Inclusion of sport heroes in sport governance

Introduction

Ghana, a country located in the western part of Africa, positioned on the shore of the Gulf of Guinea, has a population of over 31 million, and is one of the leading countries in Africa to achieve independence from colonial rule (Maier et al., n.d.; GSS, 2021). Ghana shares boundaries with Burkina Faso to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the south, Togo to the east and Cote D’Ivoire to the west.

According to the National Sports Authority (NSA, n.d.), the concept of “Sports For All” has long existed in the era of Gold Coast (today Ghana) as a way of cultural games exhibited by clans and aficionados to honour ceremonial events such as harvests, festivals and durbar. These cultural games were not restricted, as they were open to all, irrespective of age, sex, class and socio-economic position. These activities, as indicated by NSA initiated the habit of mass sport participation among Ghanaians.

The whole concept and objective of the ceremonial events was to bring together the people of Ghana, i.e. to socialize and familiarize with each other as people who shared a common destiny. It is interesting to reveal that, the initiation of “Sports For All” was imported to Ghana by Dr. Honorius Akpeere, from the then USSR, as a way to build the physical, mental, psychological, emotional and cultural development of Ghanaians (NSA, n.d.). As time went on, these cultural games were thought to be developed as sporting disciplines to catapult participants who outrivaled others to partake in international competitions and tournaments, and this is how Ghana began to produce athletes at international competitions.

Over the years, the need and essence of putting all the sporting disciplines under one umbrella emerged, which led to the establishment of the Gold Coast Amateur Sports Council by Ordinance 14, 1952. At this point, interest in amateur sports had soared, but this was hindered by lack of funds and expert coaches, however, playing fields in the open spaces attracted sport. For instance, open spaces such as the Asylum Down Cricket Oval, the Cricket Oval (now the site for Accra Sports Stadium), the Old Polo Grounds, and the Victoria Park in the Central Region of Ghana served as places for sporting activities and training. The Gold Coast Amateur Sports council, upon witnessing this development, thrived in establishing the Olympic and Commonwealth Games Committee, which nurtured and presented Ghanaian teams to the Helsinki Summer Olympic 1952, Vancouver 1954, and Cardiff 1958 Commonwealth Games (NSA, n.d).

Even though the teams did not record medals, it brought them to international standards in sports, building experience and hope for posterity, and also served as a means of unveiling the needed technical expertise for future improvements.  Overall, Ghana has produced great sportspersons in diverse disciplines of sport, particularly soccer and boxing. For instance, the soccer team won the 1963, 1965, 1978 and 1982 African cup of Nations, and was runners-up in 1968, 1970, 1992, 2010 and 2015. In boxing, Ghana has a record of having more titles than any other country in Africa, with eight titles at different weight categories.

Quite recently, Ghana has produced new sports heroes such as Tony Baffoe, Abedi Pele, Stephen Appiah, Samuel Osei Kufuor, Asamoah Gyan, and Michael Essien, among others. On the other side of the coin are the female soccer heroines such as Adjoa Bayor, Mercy Tagoe-Quarcoo, and Helena Wilson.  It is clear Ghana has produced quality, renowned, and excellent sportsperons, most of whom have retired from active sports. But, how can all these experiences garnered from sport be channeled into good sport governance practices to ensure the continual development of sport in Ghana?

Sport governance

The sport governance literature fundamentally brings to the fore an evolving framework directing the governance of sport in a multi stakeholder approach in the design, legitimization, and the execution of sport programs, ideas, and systems for sport brilliance and development (Blanco, 2017). Blanco (2017) states that sport organizations need to be more professional and embrace an open, diverse, inclusive, and accountable approach in their operations, as it is now direr to appreciate and comprehend what governance is in sport. Anagnostopoulos et al. (2023) in their recent book entitled Sport Governance Insights present three main themes in sport governance as communication, diversity/inclusion, and change. On the score of diversity/inclusion, the scholars share that, recently there is a growing concern for a more inclusive diversity, particularly among participants in sport,  and even volunteers in sport, as inclusion  is now challenging  for sport organizations globally.  

Conclusion

This commentary proposes to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, National Sports Authority, Sport organizations, Government of Ghana and the various sport actors to consider sportspersons classified as “sport heroes”, who have participated in sport, as iterated by Anagnostopoulos et al. (2023) to bring more diversity/inclusion into the decision boardroom of the sport organizations as a major stakeholder within the sport fraternity who may be vexed with experiences, exposure and network to contribute their quota to national sport development.

References

Anagnostopoulos, C., Papadimitriou, D., Byers, T., & Botwina, G. (2023). Sport Governance Insights. Routledge Publication.

Blanco, D.V. (2017). Sports Governance: Issues, Challenges and Perspectives. Asia-Pacific Social Science Review, 17(1), 105-111.

GhanaWeb. (2018, August 27). List of Ghanaian Boxers Who Have Won World Titles. https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/SportsArchive/List-of-Ghanaian-boxers-who-have-won-world-titles-679894#:~:text=In%20Africa's%20boxing%20history%2C%20Ghana,Quartey%20and%20others%20won%20theirs.&text=He%20won%20Ghana's%20first%20world%20title%20in%201975.

National Sports Authority. (n.d.). History of National Sports Authority. https://sportsauthority.gov.gh/history/ . Retrieved 2 November, 2022.

National Sports Authority. (n.d.) History of Ghana Sports. https://sportsauthority.gov.gh/history-of-ghana sports/#:~:text=The%20Gold%20Coast%20Amateur%20Sports,and%20promotion%20of%20Amateur%20Sports. Retrieved 2 November, 2022.

Maier, D.J., Fage, J.D., Davies, O., & Boateng, E.A. (n.d.). “Ghana”. Encyclopedia Britannica, (16 Aug. 2022). https://www.britannica.com/place/Ghana. Retrieved 2 November, 2022.

Frank Appiah Kusi is an Assistant Lecturer in Sport Management at the School of Sports and Exercise Medicine of University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, Ghana. Appiah Kusi is also a Ph.D. student at Philippine Christian University, Manila, Philippines with research focus in Sport Marketing and Sponsorship.