Protest Cases

As I mulled over the fact the likely result of the protest case meant promotion would be almost impossible Noah called, 'Charlie get in we have a lift'. Excellent. This would save me paying for the taxi home. Unfortunately our lift was in the back of a lorry that had been used to carry guinea fowl, the floor was covered in urine and it smelt of shit. The lorry was very hot, and was shared by 7 Ghanaians and myself, all of which had been to the protest meetings. This meant that not only was I sweating profusely, I also had to deal with the sound of arguing Ghanaians throughout the journey.

The meeting was due to begin at 13:30. After waiting an hour in Osu, I went onto Labadi where we were apparently now meeting Noah before leaving. We waited in Labadi for over one hour until Noah finally appeared. I decided this may be a good time to explain further to Kofi and Richard about the potential budget changes that may be introduced in January. Their potential pay increases would mean more was expected of them, Kofi who I normally get on well with began to question why the coaches are not supplied with training boots. 'Projects Abroad only think about the players'. I was not in the mood for this!

When Noah finally arrived we were over two hours late, although no need to worry as the meeting was delayed. The fact we had to travel for over an hour was of no concern apparently. When we finally arrived to Tema stadium we were left to wait for another hour. While we were waiting two other managers from our league came out of the meeting room arguing and laughing as one accused the other of lying about the case that had just been held.

'Cantonments vs Futurestars'. This game was one that took place before I had arrived, the game had finished 1-1 but we had appealed as they had fielded an unregistered player. The officials struggled to find any of the relevant documents. When they eventually did the case was held. Noah attempted to tell our side of the story and stuttered his way through. When the Futurestars manager spoke he spoke well, and I found it hard not to agree with what he said. Case finished, although the result is unconfirmed I fully expect the draw to remain the result.

'What about our other cases?' By this stage it was 8 in the evening, and it was obvious the officials wanted to leave. 'We called for them earlier and none of you were here'. This simply wasn't true as we had been there before they had arrived. They decided they would go by the referees reports; this should be in our interest as it avoids Noah having to speak. Meeting over, and into the lorry, the urine, the shit and the guinea fowl.

Christmas week

As I left the pitch on Saturday I requested that all the coaches to turn up on time to todays weekly meeting due to begin at one. As is often the case, when I arrived to the office none of the coaches had arrived. After a couple of phonecalls I established Kofi was out finding evidence for our protest cases, and Noah was at the GFA headquarters also working on the protest cases. The other two coaches did not pick up their phones. I am currently waiting to see if the meeting will take place.

Noah also informed me that our protest cases will be heard tomorrow, meaning if all goes to plan we will be playing our final league match this weekend. The round robin tournament should take place next Wedensday. It is typically frustrating that the GFA finally get themselves organised just in time for the Christmas period.

The junior teams played in friendlies, with the Under 10s losing 6-5, and the rest of the teams claiming victories. After the Under 10s game the opposition coach took it upon himself to come and gloat to our team. In typical Ghanaian style a 20 minute argument erupted as their coach requested that next time they play against our Under 14s. Our players responded that as we won 3-1 last time, we had won on aggregate.

The GFA

'Charlie the middle league will kick next wednesday'. (Today). Noah returned from a GFA meeting last week to inform me that the final league game would take place this weekend. The league was set to be completed this weekend, however once again the protest cases have not been concluded.

He also told me that in their wisdom the GFA had decided that no team would be automatically promoted from our league. With one game to play of the league season, the representatives of each club have agreed that two teams from our league and one from another region will enter into a round robin tournament, that was meant to take place today. This round robin will consist of each team playing two, ninety minute games at a neutral venue on one day, with two gaining promotion. We were also advised that if we are promoted then the new league will kick off on the 16th January!

Noah is convinced the league will be played next weekend, this seems unlikely as it is Christmas weekend. Although I am learning that ridiculous decisions are something the GFA specialises in. This has meant we have been unable to allow our players to break for Christmas which would be normal procedure at this time of year.

The fact that the rules of the league are changed within a week of the league finishing would be unbelieveble in most other countries, but in Ghana it seems almost normal. The laid back nature of Ghanaians means they take it all in their stride, and all the coaches seem amused when I talk about how ridiculous these things are.

Postponement of all League Matches

As we began our light training session this morning in preparation for our final league match of the season tomorrow I was handed a letter by Kofi the Ghanaian coach.
The letter which had been sent by the Ghanaian Football Association (GFA), read as follows;

Dear Sir
Postponement of League Matches
With the non completion of protest cases, all 3rd Division league matches has been canceled. Date for resumption will be communicated at a later date.
With respect to the above all clubs with protest cases must be armed with correct evidence as cases will be heard next week.
The inconvenience is deeply regretted.

Your in Sports

Nataniel Ako-Adjei (General Secretary)

I should say that the league table I published was based on Cantonments winning all three of our protests. However it does seem almost certain that we will, as the referee after each match assured us we would be awarded the three points.

The incompetence of the GFA is unbelievable at times. They have come to this decision as there are a number of protest cases over various issues, including Cantonments three protests. They have failed to make a decision despite a number of emergency meetings held at the GFA headquarters in Accra. This leaves us in the strange position of having no idea when our final game will be played.

This is not the first time dealings with the GFA have been slow moving. Three of our coaches have been enrolled onto a GFA coaching course, this was paid for a couple of months ago but still a date has not been set. The last time I asked Noah our GFA representative he said, 'The league is too hot at the moment to worry about the coaching course'. In addition to this the youth league that was meant to kick off in September or October is yet to begin. The date has been pushed back every month since my arrival, I have been assured it will finally begin in January. The GFA have decided there will be 2 youth leagues next year, when I asked Noah about this he replied that they had decided to do this because of the world cup!

