A GNA feature by Boakye-Dankwa Boadi

Accra, Sept. 13, GNA - The Ghana Black Stars did not lose their friendly soccer match against Saudi Arabia in Riyadh last Tuesday. You must be in a dreamland to think that the Black Stars played a match on that fateful Tuesday, which incidentally was the anniversary of a Day of Shame.

How on Earth could the Black Stars that played a match against the Atlas Lions of Morocco on Saturday, September 8, 2007 in the French city of Rouen; beat them 2 -0; leave France to go and play a match on Tuesday in Riyadh?

This Writer, who has not develop the habit of finding fault with others because of the wisdom he imbibed from his maternal grandfather, Nana Akwasi Akyeampong, United Africa Company (UAC) Storekeeper at Atebubu in Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana in the 1940s, had to dip deep into his compendium of knowledge to console himself.

The young men on the field of play did not lose that match. The person or persons who arranged the match and Ghanaian intellectuals lost the game for Ghana.

Do you want to know why? Just take any good atlas of the world and see the distance between Paris and Riyadh. Paris is approximately five degrees east while Riyadh is approximately 45 degrees east of the Greenwich Meridian.

Now let us enter a Geography class. Every 15 degrees equals one hour. Therefore, the distance between Paris and Riyadh in terms of time is approximately three hours. This means that the Black Stars had to travel across three time zones from Paris to Riyadh.

Now from the Geography class let us enter a Biology class and discuss the Circadian Rhythms. Encyclopaedia Britannica 2003 Deluxe Edition CD-ROM writes: - Living organisms have inevitably become adapted to the orderly rhythms of the universe. These biologic cycles are called circadian rhythms. They are essentially endogenous, built into the central nervous system. Curiously the endogenous sleep-wake rhythm deviate slightly from the Earth's 24-hour cycle ...a bird's cycle is 23 hours and the human cycle is 25 hours. In both cases the cycle is corrected by features of the environment.

The Black Stars travelled by jet airplane from Paris to Riyadh so let us discuss the effect this could have had on them. Let us consider 'jet lag' or 'jet syndrome'.

The Webster's New World Dictionary on Power CD writes: - jet lag - a disruption of circadian rhythm associated with high-speed travel by jet airplane to a distant time zone. Encyclopaedia Britannica 2003 Deluxe Edition CD-ROM writes: - Humans .... transported over great distances often experience fatigue and lowered efficiency for several days, a phenomenon known as 'jet lag' or 'jet syndrome'.

Armed with this knowledge, this Writer took consolation in the fact that the Black Stars could not function at maximum efficiency since they had less than 72-hour stay in Riyadh before the match. One would like to advise that people put in charge of things in this country should have sufficient knowledge to enable them to operate at maximum level of efficiency.

One can bet his last pesewa that some of the people in charge of the Black Stars did not have this knowledge or if they did they did not anticipate the disastrous effect it would have on the players - hence the debacle in Riyadh on that inauspicious day of all days. And so it came to pass that Ghana Black Stars played a friendly soccer match with Saudi Arabia in Riyadh. Yes, that is reality and not a dream.

Indeed Saudi Arabia defeated Ghana by 5 goals to nil and thus spelt G -H-A-N-A.