WHY LEADERS OF WASSA AMENFI WEST SHOULD INVEST IN SPORTS TALENTS AND FACILITIES

 

Since the middle of the 20th century and in this 21st century, football has been one of the major games that have grown in terms of fans, developing passion and love for it as compared to major games like basketball, netball, golf, tennis and even athletics as a whole. Research shows that about 5 billion people in this world are football fans out of the 7.888 billion people in the world ( 2021 census). This can tell you the love, passion and enthusiasm people have for football. We can see how people are dressed in their beautiful jerseys to support their teams when they are playing. In the olden days, we only see players wearing football jerseys when there is a match ongoing but now football jerseys are used for fashion with people customizing their names, clubs, nicknames or their favourite words on them. This shows one’s love for the game. Football has a great influence on the world and it has contributed largely to the peace we have in the world today.

See how fun it is to watch players like Lionel Messi(the little boy from Rosario), Christiano Ronaldo(CR7, suuiiii), Kylian Mbappe, Neymar, Erling Haaland and Lewandowski. How they do it can release stress.

Looking at all the benefits of football and its influence on the world, my municipality, Wassa Amenfi West seems to pay less attention and emphasis on football. This article seeks to highlight the need on why Wassa Amenfi West must get the most important football commodity, which is a pitch ( an astroturf).

Since the inception of Wassa Amenfi West, there has been a lot of talent in the municipality and there would continue to be. A very popular guy I knew when I was a kid called Apili from Asanco Model was an exceptional player in Asankrangwa and a lot of people saw him as second to none at the time with a promising future. He went to St. Marys’ Boys and also excelled on the pitch and was popular in Takoradi as well. I don’t know where he is now or how his football career is doing. The question is how did this come about. There is a lot of talent in the area but they are not getting to the top. Have we sat down as a community and asked ourselves why this keeps on happening for decades to decades? The answer is no. I think the leaders of Wassa Amenfi have lost the sense of urgency in developing our young talents. A lot of football talents are in the area but where they train is the deplorable Buadum Park which is filled with stones and used for all occasions in the town or the Methodist park which gets flooded when it’s even drizzling or the town park in Asanco which Fulas have taken over it and that place serves as the source of food for their cattle and among other fields in the various towns in Wassa Amenfi West Municipality not to talk about the Catholic park in Asankrangwa Newtown.

All these cited examples must tell you the need for us to have astroturfs in our area. The young talented boys are not playing to their best due to the poor nature of the pitch and they fear suffering an injury which might end their career forever. A case in point you don’t expect is Evans Tawiah Asirifi, a young boy with so much talent and now the best player in Asankrangwa who attended Accra Academy and played on a quality astroturf to perform at his peak as he did there as compared to playing on Buadum park. So applies to all the other young boys, both current and past.

 

In recent times most MPs, MCEs and renowned people in their various areas have taken an initiative to develop football in their various communities. Examples are Mrs Hawa Koomsom, MP of Awutu Senya East, Mr Titus Glover( former MP of Tema East constituency), Mr Daniel Mckorley popularly known as Mcdan and the list goes on and on. They have all taken the initiative of developing football due to its great benefits and its lucrative nature.
I hereby appeal to the Member of Parliament Hon. Eric Afful, the MCE Hon. Lord Tandoh and other dignities in Wassa Amenfi West to take up this initiative to invest in sports talent and develop this game the whole world is fond of. We all can attest to the fact that the Nima Community always boast about producing Kudus Mohammed… the Ajax star and the promising future of Ghana as far as football is concerned.

There are talents in our community who will be equally good or better than Kudus but a lack of support and proper resources is hindering them to get to the top. When a star rises from Wassa Amenfi and gets to the top, We all get to the top. I would like to congratulate all who have been supporting Evans Tawiah Asirifi to get to the top.  One player can change the narrative of the whole Wassa Amenfi West Municipality and Ghana as a whole. A case in point is Sadio Mane of Senegal who has invested hugely in the lives of his community members and his nation as a whole.

Below is a video of Evans Tawiah Asirifi showing his football skills during the Ahobraseye Easter Gala held on 7th April 2023 at Asankrangwa Methodist Park