|
How
the Spider Became Bald: Folktales and Legends from West Africa
/
Talking Drums An Anthology of Poetry
* * *
* *
Football in Ghana & the World Cup
Some Things Never Change:
Looking at Ourselves in Africa
By Rev. P. E Adotey Addo
One of my fondest childhood memories
was the almost fanatic enthusiasm we had for football in
the Gold Coast, as Ghana was called during my childhood.
In addition, as it is today, everyone, young or old has
a good football story to tell. This passion for the game
has been around for over one hundred years and it has
reached its highest today. I was born and grew up at
Osu, the most beautiful part of Accra , the capital
city of Ghana. I grew up hearing outrageous stories from
football pundits and fans about Ghana football. When it
comes to Ghana football, some things never change.
In Ghana, there are those who believe
that when it comes to the game of football there are
other forces at play other than the players, which
influence the result of the games. The pundits refer to
teams consulting witchdoctors who perform special spells
and magic to ensure a specific outcome of the games.
Magic or “Juju” is an age-old belief passed on from
generation to generation and has been central, according
to the pundits, to football in Ghana for a very long
time. I have heard many of these stories whether true
or false from the pundits for years about football and
most of them have been outrageous to say the least. The
place of magic or “Juju” according to some pundits is
central in Ghana football but usually is never discussed
publicly and it includes special ceremonies to ensure
the success of the games.
Football is so deeply entrenched in
the body politic and soul of Ghana that it runs through
our daily lives. In fact, football is perhaps the only
issue one can find universal agreement on among
Ghanaians from all occupations. Until recently, some
pundits laughed about those who played football
barefooted and without uniforms or protective equipment
in the past. In my boarding school, we played
barefooted, but as we played, we dreamed of the time in
the future when we would have the proper equipment and
protective gear as we saw in the movies. It turned out
to be just a dream. The scariest thing about the stories
told by the pundits were subtle suggestions that the
supernatural often affected the destiny of our football
teams and therefore the results of the games were
dependent on how strong was the “Juju” or witchcraft
consulted. In our boarding school, our teachers insisted
that we prayed hard to win the games.
The belief in “Juju” has created its
own cadre of “Juju” men and women as well as
witchdoctors, who are highly regarded in towns and
villages and has brought some real wealth to these
practitioners. To the football pundits the best
goalkeeper was always the one with some good magic or
“Juju” or medicine. The “Juju” men easily and
conveniently explained a loss to bad medicine. Now that
Ghana has qualified for the World Cup, the pundits will
have to eat their words.
After the 1948 protests demanding
Independence from Britain some stores were emptied. In
the villages near the capital, there was an abundance of
what many assumed were bars of chocolate. In one of the
villages, some of these innocent looking bars of
chocolate were fed to the visiting team at the
suggestion of the consulted witchdoctors. The home team
won because those innocent chocolate bars turned out to
be laxatives, which incapacitated a large number of the
visiting team. It has been over fifty years now and the
dispute is still on in those two villages. Then there
was the time a team from another village accused the
people of the village where I was a teacher that they
had been fed with some unknown “Juju” portion that
caused them to lose the game to the home team.
Well it
turned out to be nothing but some good old extra hot
pepper and fish. The chief had to decide that case.
For the first time I must admit a practical joke played
on a senior student at our boarding school who was the
senior class goalkeeper and was about to play the
sophomore class. We sold him a green loofa sponge as a
magic portion for a very small fee to help him as a
goalkeeper, but the senior class lost the game anyway
and we were all severely disciplined by the headmaster
who refused to admit our defense that the goalkeeper
asked for it.
Another interesting incident occurred
when the witchdoctors from the suburbs of one of our
large cities were apparently consulted by the home team
but unfortunately, the visiting team won the game with a
last minute penalty shootout. Well, when the home team
demanded a refund the witchdoctor indicated that the
team never paid all the fees promised: two chickens and
one goat plus some currency. When the team complained,
the story goes, the witchdoctor placed a curse on the
team and for years the team never won a game until they
went back to pay the witchdoctors the part of the fees
that was never paid. By this time, the fees had jumped
to ten live chickens and four live goats and an amount
equaling ten times the money promised at first.
Football may not be the most popular
sport in the world, but in my country, it remains as
popular as it has been for over a hundred years. I love
football but I dare not pretend that any one could
predict the outcome of the World Cup games.
Nevertheless, I am reminded that our pundits and elders
still believe that it takes more than practice and skill
to win. I must say I agree with them. The national
enthusiasm, support, pride, and spirit of contemporary
Ghanaians have destroyed any doubts that Ghana may yet
bring home the World Cup. Unbelievably this dream does
not lose anything in translation.
* *
* * *
Originally From EVERYONE HAS A GOOD
STORY; a Ghanaian contribution to a compilation of
stories from the 32 participating nations in the 2006
World Cup in Germany published by
www.cafediverso.com.
1€ from the sale of each book donated to the UNESCO
endorsed and administered World Literacy Program.
Rev P E Adotey Addo /
http://www.retirementwithapurpose.com/africanchristmas.html
P O Box 13356,Greensboro NC 27415 /
336 375 5761 Fax 336 375 0068 / Web Address: http://www.addo.ws
posted 12 July 2006 * * *
* *
updated 14 February 2009 |
