Promoting the local league: clubs must sit up

Spokesman for the GFA, Ibrahim Sannie Daara.

Spokesman for the Ghana Football Association (GFA) Ibrahim Sannie Daara earlier this week, gave the media and local football enthusiasts something to munch. Sannie Daara reportedly said that, it wasn’t the FA’s duty to promote the domestic league. As the FA’s communications chief, Sannie is himself newsman. He has recently been making news headlines either for the right or wrong reason depending on one’s view of him and what he says or does.

It was therefore no surprise that, Sannie’s take on the promotion of the domestic league received extensive review. "The promotion of the league itself is the duty of the clubs....It’s the duty of the clubs…The Federation itself does not own players…If you want to promote the league, you don't use the Federation" Sannie said in a Ghanasportsonline.com report.

I side with him. I agree with Sannie because for a long time, some people seem to have developed this habit of blaming the GFA for almost every wrong thing associated with our domestic league, forgetting that, whether or not the domestic league is promoted and ultimately develops, depends so much on the decisions all stakeholders take.

The critical yet singular decisions or actions of all stakeholders collectively impact, either negatively or positively on the domestic league. It can’t only be what the GFA does. Where Sannie must have missed the point or what he lost sight of is the fact that, the association he speaks for; as the only body mandated to run Ghana football, also have crucial roles to play.

I didn’t get that sense in Sannie’s interview. If Sannie had probably made it clear that, the promotion and largely the development of the domestic league was a shared responsibility between the GFA and all other stakeholders, his remarks wouldn’t have generated huge debate. In promoting and developing the domestic league, I see the FA and its affiliates as facilitators who should provide a congenial environment for the game to thrive.

When they as facilitators renege on their responsibilities, we will then have questions to ask them. At this stage, it’s not entirely correct to suggest that, the GFA has not done enough in promoting and developing the domestic league as some commentators attempted to do.

There’s more room for improvement and to make that assertion isn’t equal to saying that, the GFA hasn’t done anything or that they have failed Ghanaians on their promise to promote and develop the domestic league. Efforts by the GFA to lift the general outlook of the local game ought to be appreciated. Examples abound of actions taken by the GFA to improve the quality of the local league. These examples have been overstated. They have indeed become trite.

But mention can be made of sponsorship for instance. Only last season, the league kicked off without a sponsor yet before the curtains were drawn on the season, First Capital Plus Bank came on board. Talk about the sale of television rights to Supersports, which ensured that, clubs received something small for the live telecast of matches clubs by the international satellite television network. Irrespective of how small the money was, the sort of relief it brought to clubs can’t be overlooked.

In addition, the club licensing stuff has been touted as one move that could positively alter the face our club football and with that, the GFA has been an excellent facilitator. It’s up to the clubs to organise themselves well to take advantage of all that the club licensing offers. Our clubs must at all times position themselves well enough to pick anything the GFA puts on the table otherwise the league will remain where it is.

I have constantly argued that, Ghanaian clubs have serious structural problems. They are administratively weak. Most of our clubs either have no decent offices and any identifiable policy direction. For most of our clubs, anything goes. I admit that, with the poor state of Ghana’s economy, clubs will definitely suffer when it comes to raising the necessary capital to finance their development or growth but if they are well-organised coupled with their resort to qualified personnel in various managerial positions, they would be better off. They may make the best out of the bad economic condition.

The current situation where anything is acceptable by our clubs doesn’t help their plight. It really doesn’t help the overall image of the domestic league and that one, we can’t put the blame on the doorstep of the GFA alone. When our club owners and managers recognize modern trends in the game, and decide to embrace them and work hard at achieving their objectives as spelt out in their programmes and policies, our league will be well promoted.

It will be well-promoted and developed because in that case, their good decisions and meaningful, well-intended actions combined with the input of FA will collectively have an impact on the image of the league.