a chaotic, confusing situation if care is not taken. I am not opposed to change. I just think this unacceptable preferential treatment should not be countenanced. The PLB must look at it again.

Every football club in Ghana has supporters who work in various sectors of the economy. They can be found at Tarkwa, Tema, Kpando, Bekwai, Bechem and Berekum. There are others in Sekondi, Cape Coast, Kumasi, Sunyani and Wa where league matches are played whether on week days or weekends. They are denied the chance to watch their clubs in midweek matches much like how most Hearts fans are denied when the Phobians play on Wednesdays in Accra.

If late or early kickoff of matches in the Ghana Premier League is dictated by television broadcast issues, I wouldn’t have much of a problem. In Europe and parts of Africa like South Africa, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Egypt; football matches are played during mid-morning, late afternoon or in the night. They have experimented with that for decades. They also have the requisite conditions to organize football matches at any time of the day.

What pertains here isn’t exactly so or perhaps it is a far cry from what exists in Europe. If matches will be played at 7pm, 9pm or even midnight, their reason is not as weak as what the PLB is entertaining. The times could well have been determined even before their league starts. The PLB should reconsider its stance on this matter.

If the PLB think that this is a good thing, it should be across board. It shouldn’t be for Hearts alone and the PLB can make it clear to the public. But I warn: they should not open the floodgates for clubs to advance flimsy and contentious reasons for kickoff times (and if we are not careful dates) of matches to be changed. Such a situation won’t augur well for our football.

Hail Kwasi Appiah and ensemble!

Following reports of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers on the BBC late Wednesday afternoon, I was utterly delighted by the kind of drama that characterized some of the matches. Especially games in South, North and Central America, and the Caribbean.

Except Italia 1990, Mexico has been at every World Cup from 1982. This time, they finished fourth in their qualifying group. They could have easily lost the ticket to play Oceania winners, New Zealand in a two-legged intercontinental play-off next month had Panama not conceded two painful goals in stoppage time to lose 2-3 to the United States of America (USA).

The BBC’s report indicated that at the time Panama were leading the USA with six minutes of regulation time left; football fans in Mexico City were cursing their national team coach and players for their poor performance in the series. Mexican fans were almost disappointed that they would miss the global football competition but Panama’s flight crash agonizingly while landing as they lost, handing Mexico the play-off ticket to keep their World Cup dream alive.

Black Stars Coach Kwasi Appiah

In South America, third placed Chile booked an automatic qualification, beating Ecuador 2-1. Ecuador still qualified, finishing fourth. That left the fifth place for Uruguay who will engage Jordan in a play-off. Uruguay ended the qualifiers on the same points with Ecuador but Luiz Suarez’s country settled for the play-off because of an inferior goal difference.

Thus the road to Brazil 2014 has seen very interesting battles. It is predictable that we will see more stimulating clashes next month. To Africa and down here in Ghana, we also witnessed an enthralling game. Maybe, the exchanges on the field did not have produced suspense but it clearly was a historic moment as the Black Stars totally humbled the Pharaohs of Egypt at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium with a 6-1 whitewash. The score line as much as it sent Black Stars fans celebrating literally killed the spirit of Egypt.

The masterminds of 6-1 trouncing of the Egyptians – Kwasi Appiah and his players – have since won the admiration of even their harshest of critics who cannot continue to underestimate the strength of the team coached by a former Black Stars stalwart. On Tuesday evening, the ex-Kotoko player did not only make admirers of the Black Stars proud, he as well reaffirmed Kotoko’s position as an enviable football institution – an institution that breeds and continues to breed football talents and brains that the nation can count on.

Black Stars starting line-up against Egypt

We have looked down on our own coaches. We have often ridiculed them. Some of us have lately been incensed by the reprehensible acts of coaches like David Duncan who sought to undermine the confidence Ghanaians have reposed in Kwasi Appiah. But the gentleman that he is, Kwasi Appiah did not mind Duncan and rather focused on his objective, which was the all-important task of securing Ghana’s presence at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

I used the past tense “was” with the assumption that Ghana has essentially booked her place in Brazil. It is all right to accept that the second leg is yet to be played but no amount of football’s illogicalities can help Egypt to overturn the 6-1 humiliation they suffered in Kumasi. The Black Stars certainly will have to play the return encounter and I am convinced that they win again.

The Black Stars deserve loads of praise for that inspiring result. Such confidence-boosting score lines against opponents considered as mighty instill fear in other teams. The Black Stars have dispelled doubts that they can go rampage and demolish even the strongest of teams in highly competitive matches. They smashed Lesotho 7-0 at the same venue in June 2012. Many thought Lesotho did not have the wherewithal to compete. That is why they lost by that margin. Egypt, who had the wherewithal, came and they have been whitewashed!

It was all joy as the goals kept flowing

Again, I congratulate Kwasi Appiah and his players. The Ghana Football Association (GFA) must also be lauded for their organization, commitment and entirely decent work. They have brought enormous joy to Ghana. We should continue rallying behind the team for greater achievement. Kwasi Appiah, I hail you and your team!