Glo 'Primary' League!
Article by Koufie-Amartey Isaac
Like an incurable disease, our local premier league is still blighted with the dark-aged horror events of yesteryear's thus bringing to the fore it’s stinking, sinking reputation. Our version of the saint-like game (soccer) has been drawn from the English Premier League which has been branded the best soccer league in the world. But there is no jot of doubt that before earning this priceless accolade, certain things were done right to make it attractive in terms of packaging and lucrative in associating with it.
The English Premiership has the best sponsorship and marketing deals football can be associated with in the world. Partners and sponsors like Barclaycard and Sky TV (until recently being joined by Setanta Sports and eventually leaving the scene) have invested huge sums in broadcast rights and other marketing initiatives that have made England home to the best brand of football. What do we see in Ghana? Optimum Media Prime (OMP) is coughing up over two (2) million Ghana cedis into the league and yet nothing has changed in terms of professionalism and positioning.
The management of Ghana football has become a scarecrow to many an interested sponsor who would not want to associate themselves with the uncertainty and unfairness that surrounds our league. Until the court cases and board room wranglings which end up giving points to some clubs to change the order of individual club standings on the league table cease (Tema Youth, a distinctive example), many prospective sponsors will continue to hang on to their money bags.
The impunity with which some companies have resorted to ambush marketing and the glee with which they advertise their products and services at match venues against the ethics of modern day marketing is mind-blogging. As to whether they have the blessing of the powers that be, only the heavens know.
The English Premier League, again my reference point, would continue to the world's finest since its helmsmen have stuck religiously to the principles of marketing and advertising, syndication and production in order not to deny the competition's sponsors their due. The players are well-paid to contribute to the respective clubs in a spirit of competitiveness and backed by a rare sense of professionalism. Club owners over there are fully aware that soccer has shifted camps from being a passion of the nation to being the most sought-after profession with the highest returns and opportunities for personal improvement in the world.
In a country where superstition enjoys the pride of place in football, several reasons can be attributed to Ghana's inability to hold down our own against the other leagues in Africa but I believe poor organization, wrong decisions on the part of the top officials, unfaithfulness to signed-up contracts and poor sporting facilities have played a major role in this mess.
It behooves on the officials of our game to take advantage of the effervescent media landscape to hype our own version of the premier league to ensure that Ghana becomes an enviable brand of the game. The predilection for everything foreign soccer is also not helping matters and it is about time our sports journalist took a second look at the tilt in their reportage. Front pages, editorials and news items of most of the newspapers are exotic and issues bothering Europe play center-stage on our radio and TV stations at the expense of our local league.
Even after the then Onetouch Premier League found some space on Gateway Broadcasting Services (GBS); it still didn’t registered its presence on the minds of Ghanaians not to even talk about those in other countries. The ferocious attacking prowess of Alex Asamoah, sublime skills of Tawrick Jibril and intelligent pass-like-Scholes' attitude of Daniel Yeboah in the Glo Premier League last two year still remain in oblivion denying some of the good players the right exposure to play in the big wig leagues.
It’s been virtually the same this year with good players like John Bissah of Sekondi Hassacas, and Hearts of Oak's duo of Edwin Osei Pele Mahatma Otoo amongst others have been stabbed in the dark with virtually no one getting to know how good they are. Unlike fans of other leagues in Africa who abandon league centers in the midst of ostensible difficulties, our own Glo Premier League continues to enjoy the unflinching support of their followers even in the face of telling challenges. But is the religious support to blame for the seeming apathy on the part of the officials? I doubt such. It a pure, unadulterated case of neglect on the role of the fans.
But one thing that remains preposterous is the fact that the TV rights of our own league has been sold to a foreign company which operates a pay-per-view TV service when most of our local networks are free-to air. I sure am not against the fact that TV stations that get such rights should make the most of their investment but that should not override the desire of the people to enjoy their local leagues.
Our league is shown across Europe ( on BEN TV, a subsidiary of Sky TV) and on DStv and plans are far advanced to penetrate into the US soccer market by the start of next season in 2010 yet not a quip of news on our local stations come to mind. But I don’t blame the TV right owners that much. Some of the local stations have also developed the predilection for airing foreign matches and competitions without making any attempt to get the opportunity to telecast our version on what obtains elsewhere which they continue to make fetish of. The obvious lapse in the agenda setting role of the media needs a second look.
Until the football authorities make right all the dirty wrongs right with respect to sponsorship and TV rights, club officials pay player bonuses and seek lucrative insurance and health policies for its players', management don’t improvise on player welfare, airwaves are awashed with sports programmes around our leagues and soccer fans throng faithfully into stadiums, our league would always be pummeled to a pulp always by the pace-setters.
