The sweetness and bitterness of our football!
Many football fans who rushed to the Robert Mensah Stadium in the Cape Coast Metropolis last Sunday had interesting stories to tell the world about how the game of football can reach its fever pitch and how fans had unforgettable memories about their entry into the arena, loss of their wallets and mobile phones, as well as the security personnel's enormous challenge of controlling the crowd.
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Arguably one of the biggest football clubs in the country, Cape Coast Mysterious Ebusua Dwarfs - "Abontua Abontua", were in action that day. They had had a nightmarish experience at the beginning of this football season, a new life at the premiership, after surviving the lower Division One for a season and climbing back to the elite division and so, seeing themselves sinking deep into the bottom of the league table once again with two bitter defeats, was something they will quickly want to forget.
Interestingly, this is one of the traditional clubs which tightened their belts to give birth to the modern national football league as far back as 1958 immediately after Ghana gained independence from colonial rule and changed her name from the then Gold Coast to Ghana.
Dwarfs fans had to wake up, and for the first time, there was that meaningful "Ebusua brotherhood" as their bitterest rivals, Venomous Vipers with whom they started the journey and fell back earlier, had to join hands in the fight to execute their stay in the elite division, not only to enhance the reputation of Cape Coast, but also to make sure the Central Region and for that matter Cape Coast where football origionated in this country is not deprived of the premiership for far too long as it happened to the Eastern Region since the relegation of clubs such as Maxbees and Okwawu United.
The relegation of Dwarfs in the last two seasons affected the image of the region because the citizens love the game and have in the past had the pride of raising teams such as Swedru All Blacks, Agona Fankobaah, Vipers and Denkyira United.
The relegation of Dwarfs, therefore, in the 2013/14 season with King Faisal and Amidaus hit the region so hard that the people of Oguaa vowed to ensure that Dwarfs made a U-turn in the shortest possible time, and they did it at the expense of Great Olympics, Kpando Heart of Lions and B.A United.
In reality, it took chairman Nana Adu, his trusted executives and coach J.E. Sarpong a lot of hard work to return the club to the premiership, just a year after, something Alhaji Gruzah's King Faisal and Amidaus who were relegated in the same year could not accomplish.
Therefore, the dream of the Central Region has come to reality which must be guarded jealously. How then could Dwarfs start so miserably in the new season, losing to their fellow new entrants, Dreams FC at their favourite Siwdu Park and later to New Edubiase at Obuasi on the trot?
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Really, the two results hit Dwarfs so hard that their coach, my good friend J.E Sarpong, vowed to resign if he lost the third battle on the trot under the noses of his die-hard supporters last Sunday but they had the misfortune of going against a team which had found their fresh rhythm like Accra Hearts of Oak whose fans had declared "Operation 15 Points" in their first five matches of the season and had fulfilled their dreams quite creditably in the first two against their nemesis, New Edubiase in Accra and Medeama SC at Tarkwa.
Many followers of the game were therefore, not suprised that Hearts supporters from far and near decided to join hands to enter the stadium and fill every space before the those from Cape Coast could do so. The stadium was filled to capacity such that some fans had to resort to climbing the nearby hill and storey houses to watch the match or listen to radio commentary from outside the venue. That is the sweetness and bitterness of our game of football.
In the end, the match ended goalless, and that saved coach Sarpong's business with Dwarfs, even not knowing that the club's executive had planned to knock him off if he had failed for the third time running and could not earn a point from three matches.
Meanwhile, the other two new entrants Dreams FC and Techiman City were gallivanting with good run and from their three matches so far, had earned six points each. Dreams won their first and third matches against Dwarfs and Bechem in Cape Coast and Dawu respectively, while Techiman City won their first match against Chelsea and their third against Aduana Stars, both at home.
The referees association has assured the nation of good officiating, but the happenings in Kumasi last Sunday gave cause for suspicion when the first appointed referee, Prosper Addy was changed for the fourth referee to take over.
The competition is early yet, and it is the hope of all that sanity will prevail in the current season with our referees rising above the standard and showing efficiency and confidence in the rest of the games.