I hope to report that the league will be completed next week, however I am not confident.

Late victory keeps promotion hopes alive

The senior side claimed an important 2-1 victory on Sunday despite a terrible performance. Cantonments somehow went into the halftime break with a 1-0 lead despite a string of excellent saves from our goalkeeper, and a generally lacklustre performance. The second half saw little improvement, and following a simple chance being missed by our striker the opponents broke away and scored an equaliser.

With fifteen minutes to go we switched to a 4-3-3 formation and made a substitute, the substitute netted soon after coming on to grab Cantonments an undeserved victory.

This has left the league table perfectly balanced with one game to play.

LA Utd 33
Cantonments 32
Mighty River 32
Mandela 31
Future 31

The top team goes up and the 2nd goes into a playoff against a team from another region. We are ahead of Mighty River on head to head, the league is not done on goal difference as teams would buy games in the last weekend of the season to push up their goal difference.

Finals day

Saturday began in the usual stressful fashion as a community game was taking place before the finals day of the tournament could begin. Within the community there is a level of negative feeling towards the club as older members of the community are jealous of the opportunities the young players are getting due to the backing of projects abroad. As I argued with one of the coaches of the community teams, he responded that 'This game is more important than your tournament'.

I was dragged away from the debate by the Under 17's coach and told that I must not get involved in an argument with these members of the community as they could make our lives very difficult. As our Under 14's completed their warm up I was suddenly informed that there would be an hour long lunch break with kick off at 14:00.

When the final eventually kicked off it was a fairly uneventful match until an opposing player was sent off for what seemed a fairly innocuous challenge. Our Under 14's failed to capitalise and the game ended 0-0 going straight to penalties. The first Cantonments player blasted the ball wide and things didn't look good. At this stage my boss shouted 'Charlie...What was that?' After this penalty miss our coach went down on his knees on the sideline and began to pray, by the end of the shootout he was literally weeping. The praying seemed to work as Cantonments went on to win the shootout.

The Under 17's were impressive from the outset with arguably the most talented player in the club scoring from a 30 yard free kick. The game never looked in doubt as Cantonments cruised to a 2-0 victory. The wild celebrations after were combined with the usual problems of any public event in Ghana. As the speeches dragged on for an unnecessarily long amount of time the microphone failed.

Tournament Day

Today is a national holiday in Ghana, giving most Ghanaians a day off. Unfortunately my day began at 5:30 am when I went to the pitch to check that everything was in order for todays Under 14's and Under 17's tournament. To my delight the park was already being lined and things seemed relatively under control. The canopies which we had organised to provide shade for players and supporters were yet to arrive but I wasn't too worried about this.

It was then off to Pigg Farm, where the office of Projects Abroad in Accra is situated for a 'healthwalk', which had been organised by my boss to raise awareness of the tournament. We set off at 7am in a group of around 100 people along Accra's hectic and often dangerous roads. We had 2 policemen directing us, and we were strictly told we had to walk along the middle of the road. At one stage a colleague and I were pulled from the safety of the pedestrian path onto the busy main road and told, 'Get onto the road, the street is ours'.

When we finally arrived near the pitch, I decided to make a swift exit from the procession and go to the pitch and see how things were coming along. Despite constant phonecalls I had not established what was going on, particularly with the construction of the canopies. I arrived at the pitch at around 8:30am, (the tournament was due to start at 10), and they still hadn't arrive. They finally arrived at around 8:45am on a trailer being pulled by a group of 'small boys', after the truck transporting them had apparently broken down. The next 2 hours were possibly the 2 most stressful of my life as we tried to organise their construction, as well as the player registration for the tournament.

At one stage I literally had to be split from my Ghanaian boss as we argued about the organisation of the event. He informatively told me that, 'while my skin may be black, I expect things to start on time'. I suggested to him that maybe if I had not been forced to partake in his health walk I could have ensured things were in order at the pitch. I was also unsure how I could be blamed for the late arrival of the canopies as the car carrying them had broken down.

Fortunately the canopies were erected quickly and for once the player registration went off without incident. The tournament somehow kicked off at 10:30 am, and both Cantonments sides won their semi-finals to put them through to tomorrows final. There was just time for one more heated debate with my boss regarding providing refreshments for the players. He eventually backed down, however, and handed over the 30 credis.

Another Interesting Weekend

As I had mentioned in a previous post balls are a commodity in Ghana, and this fact was proved after a ball disappeared during the week. One of the coaches has since approached me and informed me that a member of the community has possession of the ball and is demanding 10 cedis to give the ball back. The battle continues.

For the 3rd weekend in a row our league match was not completed, in fact the match never kicked off. The opponents and match officials never appeared for our crunch league match. The usual extensive pre-match prayer in the changing rooms seemed to last ridiculously long, with the players finally emerging at 14:45. Kick off is supposed to be at 15:00 but this is rare! As happens most weeks I was growing increasingly impatient, demanding to the Ghanaian coach the players must start to report earlier. The players finished their on pitch praying at 15:00 and waited for their opponents and the referee, who never appeared.

The junior friendlies on Saturday were against another academy from another area of Accra, as often happens, I officiated some of the games. The Under 12's game ran smoothly, although we lost 1-0. Next were the Under 14's. The game represented more of a war than a football match. Tackles were flying in from all angles, and as Cantonments took control of the match the tackles got worse from both sides. The opposing manager was growing increasingly angry at our team, at one stage running onto the pitch to remonstrate with me, demanding I yellow card one of our players. Unfortunately for him I did not have any cards on me so had to continue to warn each player.


This week I plan to buy the club a set of cards for such occasions. Indeed, the standard of tackling from junior players is generally similar to Essien when he first arrived at Chelsea, although often worse.