An apology can be defined as an acceptance of responsibility for a wrong, plus a pledge to change one's ways. The wrong may be either intentional or accidental.
The purpose of an apology is to put the listener at ease regarding the trustworthiness of the apologizing party. It must be noted here however that an apology is not complete if it does not reflect all four of these;
(a) Regret
(b) Understanding of the problem
(c) Acceptance of responsibility
(d) Willingness to do better.
The Black Stars lost touch with almost the entire nation soon after their exit in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil where off field incidents blind folded the image of a state on a battlefield and when the opportunity finally came for the team to render an unqualified apology to the nation on Monday, the GFA machinery blew it in an iced-water.
The white litmus paper to the fury of the nation about the Black Stars could be derived from Moses Armah Parker's testimony to the Commission on Monday, "My lord, when I returned from the US my seven-year-old daughter had removed a framed picture of myself with Sulley Muntari from my hall due to anger."
The Commission of Inquiry in its own wisdom tried to help the Black Star players to use their avenue to do the honors of apologizing to all well meaning Ghanaians and promised the nation a-never-again.
But their snowshoe walking on the snow of peace was miscalculated by the mathematics of the GFA which clearly illustrated how unready they were to producing the players to the commission.
www.sports24gh.com cables at the commission on Monday caught certain interesting scenes which gives credence to this fact.
First, the FA claimed all the players had a tight schedule and that they had to fly back to their respective teams but little did they know that two of the players are locally based (Stephen Adams and Fatau Dauda).
Secondly, one would ask how did the captain Asamoah Gyan managed to attend to the call at last?
Sensing the anger on the face of Justice Dzamefe, the FA President Mr. Kwesi Nyantekyi instructed Ibrahim Sannie Darra (communications director of the FA) to call Asamoah Gyan on phone to plead with him to pass by the commission.
In less than five minutes, Sannie came back to inform Mr. Nyantekyi that he has gotten in touch with Asamoah and in fact he said he's around Tema Station so he'll soon get to the stadium.
On hearing this, the FA President said, "Errrrr!!!!?????? good," and nodded his head in extreme happiness.
The captain kept to his words and came to the stadium to offer himself on behalf of the team but the irony of it is that he had to be lectured in his car first before showing up.
Asamoah Gyan as the captain of team apologized and pleaded with the nation to forgive them for what happened in Brazil and also promised the commission that they will make themselves available at the appropriate time.
Gyan did what a captain could do but demanding to be forgiven as he did is not an apology but self-seeking to say the least.
www.sports24gh.com