Lest we forget May 9

It is already 24 years since the May 9 Disaster of 2001, but the scar of that tragedy cannot fade in the memory of humanity.

As one of the worst football tragedies anywhere in the world, Ghana unfortunately played host to the soul-wrenching episode that played out as a side issue to an otherwise enthralling football spectacle.

It was the days that local football venues were filled to capacity, attracting passionate patrons across all venues every match day.

A regular league match between Ghana's foremost football powerhouses, Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko, turned the world's attention towards the country for the wrong reasons.

At least 127 people officially were recorded to have died from factors directly linked to the events at the match, including police reaction to rioting fans on one end of the stands.

Kotoko had led through winger Lawrence Adjei's goal, but Ishmael Addo's late strike turned the game on its head as Hearts led and won 2-1.

Fan protest was taken a bit too far as they peeled off seats and hurled them onto the pitch. The police reacted by firing teargas canisters into the stands to control the crowd.

That backfired, and the count of the dead rose from single digits to tens till it exceeded hundred.

As American journalist, Rob Hughes, described it in his writing in the New York Times at the time, "When fervour reaches fever pitch, and when so-called riot police have no better training than to react with tear-gas canisters, the end result is a killer panic".

It was perhaps an apt description of a moment of madness that quickly transformed into a national disaster and a global reference to what is wrong with football.

The day has since been marked every year, but the lessons have hardly been learnt by the people.

Only this year, a fan of Kotoko was allegedly stabbed to death after another regular league match in Nsoatre. Narrations from various quarters indicate that the signal was apparent long before the game between the Ghana Premier League match against Nsooatreman FC.

In between the May 9, 2001 incident and the February 2, 2025 tragedy, violence has been a common thing at local football matches and venues, with lives and limbs always endangered by excessive aggression and hot blood.

Spectators, players, team officials and match officials have all been among the list of victims of such violence at football matches in Ghana.

This is evidence that the lessons of that fateful Wednesday’s late afternoon kick-off are yet to sink into the mental frame of those around the game.

Around the world, governments and football authorities continue to adopt measures to reduce the tendencies of rioting among fans.

Such measures have included having all-seater stadia, improvement in officiating, sensitisation about sportsmanship, and employing sports icons as ambassadors of the game and peace.

In Ghana, the May 9 Disaster Commission recommended that no match between Hearts and Kotoko should be played under floodlights again.

It also recommended improving stadium security and first aid facilities, as well as establishing nationwide rapid response teams.

The commission also recommended addressing the preparedness of public institutions to deal with disasters and emergencies.

While those measures appear to help contain emergencies, they do not and cannot address the mental conditions that influence individuals and groups into riotous mood at football matches.

Essentially, the tendency to riot is almost solely dependent on an individual.

This is why the Daily Graphic calls on the public to wake up to the practical consequences of rioting, which include death, injuries and destruction of property.

Ghana football is struggling to return to its glorious moments of old on the international stage, but it is even worse that the stadia are hardly half-full these days.

Even if the influence of foreign leagues has negatively impacted patronage of local football, violence has had its fair share of influence in driving away the fans from our stadia and parks.

As we mark the 24th anniversary of the May 9 Disaster, may the lessons of the event alert our collective sense of responsibility to life and property to make the bold proclamation that never again will it happen in our land.