(A GNA feature by Caesar Abagali)

Tamale, July 14, GNA - Nigeria, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Algeria, Ghana and even the host nation, South Africa were all given their marching exit at the just ended world cup won by Spain, South Africa 2010. It was sorrowful, historical and heartbreaking but while they exited the soul of Africa remained. The memory would linger on for a very long time. A very mere game of soccer eventually translated into an emotionally dignified event for Africa. For the first time since the fall of Apartheid, Africa breathed with one heart. It was an emotional rekindling of the oneness and unity of the Africa Continent. It was Ghana that remained as a lone Africa ranger at the quarter final to hold aloft the hope of Africa. It was however, Africa that remained but Bafana Bafana, became BaGhana BaGhana just to ignite Africa to hold on the mantle.

From the homes of the Africa village to the cities of the poor countries, to the suburbs of the rich nations Africa, Africans unifying wish breathed for Ghana's success. It has never happened in history not even when the Organization of Africa Unity (OAU) now Africa Union (AU) was born that a Continent so powerful yet so poor stood together and looked up to the creator with one wish for success, not for the triumph of Ghana but for the glory of Africa.

South Africa 2010 as vividly captured by Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General in a congratulatory message to the Black Stars, was both an emotional letter and an eye opener to the Black race all over the world. This is how Kofi Annan put it, "I cannot think of another occasion on which the whole of the continent was so united during your quarter final 'BaGhana BaGhana replaced Bafana Bafana for our South African host, and I am sure I heard the earth shake when Muntari scored - a mighty roar went up from Cairo to Cape Town, Dakar to Dar es Salam, .This thunderous solidarity is a tribute to you all and a great omen for Africa, which is often depicted as divided and conflicted".

The Black Stars' performance and Africa's solidarity to Ghana at the World cup should also be an eye opener to people in conflict communities of Ghana. Again, rallying points can exist across borders, tribes, leagues, nations and cultures of Africa. This is the real beginning of better things to come if properly analyzed and understood. Football as understood goes beyond a mere entertainment. It unites, it opens opportunities, it develops nations and it solves conflicts.

It therefore takes the responsibility of leadership to make that sacrifice to bring about the change that can spur on the continent and its people. The difference can be that the starving of Sudan, the crying war victims of Ivory Coast, the isolated in Congo and the maiming in Rwanda as well as the squabbles in Yendi, Bawku, Nkonya and Alavanyo be a total defeat just as Africa was in tears because Ghana lost. So must be Africa humiliation and degradation be lost for the sake of Africa's dignity.

From Nelson Mandela, former South Africa President, to the street hawker all wished Ghana well; from the Black American to the Ghanaian Member of Parliament all said a prayer for Ghana's victory but it was a magnifying heartbeat that troubled the other part of the world. The world did not stand idle watching. They understood the potential of Africa, they saw a dangerous trend in what constituted for Africa's real beginning. This event was a football match between Ghana and Uruguay at the quarter final stage of the world cup hosted by South Africa, which recorded 84,000 capacity spectators, the highest in the tournament.

During that match, even the gods could not sleep and as if in one prayer Ghana got the last kick of the ball, the 'jabulani' a new introduction into the game, but by unfair usage of the hand by a Uruguay's Suarez denied Africa from progressing. The trees and animals stopped breathing but fate decided otherwise for Africa when Asamoah Gyan failed to do what would have been gigantic earth quake across Africa. Not quake of destruction but quake of euphoria roaring from Congo to Sudan, Liberia to Sierra Leon while back home all conflict communities in Yendi, Bawku and other places would dance together their fights end. Hearts were broken.

Tears rolled across the chests of every Black race, it was not tears of football but mourning the loss of a united sense of purpose, dignity and of a spiritual binding that had never been achieved.

Symbolically, it gave birth to the real African that the millions of Africans are yearning for a powerful, united and determined and that portends of a coming day of Africa as leader of the world. Now is the time for change, the time has come to start the journey.

