Sunyani (B/A) Feb 18, GNA - Nana Kwasi Gyan Gyau III, Chief of Akrofo and Akyimpehene of Berekum Traditional Area in the Brong-Ahafo Region on Wednesday called on football enthusiasts to help put in place reformatory measures to help the nation regain her glorious past in football.

"Football is now big time business requiring full-time management, discipline, professional administration and professionalism to develop", he said.

Nana Gyau, known in private life as Mr. Agyeman Gyau, one-time member of the national football team, Black Stars and a pioneer player of Real Republicans football club of the 1960's was addressing a forum in connection with the celebration of 100 years of football in Ghana in Sunyani.

Present at the ceremony were club chairmen, old players, representatives of the press, Army, Police, Ghana Education Service and other sports enthusiasts.

Nana Gyau noted "that the significance of a centenary lies in the realization that the object of its celebration is perceived and adjudged to have come of age, matured and to have become so to speak, an institution".

He emphasized that football was one event that had a powerful hold on the national psyche and was capable of stirring the emotions of the populace unlike any other sport in the country and must therefore be well handled.

The ex-Black Stars player recalled that the first football match in the country took place under moonlight at the Victoria Park in Cape Coast in 1903 and was organized by a Jamaican.

The colonial origins of football meant that whatever teams there were formed and the matches they played were sporadic and concentrated in the main administrative, mining and commercial towns, he added.

Nana Gyau said at independence, football had become an event of national significance as the country experienced not only political and economic restructuring but also administrative restructuring, including the total administration of the sport.

"A combination of the forces of Pan-Africanist ideology, the Africanization policy, the projection of Ghana as the star of Africa and the popular slogan that only the best is good enough for Ghana, produced the circumstance that made it imperative that Ghana assumed pre-eminence and claim leadership in football on the African continent", he said.

The chief said the systematic development of the Black Stars under coaches Mr. Sjoberg, the first national coach and Mr. Ember, the second national coach resulted in the national team winning the African Cup a number of times and participating at the Olympic Games in 1964 in football.

He said a number of players, namely Christian Briant, James Adjei, Charles Gyamfi, Asebi Boakye, Ben Sisu, K.N. Nketia and others were then sent on coaching courses and posted to the regions on their return, marking the beginning of organized football in the country.

The secondary schools were not left out as the Academicals fed the national first and second division teams, including Kotoko, Hearts, Evergreens, Great Ashantis, Cornerstones, Vipers, Dwarfs and Olympics, who played mainly friendly matches as there was no organized league, Nana Gyau added.

He expressed regret about the current dismal state of football in the country after a hundred years and called on soccer enthusiasts and all stakeholders to help adopt a strategy to find solutions to problems related to structures, personnel or management.

Mr. Joe Aggrey, Deputy Minister of Education, Youth and Sports dismissed criticisms by some sports enthusiasts that the celebration was not necessary in view of the fallen standard of football in the country. "The celebration is not meant for enjoyment, if anything it will enable the Government and the Ministry to devise a means to redress our shortfalls and forge ahead", he said.

He called on old players to come out with their views, suggestions and observations in an effort to turn the state of football in the country around.

Mr Aggrey announced that the Ministry had submitted a new Sports Bill to Parliament that is aimed at improving the administration of football in the country.

A 13-member Committee is undertaking a nation-wide tour to collate views and suggestions for the improvement in the sport. They include Mr. Gordon Adjei, Secretary, Professor Docea Fianu, a Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Legon, Mr. Ebo Quansah, President of Ghana Sports Writers Association of Ghana and Mr. Ken Bediako, a veteran Sports-writer.

At the forum, most participants condemned the work of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) with special reference to its inability to release the league table after last season's premier league competition. They also appealed to the Government to be firm with the 'window-dressing' administration of GHALCA and wondered why the government should stoop so low to the latter's decision to let its organization of the TOP-Four Coca-Cola league take precedence over the camping of the national teams, the Black Stars and the Meteors. The Regional Minister, Nana Kwadwo Seinti, presided.