Towards 2014 World Cup:

Due to the excellent performance at the two world cups that Ghana participated after so many years of ill efforts to quality, it is instructive to state that the country must begin to prepare adequately towards the next world cup. Ghana has to build a team from now. Always available in this country is a pool of potential talents from which to draw any calibre of players. The example of the just ended world cup and the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola where the young players performed up to expectation should constantly be kept in view. The country being where it is currently can be attributed to a dint of hard work and team building.

Ghana must know by now that there are no short cuts to glory. However, the most significant thing to continue to address is the role the state plays in the development of Ghana soccer. Ghana soccer had been consistently falling in standards until the 2006 world cup in Germany and any person with minimum knowledge of soccer financing would know that the value of sponsorship and individual players was also falling. In an earlier article, entitled "Financing Football in Ghana", this writer urged that a sports fund be established. The attempt by the Ministry to set up this fund in the erstwhile NPP administration was woeful to say the least. A little bit of consultation with stakeholders and individuals who are interested in sports development would help to set out the parameters well.

The acknowledgment of the main arguments of that suggestion would have impressed the undertaking. This notwithstanding, the attempt was in the right direction but the fund must be a very serious one that can be sustained and chartered along the lines of other major funds like the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GET-Fund), Road Fund or the Common Fund. The issues of the Youth and Sports in the world are problematic as they are concerned with employment, urbanisation, crime and terrorism, and should be serious business for the state.

A fund to address this issue should therefore appeal itself to the minds and energies of those entrusted with state power. I argued strongly that with the relatively undeveloped nature of the private sector in the economy, the public sector role would continue to be significant in this respect. It is therefore necessary to restate some of the arguments that occasioned this conclusion.

There is hardly any motivation to finance sporting activities from the grassroots, particularly football, since the national league is not competitive and therefore offers no appreciable avenue of advertisements for these companies in order to justify any capital outlay. Government in this sense has put in place no measures to draw in the private sector. The public sector should therefore continue to remain the biggest source of sports financing in the country for a positive change and for the betterment of the teaming youth whose livelihood might depend on the game.

For these and many more other reasons, relying on the private sector as a source of completely financing sports in Ghana would continue to be an elusive idea. The following suggestions are offered as a way forward, not as absolute solutions but as a way of prompting a debate towards sports financing in Ghana.

Decentralisation of sports in Ghana:

A big opportunity has been offered through the decentralisation of government revenue in the District Assemblies common fund. The ministry of Youth and Sports should therefore take advantage of this fact. It should by way of legislation compel every district assembly as well as Regional Coordinating Councils to assist in the laying of a firm foundation at the grassroots using a portion of the Common Fund.

This should be done by clear cut objectives and well structured instructions after consultation with all stakeholders both at national and district level and in consultation with regional sports development officers.

Revenue Mobilisation:

Youth and sports development constitutes the foundation upon which a nation can grow. Therefore, the revenue mobilisation effort that went to education and the road fund should be utilised for the sports sector as well. A study should be conducted in the scheme of Ghana's revenue mobilisation with a view to establishing youth and sports fund.

Deriving Revenue from Sports:

Government as a matter of urgency should conduct a study into how revenue earned by footballers, officials and other individuals can be brought under the tax net. It is a very big source of revenue loss to the State while the Ministry groans under heavy financial burden.

These suggestions, though not enough, could help solve matters if they are put to good use by the authorities in charge and not given a blind eye.

It is only by this that sports, particularly soccer in the country would gain its past glory and the once fearsome Black Stars would be re-listed in the high rankings of football in Africa and the world.

Surely, Ghana has strived on and made efforts that had yielded the desired results and placed the country on a high pedestal. Though emerging from the current world cup tournament not as victors, the country's name would nonetheless remain on the lips of many Africans for many years to come. There is no time for the country to unite and exhibit love for one another than now. Long live Ghana, long live Africa and long live our heroic players and technical team who made Ghana and Africa proud.